A Strenuous Saturday
You sometimes wonder if God really does know your every need
and then a miracle happens and you see his hand in your life. Saturday I
searched for and found, then organized my photos taken between 1995 and 2001
when my family lived in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, because I said I would on
my last blog post. What an overwhelming task.
No I hadn’t written dates or people’s names on the back. I’d taken them
to the FamilySearch History Center where they have a world class scanner. But
it took me hours just to sort them by year, mostly using the paper package they
came back in after developing. Most of them at WalMart. Yes Guadalajara has a
WalMart. Fortunately they wrote the date on that package. By this time I
realized I could only scan a few things before my energy ran out: the cover and
a page from three books, a photo of my mom and her friend and a couple pages
from a booklet from the 1980 World Conference on Records held in Salt Lake
City.
Remember how in my last post I hadn’t really felt my life
worthy of telling about; I’m just a plain regular person. While hunting for
Mexico photos I found this booklet from the 1980 World Conference on Records by
George D. Durrant entitled:
THE
IMPORTANCE OF PERSONAL AND FAMILY HISTORY by George D.Durrant: Born in Utah.
Resides in Salt Lake City, Utah. Director, Genealogical Department, The Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Ed.D., Brigham Young University. Author,
lecturer, teacher.
He says, “When I was asked to talk about the
importance of a personal and family history, my first thought was, "Why
me?" Why not get someone whose life has been filled with excitement and
accomplishment and whose family has been among the elite?”
A Sacred Sunday
Saturday was exhausting and left me in a great deal of pain.
So much so, that I wasn’t sure if I could attend all of my meetings on Sunday.
I am our Ward Employment Specialist so I attend Ward Council a couple times a
month at 7:15 a.m. But recently I noticed that if I am found doing the right
thing, am in the right place, at the right time, I am blessed to be physically
sustained to endure the day better. Usually this occurs on Sundays.
It was fast and testimony meeting Sunday and I’d attended
the council meeting, and was praying that God would help me to serve others,
remain positive about my circumstances and help me on the anniversary of my
husband, Bob’s, death on May 9th.
You never know how an approaching date can affect you.
Brother Platt told the story of his brother’s tragic death a year ago and how
he’d never understood why people reacted to this type of anniversary, until
this year. With tears, and anguish on his faith he said he kept reviewing all
the events leading up to his death. It was hard. You could tell his heart was
broken, even knowing the Plan of Salvation and that he was spiritually still
alive, just on the other side of the veil.
This reminds me of how Heavenly Father must have felt
watching his son, Jesus the Christ, during that week leading up to his
death and resurrection. How important it is for us to remember those events.
They are sacred to God, and to us. We remember them every Easter.
Cast of Characters
Here is a photo of our family of five taken in Ontario,
California just before we left for Mexico in 1995. It is the cast of main characters for my
Mexico stories that I’ll be sharing on this blog over the next months.
 |
| Bev, Bob, Brianna, Ruthe and Harriett the cat |
A Miraculous Monday
In just one hour, my life changed and I saw God’s hand in my
life! There definitely are stories that only I can tell. Here is the one that
made a Miraculous Monday.
Two months ago the Pima Council on Aging sent a
representative out to my house to assess my needs. This past month my physical
needs changed drastically. I can hardly walk safely and am using walkers,
walls, door jambs and furniture to get around in my house, so I don’t fall. On
Monday morning Gerry, their representative and my case worker ran late for her
appointment with me because of the Ina Road closure at highway I 10. This
construction work is disrupting traffic for the next two years. Sigh. She
called at fifteen minutes after the hour saying she’d be at my house located
seven miles west of I-10 in another fifteen minutes. Why do I tell you this timing? This is where
the miracle begins.
Mandy, my ward Relief Society President called minutes after
Gerry called, asking if her family could come over at 6 p.m. for Family Home
Evening and give service for me ie., dusting, vacuuming, doing dishes and
cleaning floors. Wow, sure I said. I’d no more hung up from her call, when my
landlady, Kim, who lives next door, called and said it was a hard thing to have
to say, but that I would have to move out of my house in July. Of course, my
heart plunged and I asked if she could come over and meet with the PCOA lady
who was just then walking up to my door, so we could all talk.
The short of it is that Kim has a smaller house right across
the street from us where her tenant’s lease will be up July 1st. Because they need to refinance this property
where we live, I need to move. They will gut this place and use it as a place
of business. She said I could take anything from this place that I needed to
use at the new house. This includes ramps, window air conditioners, raised
toilet, etc.
Gerry had already looked at my bathroom and said it was
dangerous for me to be getting in and out of the tub to bathe. The new house
has a master bedroom with a bath that has a walk in shower! Problem of safety
solved. AND ALL OF THIS FOR $120 LESS A MONTH FOR RENT. NO FIRST AND LAST MONTH
RENT AND NO SECURITY DEPOSIT REQUIRED EITHER. My prayers have been answered.
Further Potential Miracles May Follow
Timing and communication are so important. Monday evening I
was able to relate to the RS President what was going on so she could present
the circumstances of my housing to the Ward Council. Kim has a single wide trailer
at the front of my new address, and the tenant there will be leaving also. It
is my hope that through my LDS network, we can find her a new renter and help
them get moved in and I'll have a lovely neighbor.
Gerry’s needs may be met because PCOA is hunting for Direct
Home Care Workers who live West of the I-10 freeway. They will screen and train
them. Right now, they are having trouble serving me or the people in this area
because it is too far to drive and they don’t pay mileage. As Ward Employment
Specialist and through the LDS Employment Center, I may facilitate connecting people
with needs to those who have solutions. So Cool. Whee!!
My daughter who is now 30 and living in another state is overjoyed because I have a deadline to get rid of some of my “stuff.” I’ll
be selling and donating a lot of household items to pare down into a 2 bedroom
place.
Miracles happen, many needs are met, and many people are
served because God sees the whole picture and inspires people to call and react
at exactly the right moment in time. Don’t you just love it when everything
comes together just like that A-team slogan?
This is an introduction to the stories of my life in Mexico
interspersed with stories where I see miracles occuring in my daily life.
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