Blowing up a Gas Stove

Most of us like to think we're too smart to fall for evil, but Satan has a few tricks that can fool us.  Today many people lose it when they lose their cool, and Nephi saw this coming, "For behold, at that day shall he rage in the hearts of the children of men, and stir them up to anger against that which is good." (2 Nephi 28:20).  One flash of anger can explode into a huge problem.

On my mission in Curitibanos one of the missionaries in our group, Elder Maciel had just started his breakfast when my rice finished cooking.  As I had done a hundred times each morning I turned off the stove, put my rice in a bowl, and poured in milk and azucar mascavo (molasses and brown sugar).  Elder Maciel got up, and turned the stove on high.  Then he sat down.  I couldn't believe he was so unsafe and irresponsible, but as a kind companion I didn't say anything.  I just got up and turned the oven off.

Elder Maciel got up and turned the oven on high.  Now this is a little annoying, but I am the kind loving companion, so I got back up (again) and turned it off. My companion hopped up and turned it on high.   I got back up (again!)

"ELDER CRAWFORD!  What are you doing?!"
"ELDER MACIEL! You didn't light the stove, you don't have a pot or anything!  Unless you're going to use the pot I cooked my rice in, but then you would need to put water in it.  That's how you cook."
"DUH!  That's why I turned it off when you forgot after cooking your rice!"
"I didn't forget!  I turned it off and you turned it on! I'm going to turn the stove off so you don't kill us!"
"No!  I turned it off!  You forgot to turn it off, and now you keep turning it on.  We're going to blow up!"
"Oh no.  I know how to work the stove.  I make rice every morning.  Right now it's on high, and you should be grateful that I'm going to keep us from getting killed!"
"Don't be ridiculous.  I'm from Brazil, and you Americans think you know everything.  I grew up with these kinds of stoves.  I telling you it's off right now!"
"IT'S ON!  And right now you're leaking gas fumes into the room!  If you don't let me fix this there's going to be a problem!"
"THERE'S A PROBLEM ALL RIGHT!  I can't let you do something dangerous.  We're in an apartment after all, I have to think of the other innocent people you are endangering!"
"DANGER!?  Not only is this an explosion threat, but the fumes aren't exactly good for you!!  They're odorless!  Which by the way in America we put perfume in the gas so we can smell it!  Do you want to pass out before we explode?"
"OH RIGHT!  I forgot how everything is always better in America!  Well at least in Brazil we don't let our Americans blow themselves up over a stupid bowl of rice!"
"I cooked that rice with the stove on!  That right there is on HIGH!  You little thick headed.... HERE!"

When I teach a class and rehearse this story, I usually ask the students to guess what happens next.  Oddly, the guys seem to know that I put a match to the stove, while the girls have this "please tell me you aren't serious" look.  You see, the Savior said, "For verily, verily I say unto you, he that hath the spirit of contention is not of me, but is of the devil, who is the father of contention, and he stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger, one with another" (3 Nephi 11:29).  So as shocking as the next paragraph may be, when you are not connected to the spirit of the Lord you lose your sense of good and bad.

The explosion threw me against the shelves behind me and knocked a pile of cans down on me.  My companion was blown back against the kitchen table spilling my rice.  The entire top of the stove came off and landed diagonally on the oven.  The pot I had cooked in went flying.  While flames spewed from the detached burner tube my companion dove for the propane tank and turned it off.  My eyebrows were gone, and the wall had a pretty black cloud design.

"Elder Crawford.  You ok?"
"Yeah, I think so.  Quick thinking on the propane tank.  That was a good move."
"Um, I think the stove was on.  You were right."
"Maybe, but I'm no so smart that I avoided lighting it, am I?"
"Let's make a deal, I'll see if I can fix the stove while you scrub the wall."

Turns out Brazilian stoves are so clever that you can fix them when they blow up.  Turns out black smoke just needs water and work to get cleaned.  Also turns out that eyebrows take forever to grow back.   But maybe that's ok, because it gave me longer to remember the lesson.  Christ said, "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you" (John 14:27).  When arguing starts, the peace leaves, and that should be a big clue that we have lost the spirit.  When that happens kill the contention, and focus on finding a peaceful solution before your anger explodes.