June 18, 2017
Dear Family and Friends,
Well, we’re 7 months down and 11 months to go for our
mission. A little over 1/3 of the way
finished! But who’s counting! It doesn’t seem that long in so many ways,
but it seems forever in other ways. Time
is a funny thing.
To catch you up on a few things happening here:
I had a short stay in the hospital. It was no big deal but definitely a necessary
one. Apparently I had an intestinal
obstruction that needed to get taken care of.
Thank goodness they didn’t have to do emergency surgery. They were able to resolve things with IVs and
meds. Like I said, it was only a 3 day
stay, but I got a first time (&I hope last time) ride in an ambulance, which was kind of
exciting!
I thought we were going to have to take Bruce to the
hospital shortly after I got home. His
skin had flared up so bad! In 46 years
of marriage I’ve never seen it as bad as it’s been the last 4 months. The Dr. gave him steroids, antibiotics, a
shot of something and told him to definitely keep his appointment with the
dermatologist that he had on May 30.
Boy, we leave home and we just start falling apart!! Bruce is on meds and he’s taking light
treatments. His skin is doing a lot
better, but who knows what will happen next week!
We’ll be getting a new mission president July 1. He’s from Salt Lake City. His name is Scott C. Marsh and his wife is
Mary Marsh. He was an adjunct professor
in the financial department at BYU and he owns his own financial planning
business that I think he plans on continuing to run while he’s on this
mission. It will be interesting to see
the changes that will be made once he gets here.
Bruce and I will be moving to a new apartment on
Thursday. It will be a change and we’ve
loved getting to know the Clarks, they are amazing people, but we need to go
some place where Bruce can walk whenever he needs to and get some sun and not
feel so much like a prisoner.
We’ve had several Zone Conferences since my last
letter. We actually went to this last
one and didn’t get lost once! We’re
finally getting the routes down to and from each chapel where we need to go and
I’m finally able to remember which chapels I need to reserve for the Zone
Conferences. This last zone conference
was really good. Elder and Sister Cook
were special speakers. Elder Cook is
some high power attorney that’s working on Trump’s immigration plans. He had an important case in Atlanta the last
day of conference and couldn’t be there, but his wife still came. Sister Cook is from Arizona. Her maiden name was Jenny Farnsworth. I wonder if she’s related to anyone we know
in Arizona? She had some interesting
stories about her mission which she served in Peru. She also had a very interesting true story
that I’d like to share with you about prayer and hope (faith).
The true story of Hien Pham, as related by Rabi
Zacharias….
Shortly after Vietnam
fell, Hien was imprisoned on accusations of helping the Americans. His
jailers tried to indoctrinate him against democratic ideals and the Christian
faith. Over time, it began to take its toll. “Maybe,” he
thought, “I have been lied to. Maybe God does not
exist.” So Hien determined that when he awakened the next day, he
would not pray anymore or think of his faith.
The next morning, he was assigned the dreaded chore of cleaning the prison latrines. As he cleaned out a tin can overflowing with toilet paper, his eye caught what seemed to be English printed on one piece of paper. He hurriedly grabbed it. It had human waste on it. He washed it and put it in his pocket. Later that night, after his roommates had retired, he retrieved the paper and read the words, “Romans, Chapter 8.” Trembling, he began to read, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. … For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:28,38,39.
As it were, there was an official in the camp who was using a Bible as toilet paper. So Hien asked the commander if he could clean the latrines regularly. Each day he picked up a portion of Scripture, cleaned it off, and added it to his collection of nightly reading.
Then the day came when Hien was released from prison. He began to make plans to leave the country and to construct a boat for the escape of 53 others and himself. All was going according to plan until days before their departure. Four Vietcong knocked on Hien’s door and said they had heard of his escape. He denied it and they left. Hien felt relieved, but at the same time disappointed with himself. He made a promise to God—fervently hoping that God would not take him up on it—that if the Vietcong returned, he would tell them the truth. He was thoroughly shaken when only a few hours before they were to set sail, the four men returned. When questioned again, he confessed the truth. To Hien’s astonishment, the men asked if they could go with him!
In an utterly incredible escape plan, all 58 of them found themselves on the high seas, suddenly engulfed by a violent storm. Hien cried out to God, “Did you bring us here to die?” But then he said to me, “Brother Ravi, if it were not for the sailing ability of those four Vietcong, we would not have made it.”
The next morning, he was assigned the dreaded chore of cleaning the prison latrines. As he cleaned out a tin can overflowing with toilet paper, his eye caught what seemed to be English printed on one piece of paper. He hurriedly grabbed it. It had human waste on it. He washed it and put it in his pocket. Later that night, after his roommates had retired, he retrieved the paper and read the words, “Romans, Chapter 8.” Trembling, he began to read, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. … For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:28,38,39.
As it were, there was an official in the camp who was using a Bible as toilet paper. So Hien asked the commander if he could clean the latrines regularly. Each day he picked up a portion of Scripture, cleaned it off, and added it to his collection of nightly reading.
Then the day came when Hien was released from prison. He began to make plans to leave the country and to construct a boat for the escape of 53 others and himself. All was going according to plan until days before their departure. Four Vietcong knocked on Hien’s door and said they had heard of his escape. He denied it and they left. Hien felt relieved, but at the same time disappointed with himself. He made a promise to God—fervently hoping that God would not take him up on it—that if the Vietcong returned, he would tell them the truth. He was thoroughly shaken when only a few hours before they were to set sail, the four men returned. When questioned again, he confessed the truth. To Hien’s astonishment, the men asked if they could go with him!
In an utterly incredible escape plan, all 58 of them found themselves on the high seas, suddenly engulfed by a violent storm. Hien cried out to God, “Did you bring us here to die?” But then he said to me, “Brother Ravi, if it were not for the sailing ability of those four Vietcong, we would not have made it.”
Hien
wept. He knew his Bible, and he knew that there was not a more relevant
passage for one on the verge of surrender. He cried out to God, asking
forgiveness. This was to have been the first day that he would not
pray.
So
as it turned out a soiled, print copy of Roman chapter 8 and four Viet Cong,
were both answers to prayer."
“Old
sailing ships had periods when the wind did not blow. They were ‘dead in the
water.’ But the wind will return. The sails will fill. You will come into
port.” In
other words, our Heavenly Father knows each and every one of us and will answer
our prayers when the time is right for us…on His time line, not ours. Don’t ever stop praying!
We love and miss everyone. YOU are in our thoughts and daily
prayers. Ya-all take care.
Mom and Dad (Bruce & Frances)
