Thursday, March 21, 2024

Transitions and celebrations

When we received our mission call in November 2023, we completed the next steps that were needed right away.  This included encouraging our youngest son Jacob to plan his marriage before we left on March 25, 2024.  We put other preparations on hold until we got through the holiday season.   As we entered into January 2024 we began to  plan or prepare our release from our existing responsibilities during the subsequent months.  This blogpost is dedicated to that process and to Jacob's  marriage.  It has been a busy few months full of mixed emotions, heartfelt goodbyes, unplanned transitions, and additional blessings along the way.

Jacob and Deb got married and then we began packing for our mission

The wedding:

Let's start with the biggest event, the wedding!  This occupied our thoughts constantly throughout these past two months.  It was decided to have the marriage on March 15.  This allowed Jake and Deb to have a honeymoon and return to live in our home on Saturday March 23.  After spending the next day together, we would leave on Monday March 25 for our mission, driving that week to Palmyra, New York.

Deb's family is from Dayton, Idaho, which is 2 hours from our home.  Her parents are currently serving a mission in the Philippines.  After a lot of planning in early January, it was decided to hold an open house in Idaho on Thursday, March 14, a temple sealing the next morning at the Jordan River Temple, a luncheon afterwards in our meetinghouse which is close to the temple and then another reception that night in that same meetinghouse.  Both locations were filled with visitors for the entire two hours allotted.

Deb's parents flew in on Monday evening, March 11. We met them in person for the first time the next day for lunch at the Olive Garden. That day was also our wedding anniversary.  We had talked with them in a video call earlier in this planning process.  We spent a lot of time with them on March 14 and 15 and now they have already returned to the Philippines.  Planning these events with Deb's parents in the Philippines left a lot on Deb and Jake's shoulders.  Deb's siblings took a major role in both receptions.  In the two months prior to this special day, there were a lot of discussions of every kind, especially with Jake and Deb.  Somehow, it all worked out, even with a few glitches. 

We had made arrangements for two of Jake's sisters, Melanie and Gina, to fly in for the wedding.  In the end, due to the serious health situation of Melanie's husband, she was not able to come.  More on that later.  However, Gina flew in on March 14 and stayed until March 18.

We don't have the wedding pictures yet, but the following are a few of the photos that I was able to take during those two days:

The open house in Idaho was actually closer to three of our children and their families that live in Cache Valley. It was only a 25 minute drive instead of 90 minutes to South Jordan, so some of them attended the Idaho open house.

Jake and Deb in the line at the Idaho Open House

Jared and Kari came from Cache Valley with their families. We picked Gina up at the airport and
continued onto Idaho.  This photo shows some of them with Debbie at the Idaho open house.

This photo is of Jake with a little girl who is now his niece.  Deb and Jake had tended her and her brother in December in Alaska while their parents were away.  She still remembers Jake.

Before driving to Idaho, Jake, Debbie and I were able to set up our cultural hall for the luncheon the next day.  Then we took Jake, picked up Gina at the airport and headed up to Idaho.  The next day started off with the sealing of this great young couple.  I just want to add a few comments about this sealing ordinance.  Several months ago, we were talking to Jake about who he would like to perform the sealing ordinance.  We have several sealers in our ward that would do a wonderful job.  Then I remembered that Gail Grundvig, the patriarch that gave Jake a patriarchal blessing was now a sealer in the Jordan River Temple.  Jake liked this idea and the arrangements were made.

The entire ceremony was special.  Brother Grundvig started out his remarks telling of the patriarchal blessing that he had given to Jake 15 years previous.  In that blessing it said, "find an eternal companion to take to the house of the Lord to there be sealed for time and for all eternity. . .  As you kneel across the altar from her in the temple to be sealed by a brother who holds the sealing power, this will be a day of great rejoicing for you and your family."  For Brother Grundvig it was a tender mercy to know that he was able to fulfill part of this blessing given 15 years earlier by being that brother "who holds the sealing power".

I think that my favorite part of the two days was when Deb and Jake came to the altar to be sealed.  Deb was just glowing and she had the biggest smile on her face as she looked at Jake.  At that moment I felt the immensity of her love that she has for my son and my heart was full.  I know that she is an elect lady that will be Jake's helpmeet in mortality and eternity.  We are so grateful for her and for their union.

