Healing the Sick

This week we had these experiences:

- We traveled to Sacramento with several ladies from our Ward to attend the temple. With us was Sister Thomas who had not been able to attend the temple in over 15 years, since when her husband passed. As part of our mission, we have been helping her prepare herself to attend the temple once again and had the privilege of being there with her when she went.

- On our P-day, we met another senior couple, the Mullin’s who we were in the MTC with, for lunch. After comparing notes and successes and hugs and burgers, we traveled to Bodega Dunes Beach where we hiked in the sand for several hours. The beach is an amazing place to feel of God’s love and majesty at the same time.

- We also attended a Senior Couple Pot Luck at the Mission Home to say good bye to a couple that is returning home from their mission this week. We have eight senior couples serving in this mission. Three of us are MLS missionaries that proselyte and serve local wards. Two couples manage the Church’s Campground. One couple is over military relations. And two couples work in the office. There is a wide variety of work for senior couples to do. We love being MLS missionaries as it gives us the opportunity to go out and teach people. We even knocked doors this week for a little while! That is unusual for Senior Couples, but we decided to do it regardless. We even met a gentleman who was interested in possibly being taught!

We have seen many miracles take place so far during our mission. This week’s miracle theme appears to be the healing of the sick. A sister we are working with woke up Sunday morning in massive abdominal pain. She went to the ER where they diagnosed her with appendicitis. And since no surgeon was available, they sent her home until Monday morning. By that night, the pain was so bad that she called the Bishop and asked for a blessing of health. He and other brethren came and gave her the blessing as requested. The pain soon subsided. The next morning, she went back to the hospital to have her Appendectomy and as they were prepping her and running tests, they determined that her appendix was fine. Further testing allowed them to diagnose her as having an ulcer and they were able to give her medicine for that and send her home. She is grateful for the blessing she received. We are grateful for her faith.

Tuesday, Elder Barnett, one of the young missionaries who serves in Clearlake with us, woke up with a severe case of the stomach flu. By nightfall, he was pretty bad off and requested a blessing. While we were there, he got out of bed and sat up and just a few minutes later, almost passed out to the floor from the dizziness he was feeling. Gratefully, he caught himself and went to a squatting position instead. He was very sick. He asked his companion, Elder Jones, to perform the blessing while I anointed. I was kind of surprised by this as Elder Jones is a very new missionary and has only held the Priesthood for a short time. Five short months ago he was in High School! I asked him if he had ever given a blessing before and he very politely smiled and said “yes”. He then pronounced one of the most powerful and spiritual blessings I have ever heard, asking the Lord to heal his companion by morning. Elder Barnett was able to start eating the next morning and soon was out working once again. Tremendous amount of faith displayed by both of these very awesome young missionaries. By the way, both of these young Elders are Eagle Scouts and the resulting confidence and leadership shows clearly.