Message—6 February 2012
Dear Family and Friends,
In our last Blog message I mentioned I would share an experience Elder and Sister Ellis had, who just arrived in the mission on January 26th. They are from Friendlywoods Texas, just south of Houston about 45 minutes. They have an infant granddaughter in Texas who is about 4 months old. When the baby was born she had heart defects that required her to have a Berlin artificial heart to keep her alive. She was placed on the list to receive a heart transplant; with not a very likely possibility she would get a heart match in time to prevent her from dying. Elder & Sister Ellis prayed a lot about whether they should proceed with their mission application or wait until the baby received a heart or died. They communicated with the Missionary Department several times to let them know of their concerns about the baby, and then they prayed some more. They finally decided to go ahead and be assigned to a mission and enter the MTC. They received their call and were assigned to enter the MTC on January 16th; this only gave them about 3 weeks to get ready and report to the MTC. They flew to Salt Lake and spent the week in the MTC; then flew back to Texas to get their car and the things they needed to bring to NY. They left Texas on Monday, January 23rd. They arrived in NY the evening of January 26th. When they arrived in NY on Wednesday, they received a call from their daughter, the mother of the baby who needed the heart transplant, informing them that a matching heart had become available and the surgical team were on their way to get the heart and would return with it and first make sure the heart was a match, and do the surgery to place the heart in the baby. The lead doctor of the team said that it was a miracle to him the baby was still alive; she should have died by this time. The heart was a perfect match and was placed into the baby on Thursday. That evening and the next day the medical team watched the baby closely and determined on Friday that the heart was so perfect of a match that they did not need to do any immunity rejection treatments. The baby is doing just perfect and the heart is functioning as though it were the heart the baby was born with. You can think what you want, but to the Ellis’s and their family, and also to us, the Lord’s hand was in this whole process and timing of events and people involved that had to match precisely. The timing of the mission call to Elder and Sister Ellis, the week they were in the MTC and their arrival in NY on the day the surgery was done. The additional miracle of another baby who did not have to stay on earth, who had a heart that perfectly matched the Ellis granddaughter were all divinely planned and guided. Heavenly Father is the perfect master of coordinating and timing events in the lives of His children. Great blessings are bestowed upon those who are willing to serve the Lord and participate in His work to bring the gospel to His children. We have a certain testimony that Heavenly Father and the Savior are providing divine guidance in the lives of those who live on the earth, and in the spirit world.
Tuesday through Friday we spent every day with Elder and Sister Ellis going to the apartments which they will be responsible to check. We shared with them what we have learned about looking after the missionary apartments. We had them participate in the checking of the apartments and filling out the apartment checking forms. We also shared with them our first, as well as their first, experience in finding appropriate furniture for senior couples. We found a furniture warehouse sale and were able to find the furniture; at a very reasonable cost, which will be needed for Elder and Sister Wood when they arrive in the mission on Thursday.
Saturday morning we drove to Mendon NY, one fourth mile from the John Young Home. Elder McVea had arranged with Bob Haven and the office couples, and also President and Sister Christianson; to have an informal sign installation ceremony at the Baptism site where Brigham Young and about 60 other church members were baptized. I explained about this in last week’s blog. We had a good experience together with Bob; and President Christianson gave a dedication prayer. We had a great spiritual experience together. After the ceremony, we drove to Geneseo to check the missionary apartment there; then we returned to our apartment and had part of a P-Day.
We had a great Fast and Testimony meeting on Sunday. Great testimonies were shared; good lessons were taught in Sunday School and Priesthood and Relief Society. The Elders had several new investigator families who had said they were going to come to church, but none of them made it. The Elders were disappointed, but they were not discouraged.
Today we spent the day in the mission office helping with some of the things that need to be done to get ready for missionary transfers which will take place tomorrow. This evening at 6pm we attended the new missionary orientation meeting at the President’s home. Eight new missionaries arrived today; four elders, and four sisters. I also helped Elder McVea with getting four new Subaru cars ready to be switched for older cars with missionaries who come to the transfer meeting tomorrow. It has been a very busy week for us; and will continue to be busy this week.
We express our love and gratitude to all of you for all you do for us, including encouragement, prayers, thoughts, and kindnesses to us. We pray for each of you and hope you will all be blessed according to your needs and the wisdom and love of Heavenly Father.
We know Heavenly Father lives and loves us and blesses us more than we recognize. His Only Begotten Son really is our Savior and Redeemer. President Monson is the living prophet of our day; the Book of Mormon is a powerful source of truth and inspiration and guidance to help us make wise choices with our agency.
Love,
Mom & Dad, Grandma & Grandpa, Richard & Maxine
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