All of Deb's eight siblings and their spouses were with us in the sealing room.  This is an amazing family.  They worked so hard to put on two receptions in two states in two days.  We learned very quickly to love them.

Jake and Deb with Deb's family after the sealing. The twenty individuals are the parents and their 9 living children with their spouses. This is quite a remarkable achievement.

The Sunday before the wedding we were talking about Deb's parents and the missions that they have served.  Deb mentioned that they served a mission for the Perpetual Education Fund to the West Indies, specifically in Guyana.  As we discussed this, I remembered a couple that went to Guyana.  At that time, I remembered a photo that I had published in my autobiography.  It contained some of the PEF missionaries that we had trained at one point in my career.  I went to the book and found this photo which was taken in 2009.  I had highlighted this photo in "My Life Journey" because of the others in that photo that built the PEF program in Europe before we went there on our senior mission.  There on that photo, was myself standing next to Elder Melvin Beutler with Sister Carol Beutler in front of us.  It doesn't change anything but it was a tender mercy to know that our paths had crossed 15 years ago and now our children were being sealed together.

2009 photo of myself with PEF missionaries which included Deb's parents.

A few other Wedding photos that I was able to take;

Debbie putting the finishing touches on our preparations for the luncheon the day before


The wedding luncheon with over 100 in attendance.  This is what you get when you have two large families joined together!

The groom's cake made with Brazilian colors, a soccer ball, Jake's soccer number (10)  and Jake and Deb 

Opening wedding gifts in our home in between the luncheon and the reception that evening so that Deb's parents could participate.  They left to return to the Philippines while Jake and Deb were on their honeymoon.

A photo of the slide show.  This was complicated since the internet had been disabled in our building due to stake conference that weekend and the video was on Google Docs.  We ended up using Deb's password on Debbie's laptop, linked to the hotspot of our son-in-law, Leo, while his phone was attached to the outlet by Gina's adapter.  To make this work we were also assisted by Deb's older brother.

A kiss by the couple after cutting the cake and before leaving the reception that evening.

Their get away vehicle with modest decorations.  I liked the inclusion of Deb's Venmo address on the back window, in case anyone else wanted to contribute.

Two Months of transitions:

Besides the wedding, we had many responsibilities to complete or transition before beginning our mission. We never realized how involved we had been in other things until it came time to prepare for our mission.
  • In January, our bishop asked us what our Activities Committee had planned for the Spring Social.  We told him that we weren't going to be here and we felt a new Activities Chair Couple should be called to get started on that planning.  So our first release happened near the end of January.
  • Debbie has been the editor of our community newsletter, the Sunshine Courier for that past 4+ years.  She told our HOA president that she needed to be replaced.  He found an amazing person who took over these responsibilities after Debbie produced her last edition for the first of February.
  • I have been the assistant treasurer of the HOA, since others in the community do not have similar accounting background.  A new treasurer was elected in the January annual meeting, but it looks like I will continue to help produce the financial statements each month from New York.  This will only take a few hours on a P-day, so it will work out.
  • I file income taxes for the HOA and several of our single sons.  It took most of January and February to complete these several tax returns, but the mission was accomplished.  I will be back next year to handle the tax cycle again.
  • Debbie had been released as an ordinance worker at the Jordan River Temple six months ago.  I continued to serve until the end of February.  This transition was easy, I just stopped showing up.  These are great brethren to serve with.  I will miss this opportunity but we will have similar opportunities on our mission.
  • Debbie and I continued to serve as Service Missionaries until the end of February and it actually carried into the first 11 days of March.  We were able to train another missionary couple on our primary responsibilities in coordinating the interviews of local leadership in the districts of the new temples.  This has been an enjoyable and flexible missionary assignment.  It began when my mother and our daughter, Camila, were still alive and needed our assistance.  They both passed away during the first six months of our mission and then Debbie was diagnosed with heart failure. We had a nice dinner together with most of the group on March 11.  At that time we turned in our Church computers to a new missionary couple that was starting in their Service Mission.
Luncheon with most of the missionaries who were serving with us and a few employees of the Temple Department
  • Debbie has served as the Captain of the local Daughters of Utah Pioneers for the past six years.  Her last meeting was this week, March 19.  She will continue as the second vice captain of the camp but be absent for the next six months.
This is a card that she received at that meeting, signed by just about every one of the members of this camp.
  • I served as the Vice Chair of the Republican Precinct and Debbie has served as the Secretary/Treasurer.  This hasn't been too demanding, but we were very busy on March 5, which was the night of the Caucuses.  We worked hard that night and others were elected to replace us.
This photo was of the foyer of Bingham High School where our caucuses were held.  It was taken 10 minutes after the caucuses were set to begin.  The systems and process did not work.  However, through some creative efforts we were able to get over 60 individuals into our room with standing room only for our caucuses.
  • We have also organized and conducted a Come Follow Me study group, using Zoom, for the last four years.  This began during COVID.  We have met with a group of neighbors and friends every Tuesday at 4:00 pm.  We decided we needed to completely clear our plates and held our last study group on March 5, at least until we return.  Sadly we have lost two of our members of this group who passed away during these two months.
Pat Gardner was our neighbor and we had the privilege to minister to her until a year ago when she moved to St. George.  However, she continued to participate in our study group every Tuesday, until a week before her passing, due to cancer. She had two funerals, one in St. George and one in Salt Lake.  At her funeral here, it ended with a video of her sharing her testimony to her posterity.  It was very powerful.  We miss her.

