Dyer’s Decision

Alvin R. Dyer

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Alvin R. Dyer turned down a music contract when he was called on a mission. Why did he turn down the professional baseball contract at the end of his mission?

a.                  He was called to be a mission president

b.                  He was called into his bishopric

c.                   He was called onto the stake high council

d.                  He was called to the Quorum of the Twelve

Yesterday’s answer:

C   The killing of his mission companion, Joseph Standing

On 9 July 1879, as Elder Rudger Clawson and his missionary companion, Joseph Standing, were traveling through Whitfield County, Georgia, they learned that a fierce spirit of persecution raged against the Mormons in that area. They sought refuge for the night in the home of a nonmember who was friendly to the missionaries. The next morning they were accosted by a mob of twelve ruffians and dragged from the public road. After some bitter abuses had been hurled at the missionaries, a member of the bloodthirsty band cruelly shot Elder Standing through the head. Rudger’s first impression was to run, but one of the men yelled, “Shoot that man.” Instead of running, Elder Clawson turned calmly around, faced the mob squarely, folded his arms across his chest and said, “Shoot.” At this remarkable display of courage, the guns were lowered and Elder Clawson was permitted to depart and seek help. Returning a few hours later, he was horrified to see that the mob had fired several more bullets into the face and neck of his martyred companion. When he went through the grueling ordeal of testifying at the trial of four of these assassins, he saw the cause of right thwarted as the court reached a verdict of “not guilty.”

Elder Clawson’s exposure to the mockery of justice did not end with this experience. Five years later, during the crusades against plural marriage, he was tried and found guilty of unlawful cohabitation. When given the choice of rejecting his beliefs or serving a prison term, he remained true to the laws of God and went dutifully to the loathsome cell. There he remained for three years, a time that was made bearable only by the companionship of many other worthy brethren incarcerated in that same prison, including his own good father and the aged apostle Lorenzo Snow. Again this calm courage was reflected in the comment he made upon his release: “During my imprisonment of three years, one month, and ten days, I never once felt to murmur or complain, and as I emerged from the prison walls my faith in the principle of plural marriage was just as firm as unshaken as when I entered. I felt to praise and glorify the Lord that He had deemed me worthy to suffer bonds and imprisonment in defense of the right.”

Flake, Lawrence R., Prophets and Apostles of the Last Dispensation, (Provo, Utah: Religious Study Center, Brigham Young University, 2001), 259-260.