After our release as Full-Time Missionaries in Indonesia we both started serving as Church Service Missionaries at the church headquarters in Salt Lake City. Russell served in the Self-Reliance Services/Perpetual Education Fund department from December 2013-June 2014. Eileen served in a nursing capacity in the missionary department screening future missionary candidates for health issues. She served there from January 2014-June 2014. In July 2014 we started serving as Full-Time missionaries in the missionary department as senior missionary coordinators. In this role we evaluated and recommended senior missionaries for locations where they might serve. Due to the confidential nature of the issues we delt with while in this position we were asked not to write a blog. We served in this position from July 2014-December 2015. Following the conclusion of this mission we spoke in sacrament meeting regarding some of our experiences while serving. We have attached copies of our talks for those who might be interested. We served with and became acquainted with many wonderful people and had frequent spiritual experiences which reminded us of God's love for his missionaries.
Here are the copies of our talks given to our congregation on February 21, 2016
Eileen's talk:
Thirty eight years ago while in nursing school I served as a tour guide on Temple Square. While in this capacity I met Russell for the first time. I loved being on Temple Square. It was a joy to share my beliefs with visitors coming to SLC from around the world. I would have been very surprised but pleased to know that not only would I meet my future husband while serving there, but that later we would be serving as full-time missionaries in the Church Office Building.
We recently were released as missionaries in the Missionary Dept. Prior to that call I served 6 months as a nurse screener for senior missionaries. I truly believe that Heavenly Father led me to both callings. It has been demonstrated repeatedly to me that God is aware of my needs and has intervened on my behalf on many occasions.
When we returned home from our mission to Indonesia Russell had a great desire to stay busy. He started serving 5 days a week as a church service missionary in the Self-Reliance Services Dept. One day Elder Davidson from the Church Service Missionary dept. called. He said that he was returning my call to him. I knew that I did not call him. He insisted I did. I determined that perhaps it was Russell that had called exploring possibilities to serve. Just as I was about to hang up the phone the words came out of my mouth “Do you happen to need a nurse?” I had been exploring employment as a nurse, but had not even considered the possibility of serving as a missionary in this role. God knew that I needed this call.
I served 2 days/week as a nurse while Russell served 5 days/week in his assigned department. On the days that I was serving Russell would come down to my floor at the end of the day so that we could travel home together. One day my manager asked me if we would be willing to serve a full-time mission together in the missionary department, albeit in a different role. My first response was a flat out No! It had only been 8 months since we returned from our mission to Indonesia, and this was a call I was unprepared to commit to. However after a lot of discussion and prayer we both felt like it was the right thing to do and accepted the call to serve as full-time missionaries. Again the Lord knew what I needed.
Every missionary that submits papers to the church for a potential missionary call has his/her health reviewed by at least one nurse and one or more doctors. After that review a decision is made as to where they might possibly be able to serve based on their current and past health. As a nurse screener I reviewed the medical information for senior missionaries. Often I would call senior couples or senior single sisters with questions regarding their health. It was a pleasure to visit with future missionaries and hear the excitement in their voices as they prepared for their missions.
The missionary call process is a little different for senior missionaries than for young Elders and Sisters. After receiving a medical review, the potential senior missionaries papers would come to us. The first thing we did was make sure all their information was complete. If we had questions we would contact the couple’s stake president. After reviewing all of their information, we would make one or more recommendations for possible locations they might serve. The information we considered included their financial information, their health and medical information, any requested mission assignments, their stake presidents comments, any second language skills, and their work and church experience. That information would give us an understanding of what missions might be a good fit for them, and also help to eliminate certain missions and locations where they could not serve due to health or other concerns. We were responsible for providing recommendations for assignments for office couples, member leader support missionaries, and for assignments working with the Young Single Adults. Other departments within the church would also review their mission papers and submit recommendations for assignments to be considered. For example, recommendations would be applied for Welfare, Family History, Church Education System, Military Relations, Public Affairs and Temple positions. For instance Sister Launa Hermann from our ward is responsible for making recommendations for Family History positions outside of SLC. Before the couple’s papers advanced to an Apostle for assignment we would review/audit all recommendations to make sure that they were all appropriate. The couple’s papers would then move forward with all of the recommendations for the Apostle to issue a call. Occasionally the assigning Apostle felt inspired to have us provide a different set of possible assignments for him to consider.