The Second is our dear friend Joyce Crosby, who was 93 years old.  She passed away last Saturday and we attended her funeral today, March 21.  She was one day younger than my mother and an avid temple goer until her passing.  She would generally go to the temple three times a week and do three endowment sessions each day.  This continued until recently.  Just a month ago she was with some of us in the baptistry as we performed baptisms for her ancestors.  She then participated in the confirmation for the sisters whose names she had brought.
      We are sad to see Joyce go, but are grateful that we could attend her funeral before we left for our mission.

  • We also had some unexpected transitions.  In February, our dryer died.  My mother had brought it to our condo when she moved in 9 years ago.  I don't know how old it was.  Wisely, we purchased the dryer and paid for it to be delivered and installed.  Our space is very tight and it was great to have someone else resolve the issue.
    Carrying our old dryer out
    And installing the new dryer in our closet cubby hole
  • Saying good bye to family is certainly one of the hardest challenges.  With the sacrament meeting talks and the wedding we had many opportunities to say our good byes.  With Gina at our home for a few days after the wedding, she organized one last game night with several of the siblings and their families.  We can never get enough of family.
A kitchen full of different games and . . . 

more in the other room
  • Our most difficult challenge these past few months has been the health of our son-in-law, James DeVore.  He has suffered from liver cancer.  In the treatment process, his kidneys have failed and he has been given a very short time to live.  He will leave behind our daughter Melanie and six sons.  We are planning to see them in Pennsylvania right before beginning our mission.  We don't know if he will make it that long.  We heard this news on Valentine's Day.  As we talked about it with James, I felt a strong impression that this is one of the reasons that we have been called to the Palmyra Temple to serve.  It is only a four hour drive from their home.  We feel that during the next six months that proximity will bring opportunities to support this family in ways that we do not yet understand.
A recent photo taken of this family for the last time.
  • Of course we have had the opportunity to speak in our ward on March 10.  Debbie spoke of Submitting her Will to the Lord and my topic was Expecting Miracles.  We both tied the topics to the processes of this past year.  During this time we know that the Lord has guided our actions and thoughts.  We know that he wants us to serve this mission, even with Debbie's health challenges.  We don't know what our future holds, but we do know that our Lord knows and we are striving to do what He asks us to do.  The content of our sacrament meeting talks is included at the end of this blogpost.
Our March 10 sacrament meeting program

Other Special Events and Activities:

In the course of preparation to leave, we have done many things for "the last time".  The following describes some of them:

Temple Ordinances:
In January we enjoyed our last temple sealing session with Debbie's siblings.  All living were there as once again we did a double sealing session with a dinner afterwards.  This has become the highlight of our association with each other in our mature years.  A month later, we were able to do the same with three of my brothers and a sister-in-law.  We are blessed to have faithful and dear siblings.  We love them and can't think of a better place to be with them than the temple.

In February we had our last baptisms for the dead activity with our grandchildren.  We held this one in the Brigham City Temple so that our grandson Ashton could participate, since he lives in Hyrum.  We had five grandchildren there.  We love their wonderful attitudes of service to our ancestors.

Afterwards, we took Ashton back to his home, celebrated his birthday and had a planning meeting for this year's teenage cousin retreat which will be held in Palmyra. We have permission to have them with us for a long weekend in July.  We are excited for them to experience these sacred sites.  We anticipate these five and one more flying from Utah and joining with their Pennsylvania cousins.  We will have two mothers helping out with the logistics.  More about that later.

