This morning we all had the amazing opportunity to all go and have breakfast together as a mission. It was very delicious and amazing, but while we were there, one of the Elders I serve with noticed a quail in the yard that we could see from the window where we were. It gave me the opportunity to relate a hunting experience I had with a grouse. I was with my Dad, brother, and a few family friends. We were really hunting for elk, but we did end up with a grouse as well.
If I remember right, we were either just walking out with a heavy load of elk meat or we had stopped for like a mid-day snack or something. Either way, we were all together and as we were sitting there, a grouse came out of the bushes in front of us. I would estimate it was about 10-15 feet from us. I am not sure what was wrong with it, but it didn’t really seem to mind us. One of the other hunters we were with, mentioned to my brother that he had a small game license, and that if he wanted to try for the grouse, he could have it. The only rifles we had were those for hunting large game, like elk, so not really something a person would use to hunt a bird, as shooting it with one would destroy half of the bird. But that isn’t what happened in our case. I remember my brother laying down and taking time to aim and shoot at the grouse. It felt like forever, but was probably only a minute or two before he shot. As he did, the grouse took off flying, it rose about 20 or 30 feet then dropped like a rock. And then it did it again, I think repeating it three or four times. I don’t know how many of you have been to harvest chickens, but you may know that chickens also run around for some time after they have lost their head. And that is exactly what happened to the grouse my brother shot, he had blown the head off.
Now, you might be wondering how this could relate back to the gospel, and I was wondering how I could relate it at first, but then Elder Howden reminded me of this verse from the Book of Mormon.