As part of our responsibilities we would answer questions of prospective senior missionaries. We also visited with Stake Presidents and Mission Presidents on a regular basis. I gained a real testimony of service as I was able to observe the dedication and sacrifice these good men and their wives make while serving. Often I would be called by a Mission President on the other side of the world at midnight or later their time. In our discussion I would note the lateness of the hour. Usually the reply from the Mission President would be that his day was just winding down and he finally had time to make some calls and read mail.
It was both an honor and a tremendous responsibility to be a recommender for the senior missionaries. After all, these seniors would spend 1-2 years away from their families, their professions and their homes serving the Lord. I wanted to make sure that the recommendations made were all good recommendations, hopefully one of which would be where God wanted them to serve. I felt a tremendous need to be worthy to receive the blessing of inspiration and revelation. I would like to share a few experiences that help describe how I was tutored in the process of revelation.
There were times that I would read a couple’s papers and it seemed very easy to make recommendations. The ideas just flowed and I felt good about the work that I had done. Other times I seemed to have a real challenge determining where the Lord might have a couple serve. I would think back to the instructions given through Joseph Smith to Oliver Cowdrey.
In Doctrine and Covenants Section 9 vs 8-9 we read:
8) But behold I say unto you that you must study it out in your mind, then you must ask me if it be right and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore you shall feel that it is right.
9) But if it be not right you shall have no such feelings but you shall have a stupor of thought
that shall cause you to forget the thing which is wrong.
Pres. Monson has said: “The Lord’s purposes are often accomplished as we pay heed to the guidance of the Spirit. I believe that the more we act upon the inspiration and impressions which come to us, the more the Lord will entrust to us His errands.”
Every morning and evening in our personal and companionship prayers we would ask for the gift of the Holy Ghost to enlighten our minds that we could be open to inspiration. We would also ask for the gift of wisdom. We considered the potential missionary couples we worked with our friends. Ironic, since we had never met them. Yet we talked about them at dinner time, while traveling to and from work and also while getting ready in the morning. Sometimes I even dreamed about them. I felt a immense responsibility regarding my stewardship for each couple.
My very first recommendation was for a couple in which the husband was a Spanish teacher and both the husband and wife had excellent office skills. I quickly found several office positions in Latin America, one of which I felt particularly positive about. When this couple was later assigned there I thought, WOW, this revelation thing is fantastic. How easy it seemed.
My next couple was not so easy. They wanted to serve outside of the United States. Both spoke French and they needed fairly decent health care. I thought immediately of France and Tahiti. As the day wore on something seemed wrong. All weekend long I thought about this couple, prayed about them and discussed their situation with Russell. The recommendations I knew seemed appropriate but the location didn’t feel right. I thought I had exhausted all my French speaking foreign options. Monday morning I followed Russell’s suggestion of making a recommendation to a French speaking Canadian mission. Sure enough that is where the couple was assigned. This was a huge lesson to me on the importance of the continual process of thinking, pondering and studying a problem out in your mind until you receive peace.
One day I talked with a brother on the phone whom I will call Brother Smith. He said he needed some guidance as to what preference he should put down on his papers. We talked for close to an hour. I explained some of the options, and told him of a location in the Pacific where the mission president had unsuccessfully tried to get an office couple for three years. He stated he had adopted grandchildren from this country and seemed excited about the possibility of serving in this location. I didn’t hear from him again for two months. The next time he called he explained that his Stake President had for some reason forgotten about his papers and they had not been submitted when Brother Smith thought they would be. He wanted to make sure that the office position in this location was still open. He was so surprised and disappointed when I told him that it had just barely been filled. I was surprised also. After all what were the chances of a location being open for 3 years and then getting 2 couples assigned there within a month’s time?
