The Local Accountant

Sherryl's thoughts:

I have been reading Matthew in the New Testament and he is a tax collector.  I assume he is interested in numbers.  Paul is interested in numbers. Paul always knows what time it is but he also knows when we begin a task and when we end it and how long it took.  He knows that the temperature is now and what the low and highs will be for the day and how that compares to the temperatures the kids are facing in Texas and Utah.  He keeps track of all of the money we are earning and spending on our mission.  He knows how much change to expect and if they gave him the right amount.  He is bothered by clocks being not exact—like the temple clock, for example.  He explained things to Pres. Briones and had him move the temple clock back or ahead (I don’t remember which) by 4 minutes.  He is always aware of the temperature in the temple.  He knows that house numbers on one side of the street all end in an even number and those on the other side of the street are uneven.  When we have a car, he watches the mileage markers on the trips that we take and calculates what percentage of the trip we have taken and what percentage we have left to go.  He keeps a spreadsheet on how many ordinances we perform each day and keeps track if they are endowment or initiatory.  He also notes how many sessions have been cancelled and how many people were on the sessions where he officiates or I am a follower and the number of hours I spend helping with the laundry at the temple.  He checks our electricity meter as we enter the house and has a program on the computer to calculate and estimate the price we will be charged at the stated rates on our bill. He has noticed that they keep changing the rate structure. In the grocery store, they don't have the handy stickers that show the price per ounce in Mexico so Paul will figure out the prices per ounce or gram in his head.  He is aware that not all items in larger packages cost less per ounce.

I can see that person who is truly interested in numbers sees the world a lot differently than those without this gift.