Five grandchildren at the Brigham City Temple

Five grandchildren excited about our cousins retreat with their preliminary agendas in hand

50 years as a member of the Church with an amazing posterity:
On March 10, I was invited to participate in a celebration of the baptism of Antonia Correa.  She and her husband were baptized in the last area of my young mission in the last month of my mission.  I was not directly involved in this baptism except most likely in holding the baptismal interviews.  We have become friends with this family which now has produced over 30 missionaries and countless leadership to the Church in Brazil.  We got reacquainted with this family when a granddaughter of Sister Antonia became the missionary companion of our daughter, Gina.  On this video celebration there were over twenty families connected as they shared their stories of faith that came from this blessed baptism 50 years ago.

Part of the 24 connections in this special commemoration

More grandchildren productions:

We were blessed to attend a few more activities of the Hillcrest High School choirs and theater groups.  Each included the participation of our grandson Joshua and his brother Jon in the last play that we attended.  

Joshua was part of the Voice Ensemble that performed at this Renaissance Feast fundraising dinner

Joshua with other members of the choirs at this special evening

Joshua and Jon after their performance of James 1, about the King of Scotland

Our Youngest Grandchild:

We had a few short tending opportunities for our youngest grandchild, little Austin, that was born in January.  He is always full of wonderful smiles.




In one of these visits we saw this beautiful new photo of this special family.  They have their hands full but are doing very well:


My Birthday and Anniversary:

We took time to celebrate my birthday in February and our 26th Wedding anniversary on March 12.  Our efforts are usually a little low key.  But we do share some gifts, a dinner, and some nice entertainment.

Tom's Birthday:

A new suit a few other surprises

Blowing out the 71st candle on a coconut cream pie from Schmidt's

Enjoying Fiddler on the Roof at the Hale Center Theatre, great performance of a favorite musical

26th Wedding Anniversary:
This occurred right before the wedding.  We were able to go to the temple together in the morning, have lunch with Deb's parents and then enjoy a movie at the movie theater, Cabrini.

Our anniversary gifts, flowers and chocolates

In front of the Jordan River Temple after a session.  The same place that we were married 26 years before.

Birthdays of Children and Grandchildren:

We always have plenty of birthdays to celebrate.  Here are a few that we got photos of:

Tiare turning 10

And blowing out her cake

Ashton turning 13, celebrated right after the baptisms for the dead

Hayvin turning three and being potty trained

Rylee and Quinn also turning three, three days later

Jon, turning 16.  His present will arrive in the next day or two.  The card highlights the book, the play of James I, II, and III

Ben turning 40

Transition from one mission to the other:

As we finished one mission, our computers were returned.  The space has now been replaced with our suitcases as we pack to leave for Palmyra next week.  We are also transitioning our home to be ready for Jake and Deb, cleaning things that should have been cleaned long ago, the garage, the oven and the refrigerator.

Our computer worktable without our computers, but as a backdrop to our suitcases.

Our missionary talks:

Debbie's Talk: SUBMITTING TO GOD’S WILL

Today I wish to talk about submitting our will to God’s will. What does it mean to submit our will to God’s will? Submitting to God’s will is recognizing that God’s plan may not always align with our desires, but trusting that His wisdom surpasses our understanding. True submission means yielding to God’s terms without negotiation. It is acknowledging that we are in the Lord’s hands and surrendering without preconditions.

In a hallmark talk titled “Swallowed Up in the Will of the Father given by Elder Neal A Maxwell in April 1995 he said,  “The submission of one’s will is really the only uniquely personal thing we have to place on God’s altar. The many other things we “give,” brothers and sisters, are actually the things He has already given or loaned to us. However, when you and I finally submit ourselves, by letting our individual wills be swallowed up in God’s will, then we are really giving something to Him! It is the only possession which is truly ours to give!”

Elder David A. Bednar has emphasized that strong faith in the Savior is submissively accepting of His will and timing in our lives—even if the outcome is not what we hoped for or wanted. In another address he said “Righteousness and faith certainly are instrumental in moving mountains—if moving mountains accomplishes God’s purposes and is in accordance with His will. Righteousness and faith certainly are instrumental in healing the sick, deaf, and lame—if such healing accomplishes God’s purposes and is in accordance with His will. Thus, even if we have strong faith, many mountains will not be moved. And not all of the sick and infirm will be healed. If all opposition were curtailed, if all maladies were removed, then the primary purposes of the Father’s plan would be frustrated.”