The Smiths papers arrived the next week. They were assigned to a location also in the Pacific but not the country we had discussed. The mission where he was assigned to was a mission that also desperately needed an office couple. This particular Mission President called either Russell or I weekly pleading for a couple. I knew that the Smiths were needed there. I hoped that they would be excited about their call. About 2 weeks after the call was issued I received a call from Elder Smith. He said to me “Sister Healy, I don’t know if you remember me. I wanted to serve in the location where my grandchildren are from. When I last talked with you I was so disappointed that it had already been filled. I have received my assignment to the Philippines. We are excited and know that is where the Lord wants us to serve. I thought on the blessing of how this all came about. Perhaps their papers were neglected for 3 weeks so that they could be assigned to the location where the Lord wanted them to be. This was one of the many tender mercies that we experienced in our call.
I would like to share another experience I had with a couple whom I will call Elder and Sister Jones. I was responsible for preparing their papers for assignment meeting. Elder Jones spoke a second language fluently and desired to serve in a specific country in an area of the world where health care was very poor. He had previously had a bout with stage 4 cancer but was now doing well. The Jones couple were assigned to a location within the U.S. I prayed that he would be accepting of the call. Sometimes prospective missionaries have certain expectations regarding their call and are disappointed when those expectations are not met.
A week after the call was issued, Elder Jones called into the missionary dept. with a minor question regarding his call. I believe it was more than coincidence that he was connected to me as the call could have been routed to almost anyone within the dept. I knew immediately who he was. I answered his question but then felt prompted to ask him this question: “Elder Jones how do you feel about your call.”? It was silent for a good length of time and then I could hear a shaky voice on the other end responding “I didn’t have any idea that someone would ask me that question.” He continued “Of course I will go but the call totally took me by surprise.” He then went on to relate that he wondered if missionary medical had ignored his doctors letters describing his remarkable recovery from cancer. I knew that the doctors had not ignored his information but could not share any of this with him. I tried to listen and empathize with him. At the end of our conversation he said “Sister Healy, I am disappointed, but please be assured that I will be the best missionary that the Southern States has ever had.
I was so touched by his response and thanked him for his faithfulness and willingness to go where the Lord assigned him. I then went and talked to my manager to see if there was any way that I could inform Elder Jones that his medical papers had not been ignored. In fact his papers had been reviewed by a General Authority who is a physician. He had determined that this couple should serve in the U.S. I was told by my manager that I could call Elder Jone’s stake president and have him relay the information to the Jones couple.
This was on a Friday. All weekend long I prayed that Elder Jones could receive the inspiration he needed to know his mission call was from God.
On the following Monday Elder Jones tried contacting me 4 times before I was able to speak with him. This is what he said,“ Sister Healy, you must have been inspired to ask me how I felt about my call. I hadn’t even shared with my wife how disappointed I was. Friday evening I went to the temple. I prayed to know God’s will. Sister Healy, I know that my call had nothing to do with my health. The LORD NEEDS ME IN THIS LOCATION. I attempted to ask him if his stake president had contacted him with information regarding his health and his call. He said “No, and it doesn’t matter.” What matters is that I have the confirmation from God that this is where I am supposed to go. Thank you so much for facilitating this change of heart in me. “
I was so moved by his words. I didn’t think I had done anything other than try to be compassionate, and to pray for this couple. I was grateful that I was able to have this experience. It was a good reminder that I was doing the Lord’s work and needed to heed His promptings. I have since heard about this couple from their supervisor. They are doing incredible work and are making an immense impact on the people they serve.
We thoroughly enjoyed our service in the missionary department and met some other missionaries who will remain lifetime friends. We are so grateful for the opportunity to serve with such great people.
Russell's talk:
I am very grateful for Eileen, particularly for her willingness to serve as my missionary companion again. Perhaps the greatest blessing I received from serving in the Missionary Department was the closer relationship that developed between the two of us.
