Written by Carter. We watched a missionary devotional this week where Elder Brent Nielsen mentioned some of the miracles that have happened in missionary work since the pandemic began. He compared it to when Moses parted the Red Sea, which only could have happened with God’s clear and direct intervention. Here are a few examples:

• When Russell M. Nelson was still a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (in 2014), the Church started piloting some missions using smartphones. In January 2020, the Church announced that all missions would be using smartphones…and then the pandemic hit in March 2020…and that’s how the missionaries did much of their proselyting during the pandemic. That’s how the “Red Sea” of missionary work was parted by God’s clear and direct intervention.
• When all the countries of the world announced that their borders were closed to incoming and outgoing flights (March 11, 2020), there were 31,000 missionaries serving outside their home country. “The Red Sea parted” and almost all of those missionaries were able to return to their home country. (There are still some missionaries whose countries have not allowed incoming passengers. One of those is Kiribati, a south Pacific island nation; some missionaries from Kiribati have served for more than 36 months…and counting!)
• Despite the pandemic, the missionaries still baptized 125,000 people during 2020. Elder Nielsen said, “I don’t know how you (the missionaries) could have done that…other than the Lord helping you!”
• If I wrote it down correctly, in a pre-pandemic month in 2020, missionaries found 2,000 people to teach using online contacting. During the same month in 2021, they found 56,000 people!

This missionary miracle isn’t from the devotional, but rather from the Vanuatu (a south Pacific island nation) Mission president: during a 12-month period, there were 189 baptisms on the island of Tanna (one of the islands in the country of Vanuatu). Because of the pandemic, all the missionaries were removed from that island, so missionary work was continued by the members and returned missionaries. Missionaries made two trips to the island to make sure people understood what they were being taught before they were baptized and confirmed members of the Church. On one trip, 55 were baptized and on another 74…for a total of 147. That’s less than the 189 with missionaries, but still amazing how well the members stepped up and shared the gospel. It’s a good reminder that the missionaries are here to help the members share the gospel…and not the other way around.

A couple weeks ago, the senior missionary couple who served in the visitors’ center for the Hamilton Temple shared some history about the faith, sacrifice and consecration that contributed to that temple being build in the 1950’s. The phrase that was used was “Building a people for the temple.” Isn’t that profound?! We need to build our lives on Jesus Christ (and help others do the same) so we can enjoy the blessings God has for us in His Holy House — the temple.

Well…this week was Ashton’s 29th birthday. Honestly, it was kinda rough. I appreciate your love and prayers. I appreciate several of you sharing humorous stories and memories of Ashton. I went for a 9-mile hike on the morning of his birthday. I invited two other senior missionary men to go with me. I appreciated their love and support. One of them commented that he appreciated knowing when times were hard for me and what he could do to help. I know I’ve felt that way about others, too…just so helpless in knowing what to do to help ease some of their pain. I guess one of the reasons I’m so forthcoming in how I’m feeling is because I’ve seen what can happen when one’s feelings are kept inside. Ashton couldn’t/wouldn’t/didn’t know how to express his feelings. My last missionary companion I think faced the same challenges. Both of their mortal lives ended in suicide. (To be clear, I do not condemn either one of them, though; I think I understand very little of everything that contributed to their suicides.) So…if I go overboard in sharing how I’m feeling, that’s one reason: I’d rather err on the side of sharing and getting my thoughts out in the open, rather than keeping them inside, where they seem to grow and multiply.

Thanks for listening. Thanks for your love, support, patience and understanding.