“Many of the lessons we are to learn in mortality can be received only through the things we experience and sometimes suffer. And God expects and trusts us to face temporary mortal adversity with His help so we can learn what we need to learn and ultimately become what we are to become in eternity.”

Jesus Christ is the perfect example of submitting His will to the will of the Father. 

In John 5:30 we read  “I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.”

Elder Benjamin De Hoyos taught, “Jesus Christ’s example of subjecting the flesh to the will of the Father is particularly evident in His atoning sacrifice. His great suffering and His plea to the Father in Gethsemane—“O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt” reveal His great willingness to open the way for us and the great love both He and His Father have for each of us.

As we follow the Savior’s example of humility in facing opposition in all things, we know He will always sustain us.”

In an address given by Alan Parkinson on May 14, 2002 he said,

“In the Savior’s life it is clear that His day-to-day actions were influenced by His desire to do His Father’s will. Is this true for us also? Does a desire to do the Father’s will have implications for us in the commonplace day-to-day aspects of our lives? I would submit that it does.

Striving to understand and do the Father’s will is connected with what it means to go throughout each day with a prayer in your heart. Such a prayer is accompanied by a desire to be open to the promptings of the Holy Ghost. Further, as we seek Heavenly Father’s will, we adopt an attitude of humility and submissiveness that helps open the door to feel those promptings.”

July 2004 Elder Benjamin De Hoyos gave some suggestions of ways we can submit to the Father’s will. 

1.    We can serve with all our “heart, might, mind and strength”.

2.    We can lay aside the temporal things in our daily lives to go to the house of the Lord and perform saving work for others.

3.    We can regularly attend sacrament meeting to partake of the sacrament, 

4.    We can fast regularly, drawing near to our Heavenly Father, giving a fast offering, and seeking out the needy. 

5.    We can forget our own needs and relinquish our own comfort; when we make time to visit others. “succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees”

6.    We can be “anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of [our] own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness”

 Each year I choose a word for the year. It is usually something I feel I need to improve on. The past few years my words were Charity, Compassion and Joy.

This year I chose the word submit. I felt I needed to improve my willingness to submit my will to the will of the Father. I have found that when I choose a certain word the Lord gives me plenty of opportunities to improve in that particular area. These opportunities are not always pleasant. Often, I have found myself outside my comfort zone. Last year I felt that I did lots of submitting as I dealt with my diagnosis of heart failure. Being in the hospital, going to doctors sometimes three times a week, having lab work done repeatedly, having a variety of tests and procedures were all out of my control. All I could do was to submit to those who were trying to help me stabilize so I could continue living.  I would like to share an opportunity the Lord gave me to submit my will, not to doctors, but to God. 

Before my heart failure Tom and I had planned on submitting mission papers to serve a full-time mission as our circumstances had changed and we felt it was the right time to concentrate ourselves to the Lord’s work. We knew of an opportunity to serve in the Palmyra Temple and were very interested in that particular opportunity. When I received the shocking diagnosis of heart failure our world was turned upside down. Plans for any kind of mission were quickly put on the back burner. We consecrated all of our energy into helping me recover. We started our mission papers in early August so we could get the dental exams done. I was scheduled for an electrocardiogram the end of August. We received the results on September 5th which showed that my heart function had gone from 20% to 45%. We were ecstatic. We went ahead with plans to serve a mission. At this time, I returned to working as an ordinance worked in the temple. After two weeks I found that I became so exhausted that I couldn’t finish my shift. I decided to get released as a temple worker and begin serving as a patron which I could do. I began to doubt whether or not I could serve a fulltime mission. I felt uncomfortable turning mission papers into the mission department not knowing if I could do what would be required. I knew that Tom really wanted to go on another mission. It had been something that he had looked forward to for a long time. September 15th, before we began our date night I asked Tom to just listen to what I wanted to say. I didn’t want him to respond or say anything. I just wanted him to listen. I expressed my concerns and doubts about serving a mission. Tom just listened and didn’t say a word as requested. We prayed throughout the weekend together and separately. Tom had an amazing spiritual experience with the Lord and we decided to put things on hold until I felt comfortable about going forward or, we chose to not pursue a mission.