Eileen explained briefly what we did while serving in the Missionary Department and she left it to me to describe what we will be doing on our next mission. We will enter the MTC on April 18th and we have been called to serve as Welfare Specialists in the Europe Area, headquartered in Frankfurt Germany. Basically this means we will be working with the Church’s humanitarian efforts in the countries from the Czech Republic south to Greece and east to Moldova. We will be traveling about one week each month to train the new senior missionaries as they start their missions in the various countries of the Europe Area. We will be assisting with getting projects approved and dealing with the many administrative issues that arise. Recently many of the humanitarian projects have been with the Syrian refugee crisis.
With the remainder of my time I would like to return to some of the events on our last mission. Eileen spoke about the need for inspiration in a few of the many instances where she witnessed it. Each day I spoke to prospective senior missionaries who would call in with questions. I would often tell them that I believed the inspiration in a call was not limited to the Apostle who makes it, but that it can and most often does occur throughout the process – beginning with the prospective missionary. I encouraged them to ponder and pray about all aspects of serving and then to follow those promptings. During the last year-and-a-half I have witnessed God’s influence in the lives of numerous prospective senior missionaries. Usually these things were not grand or loud for all to see and hear. But rather they were simple things at critical junctures in a chain of events – things the world would write-off as coincidence or luck. I have found that just as Alma told his son Helaman, “by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise” (Alma 37:6). At the end of my conversations with prospective missionaries, stake presidents and mission presidents I stopped wishing them ‘good luck’ as I realized luck had nothing to do with it.
Speaking in General Conference about how we should fulfill our calling and responsibilities, President Monson said, “Though the task seems large, we are strengthened by this truth: ‘The greatest force in the world today is the power of God as it works through man.’ If we are on the Lord’s errand, we are entitled to the Lord’s help. That divine help, however, is predicated upon our worthiness. To sail safely the seas of mortality, to perform a human rescue mission, we need the guidance of that eternal mariner – even the great Jehovah. We reach out, we reach up, to obtain heavenly help” (Your Eternal Voyage, April Conf. 2006).
Sometimes senior missionaries need to be transferred to a different mission. Such changes are handled by in individual whose job is known as an Infield-Representative, an “IFR.” There is one for each Area of the Church. One day I received a call from the IFR over one of the Latin America Areas. He explained that a couple needed to return to the U.S. for health reasons but that they wanted to continue serving. He asked if I could suggest a few options of where they might serve. After learning that they had computer skills I told him that we had immediate needs in several mission offices and that I would be back to him quickly with specific locations. I also told him that since the couple had previous experience working with youth, he might also want to check with Elder Chipman, the recommender for Church Education System (“CES”) missionaries. I called the IFR back in a few minutes with some specific possible locations for the couple’s reassignment. He told me that he had already found a spot for them with CES. At lunch I ran into Elder Chipman and asked about the couple. He said, “I need to tell you the rest of the story.”
Earlier that morning Elder Chipman had received a call telling him that a senior couple that was teaching seminary and institute here in the U.S. had to leave their mission due to a medical emergency. The caller, an CES employee asked Elder Chipman if he could find someone to replace them. It was mid-semester and they needed a teacher immediately. Elder Chipman explained to the caller that even if a couple were identified today, by the time they went through the call process and made it into the field that it would be at least two months. Shortly after getting off that call, Elder Chipman got the call from the IFR.
The missionary couple being reassigned from Latin America was on the Lord’s errand. They were deserving of His help in finding a place to serve and they received it. And at the same time they were being put to good use where God needed them. This is the Lord’s church, He is in charge, and He is in the details of all its aspects.
On another occasion I was the steward for a couple, the brother of which had a great desire to serve using his handyman skills. There are some missionary callings in Visitor Centers (“VC”) for Facilities Management (“FM”) Specialists. However, at that date all the positions in Nauvoo were filled for the upcoming season, and my recent conversations with the Church employee who recommends for VC FM positions led me to believe that all his positions were also filled. I struggled to make recommendations for this couple that felt good to me. Nothing seemed right. Finally I called the FM recommender and told him of my dilemma. He said, “I was just about to call you. We had thought we were fully staffed but one of the VCs called and asked if it might be possible to get a second couple to serve there.”
