My sons and I had a tender experience one year returning home from our ward father-and-sons campout. We drove a few miles on a dirt road and then hit the paved road when our car suddenly died. I put the car in neutral and attempted to start the car again. The car started three more times, but each time it died. I pulled over and didn’t really know what to do. We were two hours from home. I knew we had gas, and I knew the alternator and battery were okay. I didn’t know what to do. I got out of the car and told both of my boys to say a prayer. I got out of the car to see if I could do anything or find anything amiss. I was just grateful I knew the engine was under the hood and not in the trunk. I opened the hood and looked around having no clue what I was looking for.
I pushed down on a few things in the engine compartment and touched a few hoses, and then I opened the cover of the air filter. I moved things around a little, but I didn’t see anything unusual in there so I closed the filter cover again. I jumped back in the car to attempt to start it one more time after a prayer. I turned the engine over and it started. That was a wonderful sound. I turned to my oldest boys Tyler and Tanner and asked, “did you say a prayer?” They both said “yup.” We started driving down the road and Tyler said, “Dad, Heavenly Father really is there isn’t He?” I said, “You bet He is buddy—more than you’ll ever know.” We drove the rest of the trip safely home.
Two days later, the car died again on my way to work. This time it would not restart. I
was less than a mile from home and I had it towed to the mechanic. I received a phone call later that day when the mechanic discovered the car’s problem. He said somehow a large leaf had gotten underneath the air filter and the leaf was blocking the air intake and causing the car to stall and not start.
Somehow, jiggling the air filter two days prior had moved the leaf enough to get us home from our campout. In that instance, I just did it on a subtle impression and it proved to be a means of returning home.