He said he would be okay with whatever I decided even if it meant that we would not serve another mission. We cancelled our physicals that were scheduled a few days later. A little less than 2 weeks later we enjoyed General Conference together. During the Saturday afternoon session, we listened to Elder Rasband give a powerful, pleading talk inviting senior couples to serve full time missions. 

In his talk he said, “Today I am speaking to the many seasoned seniors in the Church who could serve as missionaries. The Lord needs you. We need you in New York and Chicago, Australia and Africa, Thailand and Mexico, and everywhere in between.”  Yes, he actually said New York. When Elder Rasband shared with us that during assigning missionaries to their fields of labor he found there were only 10 couples who had submitted requests to serve missions he was a little surprised and asked his associate from the Missionary Department, “How many do we need this week to fill the requests?” He responded, “300.”

That was sobering moment for Elder Rasband, 10 couples to fill 300 requests.

It was also a sobering moment for me. In that moment I knew that the Lord wanted Tom and I to turn in our papers to serve another full-time mission. I didn’t say anything to Tom in that moment. After the session ended Tom immediately left to pick up our son who was going to watch the 6:00 session with us. Nothing was said by either of us about Elder Rasband’s talk until the next morning. Before the morning session of conference began, I told Tom what had happened to me during Elder Rasband’s talk about the need for senior missionaries. Needless to say, he was overjoyed. The next few weeks were filled with miracle after miracle which led to our receiving our call on November 14th, to serve in the Palmyra temple. In New York!  I was finally willing to submit my will to the will of the Father. To quote Elder Maxwell again “However, when you and I finally submit ourselves, by letting our individual wills be swallowed up in God’s will, then we are really giving something to Him! It is the only possession which is truly ours to give!” And now I am willing to give it. 

This is my testimony that the Lord is in the details of our lives. When we let Him prevail, miracles happen.


Tom's Talk
- Expect Miracles

Two years ago, we were caring for my mother who was getting older and a daughter who was in a care facility. At this time, we were guided to an opportunity to serve a mission from home with the Temple Department.  This has been a unique privilege that worked exceptionally well with our personal situation. During this time, both my mother and our daughter have passed away and Debbie has been diagnosed and treated for heart failure.  Tomorrow we officially complete that mission.

 Let me just give a small recap of that mission.  We were called to serve as a resource to support the Temple Department as they have been charged with the planning and operation of the many new temples announced by President Nelson.  I believe that the experiences and blessings that we have received far exceed the efforts that we contributed.  Our main role has been to work with the Planning Team, but we have also helped with other special projects.  We have conducted remote interviews with Priesthood and Temple leaders throughout the world at days and times convenient to them.  It has been a unique privilege to feel the faith of these leaders in developing countries and where the Church is established.  These interviews have been to evaluate the situations in housing for patrons and temple leadership and evaluated the roles of Temple Leadership, sealers, shift coordinators and ordinance workers.  Our primary role has been to interview Stake leadership in stakes where new temples will be dedicated in the next 18 months.  I want to share a few examples of the faith that we have felt:

  • As we interviewed a young ordinance worker in Cape Verde, she shared the following story, which was very inspiring:  Before the temple was dedicated, she started doing her own family history.  She prepared the information for her grandmother in Family Search and sent it to the temple to have the work done.  When the temple was dedicated, she was not able to access the ordinance on-line because it had already been assigned to a temple.  One day when she was tired and stressed, the Spirit told her to go to the temple right away.  She obeyed.  When she received her new name, the name she received to be proxy for was the name of her grandmother that she had previously shared with the temple.  She knew that the Lord had spoken to her to go to the temple and understood her needs and desires.  This greatly increased her testimony of the Lord's involvement in the work for the dead and in His love for her.
  • Hundreds of worthy members in Texas across the border from Mexico have been waiting many years to have their temple ordinances performed, without access to existing temples. These ordinances are now possible as the McAllen Texas temple was dedicated in October of last year.
  • The Nanuque, Brazil District rejoices in the new Salvador Brazil temple which will reduce their travel time from 22 to 14 hours.  Other temples that have been announced will decrease it further to 6 hours. They can now leave for their temple trips on Monday morning instead of Sunday afternoon to arrive at the temple by Monday night.
  • Several Navajo chiefs and women near the Farmington New Mexico Temple have shared the dreams that they have had about the new temple with missionaries at the temple construction site. They now call it “Their temple”.  
  • We talked to a stake president in Nairobi, Kenya last week.  They currently have about 180 recommend holders who have been to the temple, mostly one time.  He told us that there are more than 100 more who are waiting to go to the new temple.  He enthusiastically announced that he could get 350 temple workers, half of the adults in his stake for the temple that will be dedicated in the near future.  These members have never experienced a temple that they can go to more than once in their lifetime.