Coincidences like these are not just happenstance but rather small miracles, which have helped build both God’s kingdom here on earth and also my testimony of how close God and those on the other side of the veil assisting Him, are in our everyday lives.
On another occasion I was asked by Elder Lindsey, the recommender for Welfare/Humanitarian assignments to see if a couple could begin service substantially prior to their stated availability date. In such cases, if we deemed it appropriate, we would call the stake president and ask him to ask the couple. Before I could call the stake president, I got one of the many calls we received each day from prospective senior missionaries calling the Missionary Department with questions. It was the husband of the couple Elder Lindsey was asking about. The brother had no idea that I was working on his call nor would I have ever told him so. He said he and his wife felt prompted to move up their availability date and could I help him make the change as their stake president had already submitted their papers. Unprompted by me or anyone else, this side of the veil, he moved his date up to the date requested by Welfare.
Eileen’s desk was right next to mine. We shared a work cube in a space that would make most call centers look spacious. This had the benefit of being cozy and the downside of hearing every word your companion said on the phone. With time I was usually able to tune it out while I was speaking with someone on my phone. One morning Eileen got a call. I could tell just from her side of the conversation that it was a mission president somewhere in Asia. He was inquiring if a couple had been assigned for his office. His current couple was going home soon and he had not heard any word on their being replaced. From a mission president’s perspective, having the mission office function properly is critical, and if no couples are assigned he has to staff it with either young missionaries (who turn over quickly) or his wife. I would say that over 80 percent of my calls from mission presidents were somehow related to obtaining or learning the status of their office couples. Frankly, if the mission was in the U.S., Canada, Western Europe, Australia or New Zealand, chances were good that the office positions would be filled. But for missions outside those areas the probability of adequate office staffing with senior missionaries was not great. There were simply not enough seniors willing to serve overseas who had the health to do so.
From Eileen’s side of the conversation I could tell the mission president had tried to recruit couples from his hometown to serve with him but to no avail. Since my phone was not ringing and I was caught up on my work, I began going through all the senior couples currently in the recommending process to see if any might fit. The few couples that had both office skills and good health were most likely going elsewhere since other mission presidents had recruited them. As I went down through the list I did notice a single sister who had the health and computer skills to do the job. She wanted to serve outside the U.S., but from her comments I could tell she was thinking the U.K. or Western Europe. And she was also asking to serve as a companion with another sister whose papers were submitted about the same time. Looking through the list of single sisters I found the other sister – she also had the necessary good heath to serve in that particular mission.
Senior Sisters are usually not recommended to serve in locations outside their home country and rarely from the U.S. to places where you can’t drink the tap water. None-the-less, I suggested to Eileen she look at the two sisters. They both had been sitting in Recommending status for six days and had no recommendations on them, which was very odd. Usually a senior couple or sister is in Recommending status for only three days and then they move on their way to assignment meeting. Eileen did an Internet search for information on the city where the mission headquarters was to see how she felt about the location’s safety. Eileen then emailed the mission president to see if he would take two sisters rather than a couple. Upon receiving the mission president’s approval, Eileen worked with the sister who recommends single sisters for the two to be recommended for the mission office position. Eileen made the comment to me, “if this works, you must have been inspired.” Shortly thereafter, the two sisters were called to that mission office. I’m sure they were surprised when they opened their call letters.
I relate this experience not just as an example of how the Lord worked to get these two sisters to fill the need of a mission president halfway around the world. But because of some feelings I had shortly thereafter. Afterward, while pondering the two sister’s mission office recommendation, I had the distinct feeling that those on the other side of the veil had done several things: first, prompted the mission president to call when I had nothing else to do – I didn’t even need to answer his questions, Eileen was busy doing that; second, kept all other recommendations off the two sisters for 6 days – in our computer system that was like flashing a sign, “look at me, look at me;” and third, lined it up for me so that I almost couldn’t fail to put two and two together. In a most kind way I was being reminded that I was comparatively like my three-year old grandson “helping” with some adult task. The message seemed to be that it was important that I diligently try to do my duty, but when there was a measure of success I should not assume that I did it all by myself. Quite to the contrary, I was being allowed the opportunity to help. And I am very grateful for the privilege of having been part of the process. My guess is that many, if not all, of the successes in my life are less due to my own efforts and more due to help from beyond the veil.
