Spiritual Disneyland & Tender Mercies

Entering the Missionary Training Center

I’d been imagining what this day would be like for a long time now. Eric had experienced it as a young missionary as had all of my kids. I think the best description was one that summed it all up in two words…’Spiritual Disneyland’. Disneyland, with its motto of being the happiest place on earth coupled with personal spiritual immersion. Everyone was happy. Everyone was friendly. They all wanted to be there, learning the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Tender Mercies

Maybe you noticed I have a splint on my arm. I was hiking in the White Tank Mountains just a week before we had planned to leave Arizona when I fell. The first thing I said was, “I broke my arm. How can I go on my mission?” This wasn’t the first challenge we’d encountered as we prepared for our mission so we just kept moving forward with faith knowing it would all work out. We had many friends and family praying for us as we left Arizona as scheduled, but as life goes there were more challenges as we learned that the broken bone had ‘displaced’ and surgery was needed. The tender mercies were there in that the doctor, I had just met in Salt Lake City, was able to do the surgery the very next day. The doctor arranged his schedule so that the stitches could be removed before flying out to Sweden. We made it to the MTC as scheduled with an additional titanium plate and 6+ screws in place.

When we turn outward

Throughout our week at the MTC I noticed a car in the parking lot that was loaded to capacity. For days I wondered who is this missionary or missionaries that own this car? Where were they going? 

On Saturday as we neared the time to leave the MTC, I was walking to the parking lot I saw that the car was still there and there was just one person in the car. As this dear sister started the engine, it struggled. Once it got going there was a noticeable, continual rattle. I was immediately struck with the thought that this sister was giving her all. I was brought to tears thinking of what her conversion journey must have been. I chatted with her for a bit and then watched her drive off. I offered a silent prayer that she would be safe and that car would perform properly taking her to her mission

 Her example alone told of her conversion to Christ. Things will rarely be perfect or function perfectly on our missions, whether it be a car engine or a broken wrist, but when we combine our efforts with Christ we can be more.

Visas

We learned in that first week at the MTC that Eric’s Swedish visa had been granted but mine had not. As the days in the MTC progressed, more and more people came on board to help resolve the problem. We really weren’t too worried as we knew that things would eventually be resolved. If we needed to stay in the Salt Lake area for a while before moving to Sweden there must be some things to learn in that experience. On Friday at noon we were scheduled to move to Church Headquarters where they had an apartment we could live in and an assignment to work in Family History. Around 8:30 that morning we got a call saying that the Swedish Government Migration Services had granted a visa for LeAnn, but that it was an electronic copy. We were supposed to have a printed copy in case there were any questions during our travel to Sweden. All the travel was arranged and the assignment in Salt Lake City was dissolved within the hour. With the visas granted we flew out the following Tuesday.following Tuesday.

As we arrived in Amsterdam in route to Stockholm, we were required to go through passport control. As we approached the officer, he asked for the physical copy of the letter from the Swedish Migration Services as he did not have access to any electronic passport information. Knowing we really didn’t have what he was asking for, I immediately bowed my head and said a silent prayer as Eric frantically searched though papers and emails on his phone. Eric found and email from the church travel department stating the visa had been granted, but it was far from official and nothing from the Swedish Migration Services. The officer hardly took a look at the email as he motioned us forward and allowed us through.

“Tender mercies are real. They do not occur randomly or merely by coincidence. Often, the Lord’s timing of His tender mercies helps us to both discern and acknowledge them.”

_{David A Bednar}