George D. Durrant was a popular LDS fireside speaker back in the 1970s-80s. I personally met him in Kahului, Maui after he had finished speaking at a "Know Your Religion" fireside. Later, after the mission, I had him as an instructor in an Institute "Book of Mormon" class out at UVCC.
Bro. Durrant
Brother Durrant was one day prior to class starting talking with Kam Jarman, a Provo High basketball player from the previous year, about the previous game that he had gone to at PHS as they hosted Timpview. My brother, Don, was a starter on the team and he had the game of his life that night against Timpview, helping Provo to come away with the win. Don also wore #35 on his jersey- the same number as Devin Durrant, whom he idolized, and who was the son of Brother Durrant. Brother Durrant told Kam that he had really enjoyed watching #35 play that night. I piped up and told them that #35 was my brother. From that point onward Brother Durrant and I were buddies! In fact, a year or so later while he was serving as the President of the Provo MTC, and after our family had said our goodbyes to Don who was heading to serve in Hong Kong, our family came across Brother and Sister Durrant in the hallway, and they were nice enough to stop and say hello to my parents. He asked about their missionary and where he was headed to? My Dad, of course, had to throw in that Don had played basketball for PHS and wore the same number as their son Devin. Bro. Durrant then said: "Where's my friend?" and then looked over at me. It made me feel good!
Brother Durrant would only use the scriptures as his teaching source material, and always taught while reading from them. He also had a way of holding your attention as he would slowly sidestep from one side of the classroom to the other, and then quickly walk back to his starting point- just like an old manual typewriter. Also, during each class period he was regularly heard to say: "And now we come to my favorite part of the Book of Mormon", which told us that the entire book was his favorite part!
During that time in my life I was struggling with finding answers to a couple of personal questions- one dealing with a gospel principle, and the other with wanting to know if Heavenly Father was still mindful of me, just as He had been while out on the mission?
In one of the following classes, while he was reading and commenting to the class, he changed gears for a moment and started talking about things not necessarily related to the course of study for that day, and as he continued speaking he had answered my two questions very clearly and distinctly, and then he went back into his regular teaching.
The lesson here is what we've been taught all along- sometimes our prayers are not answered while we are on our knees- but they can often be answered by someone else, even if they have no idea that they are providing the answers for us at the time. The key is to persist in prayer until we receive the answers. Also, if we are in tune with the Spirit, we too can possibly provide answers to another person's prayer.
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