When I departed for my mission to London, England, in 1972 my 91-year-old grandfather Mahonri Moriacumer White gave me a hug and exclaimed, “You have no idea what lies in store for you!” When I returned two years later, grandpa was no longer here. Had he been alive, he could have given me the same advice about the future prospects of getting married and becoming a father.
Raising eight sons was a little bit like running a miniature missionary training center, especially when it came to food: hundreds of gallons of milk and truckloads of dry cereal, along with thousands of grilled-cheese sandwiches served at the counter on Sunday nights over the years; beans on toast, a staple missionary meal from my days in England, was always a favorite.