Now just because God is involved in missionary calls and also many other aspects of our lives, this does not mean there will not be challenges, some quite significant. It doesn’t mean there won’t be broken legs, kidney stones or worse along the way. While I would tell prospective senior missionaries with great confidence that God will direct their calls, I never told them that serving a mission would be easy, always fun or without sacrifice. Remember, it is called missionary “work” for a reason. But through this work I have learned many things, primarily about myself, that I would not have learned if I had followed my own path in life.
President Monson said, “The call to serve has ever characterized the work of the Lord. It rarely comes at a convenient time. It prompts humility; it invites prayer; it inspires commitment. … But faith forged in the furnace of trials … is marked by trust and testimony. … We are prompted to pause and remember that divinely given promise: ‘Wherefore … ye are on the Lord’s errand; and whatever ye do according to the will of the Lord is the Lord’s business’” (Your Earthly Voyage, April Conf. 2006).
Being “on the Lord’s errand” extends well beyond just serving a full-time mission. We can be on the Lord’s errand when we magnify our Church callings; when we do family history work and related temple ordinances, when we visit the sick and needy, or when we righteously fulfill our roles as parents and grandparents. As President Monson said, “if we are worthy, we are entitled to the Lord’s help to assist us in accomplishing the errand God has asked us to pursue.” I hope that we all may seek and learn that which God would have us do; and then, when we are about the Lord’s business, may we be able to recognize the power of God as it works through us to help us complete His errand.
Russell's talk:
I am very grateful for Eileen, particularly for her willingness to serve as my missionary companion again. Perhaps the greatest blessing I received from serving in the Missionary Department was the closer relationship that developed between the two of us.
Eileen explained briefly what we did while serving in the Missionary Department and she left it to me to describe what we will be doing on our next mission. We will enter the MTC on April 18th and we have been called to serve as Welfare Specialists in the Europe Area, headquartered in Frankfurt Germany. Basically this means we will be working with the Church’s humanitarian efforts in the countries from the Czech Republic south to Greece and east to Moldova. We will be traveling about one week each month to train the new senior missionaries as they start their missions in the various countries of the Europe Area. We will be assisting with getting projects approved and dealing with the many administrative issues that arise. Recently many of the humanitarian projects have been with the Syrian refugee crisis.
With the remainder of my time I would like to return to some of the events on our last mission. Eileen spoke about the need for inspiration in a few of the many instances where she witnessed it. Each day I spoke to prospective senior missionaries who would call in with questions. I would often tell them that I believed the inspiration in a call was not limited to the Apostle who makes it, but that it can and most often does occur throughout the process – beginning with the prospective missionary. I encouraged them to ponder and pray about all aspects of serving and then to follow those promptings. During the last year-and-a-half I have witnessed God’s influence in the lives of numerous prospective senior missionaries. Usually these things were not grand or loud for all to see and hear. But rather they were simple things at critical junctures in a chain of events – things the world would write-off as coincidence or luck. I have found that just as Alma told his son Helaman, “by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise” (Alma 37:6). At the end of my conversations with prospective missionaries, stake presidents and mission presidents I stopped wishing them ‘good luck’ as I realized luck had nothing to do with it.
Speaking in General Conference about how we should fulfill our calling and responsibilities, President Monson said, “Though the task seems large, we are strengthened by this truth: ‘The greatest force in the world today is the power of God as it works through man.’ If we are on the Lord’s errand, we are entitled to the Lord’s help. That divine help, however, is predicated upon our worthiness. To sail safely the seas of mortality, to perform a human rescue mission, we need the guidance of that eternal mariner – even the great Jehovah. We reach out, we reach up, to obtain heavenly help” (Your Eternal Voyage, April Conf. 2006).
