Joseph’s big Day!

I am profoundly grateful to have been there! What a tender mercy! I am so blessed.

A True Blessing: A Baptism, a Reunion, and the Lord’s Perfect Timing

Elder Harold B. Lee once said, “The most important of the Lord’s work that you will ever do will be the work you do within the walls of your own home.” This powerful truth was reinforced for me recently when I attended a baptism in Arizona.

I love this family deeply, and I am so blessed to be part of such amazing people! What a joy it was when our mission president gave us permission to travel home for this special event.

The Miracle of Mission Service

I know most of you realize this, but the missions for senior couples today are wonderfully family-friendly and full of tender mercies. Some, like my brother and brother-in-law, even continued to "work" on their missions at a reduced capacity. So many different events and life things happen with senior couples and we have the opportunity to choose what we think is the best thing to do for each situation. So for us right now we can go home if we feel it is what the Lord needs us to do. After much thought and prayer—and after wrestling with the decision many times—we ultimately decided that I would go and Dave would stay here. The trip was wonderful, filled with love and the Spirit, and both “the going” and “the returning” felt right.

The Lord’s Timing and the Arizona Reunion

We had gone back and forth on whether I should attend, with Dave leaning toward "no" and me feeling a definite "yes." In the interim, after we had initially told the family I couldn't come in October, they wisely decided to change the baptism date to Thanksgiving, when their Arizona family reunion was already planned and they could at least have cousins present for the baptism!

Seriously! The Lord is so merciful, and things worked out so amazingly well. I felt it was such a tender mercy. I got to stay with the whole family—a beautiful, unexpected bonus! Had a beautiful reunion at the same time as attend Joseph’s baptism. They had made countless plans to bring all five families together, and every hour of planning paid off. In Spanish, you’d say, “¡Vale la pena!” (It was worth the pain/effort!)

The Perfect Gift of the Spirit

The baptism itself was nothing short of amazing. The cousins sang a song together, and the Aunts and Uncles shared a beautiful musical number.

Then came the miracle of the planning.

Heather gave a sweet, wonderful talk about baptism and the Holy Ghost, using a compass as an analogy for guidance. She even gave him a compass! I could only smile, knowing the Lord was in the details, because I gave the talk on the Holy Ghost and had sent a treasure chest to their house before I arrived. Inside was a compass to represent the Liahona, or the Holy Ghost, and a treasure of spiritual gifts. We all laughed as I too started to explain about a compass as Heather had just done. I knew it was a tender mercy for Joseph!

Our talks were so similar! It was clearly a way the Lord wanted to teach Joseph personally. He loved it and completely understood the concept of the Holy Ghost guiding him. It reminded me how often we are inspired without even realizing it—it happens all the time!

There were so many fun activities, so many hugs, and so many smiles. Thank you, family, for all your hours of planning; I just got to swoop in and enjoy every minute of it!

It was such a tender mercy to be able to be there! I am so, so blessed!