These are just a few of the many, many lives that are being touched by having temples closer to the members.  Many are still far, far away.  I believe that these many temples are part of “the greatest manifestations of the Savior’s power” that President Nelson has promised us between now and the time Jesus Christ returns. He also said that “He will bestow countless privileges, blessings, and miracles upon the faithful.” (Oct. 2022)

That leads me to the theme of my talk, that of miracles.  In August 2022 during our Come Follow Me study of Proverbs, I was prompted to seek counsel and reproof from the Lord.  As I sought Him in prayer, I received direction to “Expect Miracles”.  President Nelson had been using this phrase in his recent talks so I decided to study this principle more diligently and act in more faith to “expect miracles”.  

 In April 2021, “Christ is Risen; Faith in Him Will Move Mounts” President Nelson said:

“Moving your mountains may require a miracle. Learn about miracles. Miracles come according to your faith in the Lord. Central to that faith is trusting His will and timetable—how and when He will bless you with the miraculous help you desire. Only your unbelief will keep God from blessing you with miracles to move the mountains in your life . . . The Savior is never closer to you than when you are facing or climbing a mountain with faith . . . Third, act in faith. What would you do if you had more faith? Think about it. Write about it. Then receive more faith by doing something that requires more faith.”

 In April 2022, “The Power of Spiritual Momentum” President Nelson said:

 “Suggestion number 4: Seek and expect miracles.

Moroni assured us that “God has not ceased to be a God of miracles.” Every book of scripture demonstrates how willing the Lord is to intervene in the lives of those who believe in Him . . . Each of these miracles took time and may not have been exactly what those individuals originally requested from the Lord.
In the same way, the Lord will bless you with miracles if you believe in Him, “doubting nothing.” Do the spiritual work to seek miracles. Prayerfully ask God to help you exercise that kind of faith. I promise that you can experience for yourself that Jesus Christ “giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.” Few things will accelerate your spiritual momentum more than realizing the Lord is helping you to move a mountain in your life.”

 I pondered on this subject for more than a week, trying to decide how to expect a miracle.  One night as I was praying about this, I understood that faith to expect miracles generally did not apply to things that are dependent on the agency of others or on God’s will.  These miracles should relate to things that are clearly the will of God.  As I prayed further, I was impressed to expect the following miracles;

  • Learn to love Isaiah.  Our study of Isaiah was coming up and I knew that the Lord wanted me to love Isaiah.  I committed to study as much as I could and depended on him to answer my prayer.
  • Receive personal revelation more readily in my daily worship efforts. 

During those following weeks, we had a grandchild born, requiring our tending three grandchildren for a few days, a wedding with our son and a baptism in Texas for another granddaughter.  Our time was at a premium.  As I did all within my power to study the very best that I could, I found myself loving the words of Isaiah and anxiously searching His words. It consumed me and even led to our celebration of Isaiah in our ward on the October fifth Sunday lesson. This miracle was accomplished and I will always have warm feelings as I read the words of Isaiah.

To receive better personal revelation, I started improving my fasting to gain the promise of Isaiah, that the Lord will say “Here I am”.  In November of that year our daughter, Camila, died and my mind was heavy and pondering what to share in my talk at her funeral. As I pondered my thoughts in prayer, my Heavenly Father began revealing a message to be shared, almost word for word. I stopped the prayer and began writing two pages of notes and then returned to give gratitude in prayer. One more page of notes was revealed to me. These notes became the basis of the funeral talk that I delivered with most of my posterity in attendance. This fulfilled the miracle that I was expecting. 