One day I got a call from a man in his late 60’s, he and his wife were contemplating a full-time mission. After answering a few easy questions, he began to express his concern about retiring. He was a CPA and had a successful tax practice. He felt God had blessed him with that business and that it had provided well for his family’s needs. He was feeling uncomfortable about possibly walking away from his source of financial support and security. He felt uncomfortable leaving the known for an unsure future that going on a mission would entail. As he said, “once I decide to quit my business, there is no going back.” I told him I was a retired CPA, a former tax partner in a large firm, and that I could relate somewhat to his feelings. We talked for a half-hour about many things including Peter’s leaving his boats and fishing nets. At the end of our call he said, “What are the chances that I would call in and get another tax accountant.” That day his call to the Missionary Department could have been answered by one of a number of people, but he got me.
Earlier that morning Elder Chipman had received a call telling him that a senior couple that was teaching seminary and institute here in the U.S. had to leave their mission due to a medical emergency. The caller, an CES employee asked Elder Chipman if he could find someone to replace them. It was mid-semester and they needed a teacher immediately. Elder Chipman explained to the caller that even if a couple were identified today, by the time they went through the call process and made it into the field that it would be at least two months. Shortly after getting off that call, Elder Chipman got the call from the IFR.
The missionary couple being reassigned from Latin America was on the Lord’s errand. They were deserving of His help in finding a place to serve and they received it. And at the same time they were being put to good use where God needed them. This is the Lord’s church, He is in charge, and He is in the details of all its aspects.
On another occasion I was the steward for a couple, the brother of which had a great desire to serve using his handyman skills. There are some missionary callings in Visitor Centers (“VC”) for Facilities Management (“FM”) Specialists. However, at that date all the positions in Nauvoo were filled for the upcoming season, and my recent conversations with the Church employee who recommends for VC FM positions led me to believe that all his positions were also filled. I struggled to make recommendations for this couple that felt good to me. Nothing seemed right. Finally I called the FM recommender and told him of my dilemma. He said, “I was just about to call you. We had thought we were fully staffed but one of the VCs called and asked if it might be possible to get a second couple to serve there.”
Coincidences like these are not just happenstance but rather small miracles, which have helped build both God’s kingdom here on earth and also my testimony of how close God and those on the other side of the veil assisting Him, are in our everyday lives.
On another occasion I was asked by Elder Lindsey, the recommender for Welfare/Humanitarian assignments to see if a couple could begin service substantially prior to their stated availability date. In such cases, if we deemed it appropriate, we would call the stake president and ask him to ask the couple. Before I could call the stake president, I got one of the many calls we received each day from prospective senior missionaries calling the Missionary Department with questions. It was the husband of the couple Elder Lindsey was asking about. The brother had no idea that I was working on his call nor would I have ever told him so. He said he and his wife felt prompted to move up their availability date and could I help him make the change as their stake president had already submitted their papers. Unprompted by me or anyone else, this side of the veil, he moved his date up to the date requested by Welfare.
Eileen’s desk was right next to mine. We shared a work cube in a space that would make most call centers look spacious. This had the benefit of being cozy and the downside of hearing every word your companion said on the phone. With time I was usually able to tune it out while I was speaking with someone on my phone. One morning Eileen got a call. I could tell just from her side of the conversation that it was a mission president somewhere in Asia. He was inquiring if a couple had been assigned for his office. His current couple was going home soon and he had not heard any word on their being replaced. From a mission president’s perspective, having the mission office function properly is critical, and if no couples are assigned he has to staff it with either young missionaries (who turn over quickly) or his wife. I would say that over 80 percent of my calls from mission presidents were somehow related to obtaining or learning the status of their office couples. Frankly, if the mission was in the U.S., Canada, Western Europe, Australia or New Zealand, chances were good that the office positions would be filled. But for missions outside those areas the probability of adequate office staffing with senior missionaries was not great. There were simply not enough seniors willing to serve overseas who had the health to do so.
