Description
No Brakes
My friend, Andrew Munoz, recently shared this story with me. About seven years ago he and his family were helping Andrew’s grandparents cater food to a horse show about ten miles south of Evanston, Wyoming. When the event ended, Andrew, his father, and his cousin, climbed into a vintage International food truck, circa 1960’s, and started back to Evanston. On the way, it began to rain. Dad tried to turn on the wipers, but the old plastic knob was broken.
So, Andrew climbed into the back to fetch a pair of pliers to turn on the wipers. They were approaching town, descending a steep hill with a very busy intersection at the bottom. While Andrew was searching for the pliers, he heard the sound of grinding gears. He didn’t think much about it since that is fairly normal with old trucks. That is, until he noticed they were picking up speed. The brakes were gone. Frantically, Dad tried to downshift the old manual transmission, all the while praying, asking that the Lord help them not cause an accident and stop this truck.
Andrew described it as the loudest grinding of gears he had ever heard. As they approached the intersection, Dad shouted, “Hold on!” and slammed the transmission into first gear. At the same moment he pulled the wheel to the side. The old truck veered off the road. Dad jerked the parking brake and shut off the engine. The old beast lumbered to a stop.
Andrew said:
“When the truck stopped, my cousin bolted out of that truck faster than I have ever seen someone run in their life. With the pliers in hand and confused about what just happened, I told my dad that I found the pliers for the wipers, and he thanked me. I then stepped out of the truck and…noticed we were within 10 feet of hitting the speed limit sign.
“When I found out what had happened, I was very thankful to my dad for his prayer, his willingness, and worthiness to listen to the Holy Ghost to guide him in his actions that provided safety for us and those around us.”
Out of that experience, Andrew’s faith in and testimony of prayer, revelation, and the ministering of angels grew. He concluded with this sweet testimony:
“It has…made me appreciate the opportunity to be born [in], raised, and taught the Restored Gospel of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I am thankful for my Savior and my Heavenly Father. I know it to be true.”
Experience of Andrew Munoz