On May 15, 2023, six months later, while studying about the young man who asked the Savior “What Lack I Yet?”, I offered a “What Lack I Yet?” prayer.  My mind went to my answer the previous year, to “expect miracles”.  As I pondered the miracles that I wanted or needed, my thoughts went to . . .  my continuing desire to serve another full-time mission, if the Lord desires that for us . . . For a mission I promised to wait until Debbie has a positive result with her heart. If the doctors would allow her to serve, I felt that we should submit papers for a short-term mission to the Palmyra Temple or whatever the Lord would see fit to call us to do. Otherwise, we could continue to serve in our stay-at-home mission. In June I shared this impression with Debbie; Her response was “I have consecrated my life to the will of the Lord”; I had faith, that if it was the Lord’s will, Debbie would be in agreement. We then started the mission process which Debbie has described.

One special miracle that the Lord provided for me occurred on that weekend when Debbie asked for me to listen as she shared some very personal feelings. I listened, a little in shock, but had agreed to just listen.  That night and the next morning I prayed to the Lord to try and understand, especially because of the feelings that I had been experiencing.  As I prayed on Saturday morning, the Lord told me very clearly that being united with Debbie should be my number one priority.  No matter what we did, we needed to be united in how we moved forward. . . I told Debbie that the most important thing for me was for us to be united and asked her to read my journal entry about expecting miracles so that she could understand where I was coming from.  On Sunday morning, September 17, I continued to pray.  The Lord once again answered my prayer in part, letting me know that I should not question Debbie’s faith, for her faith was not lacking. . . As the day continued, I pondered why I felt so strong about serving a mission . . . this made me consider my motives, recognizing that the desires of my heart, although of good intent, were driven by my personal desires and by some prideful thoughts. During the sacrament service on September 17, I felt all of those personal desires transform into a full acceptance of God’s will and a desire to accept whatever Debbie was able to accept, knowing that her heart was right and in tune with Heavenly Father. This transformation made me marvel at how my heart could change.

By the time that we came home from Church, I was feeling very comfortable with letting Debbie decide and accepting her feelings. . . I wanted us to kneel in prayer together to make sure that we were united, as this was now my top priority.  As we prayed, my prayer was to leave it up to the Lord and Debbie’s feelings. During that prayer I realized perhaps my greatest reason to serve a mission.  I did not want to have regrets of not serving if the Lord wanted us to serve.  I do believe that this is a valid and important reason.  Other than that, I felt total peace in leaving this up to Debbie to consider if and when she felt enough strength.  

I continued to have peace with this decision and direction. . . A few days after this experience Debbie told me how much she appreciated my change of heart.  It validated her voice greatly in our relationship.  I feel that this may have been the most important miracle that has occurred, my ability to change my heart and give her the space that she needs.  She recognized that any further steps in the mission process depended on her and that I would be totally supportive of her decision.  If we chose to serve later and miss the opportunity in Palmyra, that was okay, for it would be the will of our Heavenly Father.  Of that I was certain.

Two weeks later, on the Saturday morning of General Conference, September 30, I prayed that the Lord would give me personal direction in General Conference. I added that if the Lord wanted us to serve a mission, please help Debbie to feel that impression during General Conference. That very day, at the end of the Saturday afternoon session, Elder Ronald A. Rasband, of the quorum of the twelve apostles, gave a talk dedicated to senior missionary service with a passionate plea for more senior missionaries. You have heard the rest of this story as shared by Debbie. 

One of the many miracles that followed was in our interview with President Hair.  This was the first time that we had talked with him face to face.  Miraculous circumstances allowed him to spend over an hour with us. Debbie described this as a “sacred experience” and I agree. This mission call was a completion of the first step of this Expect Miracles process. We fully expect to see many more miracles during the course of our mission. We are “trusting His will and timetable”.  President Nelson’s promise has been fulfilled in our lives during this past year: I promise that you can experience for yourself that Jesus Christ “giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.”

In my prayer last May, I also asked for a miracle to understand my role in assisting one of our sons, who was returning to full activity in the Church.  I was instructed to “Behold Him” as the Savior had done.  Now that son will be married in the temple this week.  Our relationship with him and his new bride has exceeded all expectations. They will live in our condominium while we are on our mission and will attend this ward.  

I testify that President Russell M. Nelson is a prophet of God.  I know that if we hearken to his inspired counsel which he continuously gives us, miracles will occur in our lives.

“But, my dear brothers and sisters, so many wonderful things are ahead. In coming days, we will see the greatest manifestations of the Savior’s power that the world has ever seen. Between now and the time He returns “with power and great glory,” He will bestow countless privileges, blessings, and miracles upon the faithful.” (President Russell M. Nelson - Oct 2022)