From Eileen’s side of the conversation I could tell the mission president had tried to recruit couples from his hometown to serve with him but to no avail. Since my phone was not ringing and I was caught up on my work, I began going through all the senior couples currently in the recommending process to see if any might fit. The few couples that had both office skills and good health were most likely going elsewhere since other mission presidents had recruited them. As I went down through the list I did notice a single sister who had the health and computer skills to do the job. She wanted to serve outside the U.S., but from her comments I could tell she was thinking the U.K. or Western Europe. And she was also asking to serve as a companion with another sister whose papers were submitted about the same time. Looking through the list of single sisters I found the other sister – she also had the necessary good heath to serve in that particular mission.
Senior Sisters are usually not recommended to serve in locations outside their home country and rarely from the U.S. to places where you can’t drink the tap water. None-the-less, I suggested to Eileen she look at the two sisters. They both had been sitting in Recommending status for six days and had no recommendations on them, which was very odd. Usually a senior couple or sister is in Recommending status for only three days and then they move on their way to assignment meeting. Eileen did an Internet search for information on the city where the mission headquarters was to see how she felt about the location’s safety. Eileen then emailed the mission president to see if he would take two sisters rather than a couple. Upon receiving the mission president’s approval, Eileen worked with the sister who recommends single sisters for the two to be recommended for the mission office position. Eileen made the comment to me, “if this works, you must have been inspired.” Shortly thereafter, the two sisters were called to that mission office. I’m sure they were surprised when they opened their call letters.
I relate this experience not just as an example of how the Lord worked to get these two sisters to fill the need of a mission president halfway around the world. But because of some feelings I had shortly thereafter. Afterward, while pondering the two sister’s mission office recommendation, I had the distinct feeling that those on the other side of the veil had done several things: first, prompted the mission president to call when I had nothing else to do – I didn’t even need to answer his questions, Eileen was busy doing that; second, kept all other recommendations off the two sisters for 6 days – in our computer system that was like flashing a sign, “look at me, look at me;” and third, lined it up for me so that I almost couldn’t fail to put two and two together. In a most kind way I was being reminded that I was comparatively like my three-year old grandson “helping” with some adult task. The message seemed to be that it was important that I diligently try to do my duty, but when there was a measure of success I should not assume that I did it all by myself. Quite to the contrary, I was being allowed the opportunity to help. And I am very grateful for the privilege of having been part of the process. My guess is that many, if not all, of the successes in my life are less due to my own efforts and more due to help from beyond the veil.
Now just because God is involved in missionary calls and also many other aspects of our lives, this does not mean there will not be challenges, some quite significant. It doesn’t mean there won’t be broken legs, kidney stones or worse along the way. While I would tell prospective senior missionaries with great confidence that God will direct their calls, I never told them that serving a mission would be easy, always fun or without sacrifice. Remember, it is called missionary “work” for a reason. But through this work I have learned many things, primarily about myself, that I would not have learned if I had followed my own path in life.
President Monson said, “The call to serve has ever characterized the work of the Lord. It rarely comes at a convenient time. It prompts humility; it invites prayer; it inspires commitment. … But faith forged in the furnace of trials … is marked by trust and testimony. … We are prompted to pause and remember that divinely given promise: ‘Wherefore … ye are on the Lord’s errand; and whatever ye do according to the will of the Lord is the Lord’s business’” (Your Earthly Voyage, April Conf. 2006).
Being “on the Lord’s errand” extends well beyond just serving a full-time mission. We can be on the Lord’s errand when we magnify our Church callings; when we do family history work and related temple ordinances, when we visit the sick and needy, or when we righteously fulfill our roles as parents and grandparents. As President Monson said, “if we are worthy, we are entitled to the Lord’s help to assist us in accomplishing the errand God has asked us to pursue.” I hope that we all may seek and learn that which God would have us do; and then, when we are about the Lord’s business, may we be able to recognize the power of God as it works through us to help us complete His errand.
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| We loved passing the temple each day on our way to work. |
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| The Church Office Building on an early winter morning. |
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| Temple Square is always beautiful-especially in the spring. |
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| The senior sister missionaries in our zone |
