Keep Looking for Miracles and Ways to Be Miracles for Others!

 July 14, 2024

Mom's Sacrament Meeting talk

Keep looking for miracles and ways to be miracles for others!

 This is my current favorite sign off on a letter from Jace. He always gives some kind of challenge or a request for prayers for his new friends. I love reading his letters! Through them I see so much growth in him.  Weekly video calls are great to chat and see his face, but the letters really show the change in him.

From his First letter:

I would like y'all to ponder something. When was the last time you felt the Spirit? I pray that we can all find the places we need to be to feel Christ's love for us. I say these things in His name, Heavenly Father's Beloved Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.

From this weeks letter, 7 months later:

On our way back from the library we got to talk to a lady named Regina. We asked her how she was doing, and she gave the answer of "that's a hard question." So we talked a little bit about life and taught her about the Book of Mormon. … we were able to get her number and set up another time to meet with her. She seems super cool, so I'd like y'all to have prayers for her in the back of your mind. 

He and his companions have had many gifts of being in the right place at the right time.

 

Jace is serving in the Minnesota Minneapolis mission with President & Sister Gochnour. They call it the 1M mission, One in purpose, One in mission.

 

His first area was in Ashland, Wisconsin in a branch of 30 really committed members about 4 hours north of the mission home. He felt really comfortable there because it felt like home, having grown up in little town Pinedale, WY. The area is right on the borders of Minnesota, Wisconsin & Michigan and includes the Bad River Chippewa Native American reservation. While in Ashland, Jace and his companion were driving down a snow covered road at night and hit a deer. No one was hurt and the car had only cosmetic damage. Jace explained in his letter, “We made a joke out of it, because our zone is trying to focus on "inspired knocking." We inspired knocked him into the next life.” They had some amazing highs while in Ashland as well. A single mom and 2 of her 3 children chose to be baptized and the next week another friend was baptized as well! Such an exciting time!

 

Jace is now serving in Rochester, MN, home of the Mayo Clinic, with his MTC companion! Jace wrote, “Rochester is such a party! It's so weird being sent from a huge, spread out branch to a super close city where you see at least one other set of missionaries every day.”

 

Having a missionary serving from our family is a blessing.

With Jace, we have had 4 of our children choose to serve missions.

Brielle served in the Dominican Republic, Baylee in Peru, Jaxon started in Uganda then finished at Church Headquarters and now Jace in Minnesota. Each had their Highs and Lows.

Bri left for the MTC in the Dominican Republic in July of 2014 and spent the first 6 months of her mission the way most missionaries do – getting used to the area, learning the language, finding friends to teach. February of 2015 Baylee received her mission call.  March 15, 2015 we received a call that Bri had been injured in an accident. She spent a week in the hospital in The Dominican Republic then Sister Douglas, the mission presidents wife flew home with her, where she spent a couple of weeks in the UofU burn unit. She recovered well enough to return to her mission July 15, 2015. Baylee left for her mission in Peru on July 1, 2015. She also had the usual highs and lows. She even experienced Dengue fever but failed to mention that to us until she returned home. So, we had 2 sister missionaries serving from July 2015 to June 2016. Almost a whole year! In the middle of that year in February of 2016, we had a fire in our home and moved a few times before our new home was completed in December of 2016, days before Baylee returned home.

Jaxon left for the South Africa MTC in January of 2019. Things had started changing in the way missionaries communicate with families, so we were able to call and message him through WhatsApp. It was quite a challenge to send an 18 year old all the way across the world! He loved the MTC but struggled with the crazy life in Uganda. He returned home then began his service in the Church Headquarters mission in the Global Services Department working on the Gospel Library app and the Area Book app in Mission Support. We were still living in Pinedale at the time, so Jaxon lived with family here in SLC and commuted to church headquarters M-F. Until COVID.. and Jaxon went home to Pinedale. Because his work was already on the computer, he was able to log in from home and continue his mission through May 2020. Highs and Lows for each.

 

Having a missionary serving from your family is a blessing, but it isn’t always easy. We all have grown from the experiences we have had along with our missionaries.

March 10, 2019 - Master the tempest is raging

On March 10, 2019, I wrote the following letter to Jaxon while he was in Uganda struggling with the decision to return home:

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This past week in the Come Follow Me study we read Mark 4:35-41. You may have read it too. This is the story of Jesus and his disciples crossing the sea in a ship and a great storm arises. Being afraid, the disciples rush to find Jesus and He is asleep on a pillow in the back part of the ship. Of course, they woke Him and asked, "Carest thou not that we perish?". The disciples were so afraid. So Jesus arose and used his priesthood power to calm the storm by saying, "Peace. Be still." Immediately there was a great calm. 

 

We can incorporate this story into our lives by remembering when life gets like a crazy storm or it seems like everything around us is against us, (Or when we are asking, “Carest thou not that my child is hurt or sick and I can’t get to her?” or “Carest thou not that my child is struggling on the other side of the world?” or “Carest thou not that my child has stepped away?”) we only need to turn to the Savior and He will calm our storms. Things might not be completely reversed or stopped but He will help US to be calm amid the chaos. 

 

I have always loved the hymn Master the Tempest is Raging. Not your average hymn. 

You’re singing it now aren’t you? “The winds and the waves will obey His will. Peace, Be still.”

 

There is one thing I learned this time I studied this story that I hadn't thought about before. Throughout the journey on the ship, Jesus was there. He was there through it all experiencing it with them. Even before the disciples turned to Him for help. 

So I need to remember He is there with me, and you, in all that we are experiencing, waiting for us to ask for His intervention. Just like the picture where Jesus is standing at the door without a handle. He is there knocking, waiting for us to let Him in. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

I asked my children here at home how Jace serving a mission has blessed their lives. Baylee, who is now married with 3 adorable little boys (I swear Im not biased!) shared some thoughts:

It has been super helpful and super cute to have the boys praying for him, having that specific something to pray for. They each do it on their own, it’s often Eli’s (the 3year old) first thing when he starts his prayer. He says, “Dear Heavenly Father, bless Jace in his mission” and then he will sit quietly and kind of roll his eyes up in his head until we prompt him with something else to say.” She continues, “ I feel like we have more opportunities to discuss missionary work since we can follow it up with “just like Jace on his mission, right boys?”

 

She is right. I find I am always looking for things to share with Jace, either from the Come Follow Me podcasts I listen to, or from the scripture of the day that the bookshelf app sends to me, even from Facebook or Instagram posts! Looking for these things adds light and joy to my life everyday.

 

Elder Kearon gave a talk to missionaries at the MTC in Provo on June 22, 2024. He quoted from page 3 of Preach My Gospel and Doctrine and Covenants 79:1, “You are called and set apart to ‘proclaim’ glad tidings of great joy, even the everlasting gospel.” He wanted to emphasize the importance of Joy in sharing the gospel. He said, “you are led by optimists…stop worrying so much—just work hard and be happy.” My favorite quote from his talk was when he quoted Acting President Jeffery R. Holland who shared the following poem from Robert Louis Stevenson:

Find out where joy resides, and give it a voice far beyond singing. For to miss the joy is to miss all.

Joy. I guess you can say that is the blessing from having a missionary serving from our family. Through the Highs and Lows we can still find the Joy because we know who Jace is serving. Who we all can choose to serve. Our wonderful Savior, Jesus Christ. I love Him.

 

In, His name, Jesus Christ, amen.