TENDER MERCIES AND MISSION MIRACLES (Oct. 2025)

TENDER MERCIES AND MISSION MIRACLES (Oct. 2025)

"FAITH ALWAYS INCREASES OUR ACCESS TO GODLY POWER.....FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST IS THE GREATEST POWER AVAILABLE TO US IN THIS LIFE.  ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE TO THEM THAT BELIEVE.....HE WILL NOT FORSAKE HIS COVENANTS,  HIS PROMISES, OR HIS LOVE FOR HIS PEOPLE.....HE WORKS MIRACLES TODAY, AND HE WILL WORK MIRACLES TOMORROW."    --Pres. Russell M. Nelson (April 2021 General Conference)

(These stories are written in more detail in the weekly writings)

-We could not imagine the miracle that happened when we agreed to drive El. Madrid and El. Little out to the home of Pheakday and his family....the gathering of 25+ people as they kept pouring through the gate into his yard with humble, pure hearts to hear!  And as other meetings have happened, more and more keep being introduced to the gospel.  There is a beautiful spirit at work in this little rural village.

-Hearing Thida's life story of living through the Khmei Rouge and her rise to a woman of significant influence in human needs was truly humbling to me.  What a beautiful, valiant spirit.  

-Srey Neung, a young teenaged girl who is mute and handicapped, was lost for a few days.  What a joy when she was found again!

-We were at the right place and the right time to hear Nak Nak's story or resiliency through extreme poverty and her discovery of the gospel.  Today she is an advocate of children in need.

-I recognize as tremendous tender mercies our wonderful district missionaries who have adopted us as their lost grandparents in Cambodia and really taken time to include us in what they are doing.  So many incredible experiences have happened because of this loving inclusion.  I love them for that.

-One morning we thought it would be nice to go on a walk with the Mortensen's and Clark's.  We just happened to see a cat, and Sis. Mortensen took a picture of it.  This brought to mind the stray cat incident the week before when it attacked my ankle.  Nothing serious; it had really about left my mind.  But Sis. Mortensen, the mission nurse, picked up on it and knew that I might need rabies shots.  At first, I was brushing it off; after more reading though, I found that it can be fatal.  That was meant-to-be timing.

-I changed the timing of one of my shots to late afternoon.  Not knowing what would evolve later, it turned out to be a tender mercy.  That earlier time was spontaneously filled with some great mission lessons that we wouldn't have wanted to miss for anything.

-Late at night and no cinnamon to be found at home for my cookie-making endeavors. (I was sure we already had some!) That very morning I had found the little grinder attachment at the very back of the bottom cupboard.  The idea came to grind up the cinnamon sticks I had been given when we arrived.  It worked!  I was able to serve the missionaries in this simple (yet important-to-me) way.

-We miraculously found the water truck delivering jugs in our borrey.  They were supposed to meet at our home but had the wrong address.  We were supposed to be home but had to run over to the church for a minute.  What coincidental timing!

-The electricity went out, but I was still able to make chicken noodle soup.  It came back on at just the right moments and then went out again.  After having gone to four stores to search out the ingredients and promising the missionaries to expect it for general conference lunch, I was determined.  The Lord knew my heart.

-It was a miracle that we found and were able to visit Soklim.  It has been 6 years with no missionary or member visits!  What pure joy she radiated!  An incredibly faithful sister!!  It was a blessing of blessings to meet her!

-From Sis. Kaltaler - "Thank you for picking out our hymn for District Council!"  (I'll Go Where You Want Me to Go, Dear Lord")  That song was actually a blessing for me because my family is moving right now.  They left on p-day, and I was really, really sad.  "I'll Go Where You Want Me to Go" is special to me, because that song gave my mom her answer when she prayed about moving to China decades ago.  I sang that song for my mom on Monday, and then I played it on repeat Monday night and Tuesday morning.  And then you chose that hymn at district council!  It's been really helping me, so thank you for being an instrument in the Lord's hands.💚💚💚"   Oct. 15, 2025      (I was also prompted to get her some flowers - a little thing to say, "I'm thinking of you.")

-We have had a hard time finding almond milk, our go to, and there it was at the Lucky's right by our new place.  This is amazing since there are so few stores to even go to out this way.  Reassurance that we will be taken care of in this little area of the country!

-Our plans were postponed, but we had already started driving.  We thought that might be a good time to drop by the distribution center if it was at all close  (we had no idea what direction it was in town).  Well, it WAS close - a mere two minutes away!  And the timing was just perfect to again have a wonderful, meant-to-be interaction with Nak Nak!

-We have been looking for rubber car mats to protect our new car better.  Harder to find than we thought.  As we were visiting some new teaching friends, we noticed they had some for sale in their little shop.  Chai Huet wanted to discount them for us and sold them at a loss for himself for only $12.50.  One custom shop we went to wanted $200!

-I was prompted to suggest reading glasses for our teaching friend Hing See Pahnna.  She is thirsting with desire to read the Book of Mormon.  As she was reading, I recognized the squint of the need for reading glasses. I know!! I depend completely on them myself!  We had some in the car.  She was incredibly grateful for the gift!

-Big tender mercy for me.....contact solution has finally been found!!  I had no idea this would be such an ordeal.  They simply don't wear contact lenses here.  And in the meantime, sweet Sis. Christensen gave me a bottle to use that she brought from home and didn't need.  She was an inbetween lifesaver.

-Everything is tiled in Cambodia.  Makes sense with the humidity!  But that means slick floors.  One morning I slipped and fell pretty hard after my shower.  I thought my feet were dry but apparently not good enough.  The tender mercy is that I didn't get hurt at all....not even a bruise....when I easily could have cracked my head open.

-Jim got sick and needed to urgently throw up.  We were on our way home. So grateful I was driving.  Bad food? Passing bug? Who knows.  A tender mercy was being in a place and situation where it could be handled quickly without embarrassment.  We easily pulled off through thick traffic.  We had a dark, vacant corner on the main highway. This could have been very bad if we had been at a person's home or even with the elders, whom we had been with all day.  Fortunately he felt much better after it all passed!

-We were in a meeting where a Book of Mormon was needed to leave with a teaching friend.  The elders had forgotten to pack an extra one in.  We just happened to have one in the glove compartment in our car!

-El. Madrid had a fishbone get stuck in his throat.  After 20 minutes of unsuccessful attempts to dislodge it (bananas, water, hard spitting, etc.) and a very red face and watering eyes, Jim felt impressed to earnestly say a personal prayer for him.  Right then, El. Madrid was able to relax, and it dislodged.  This was shortly before teaching about Jesus Christ's life on earth. El. Madrid recovered, and the lesson was able to carry on.

-Jim had this visual image come to him of "Doves to the Window" (from Isaiah re: the latter-day gathering).  This was after the children at Pheakday's gathered around our car and saw pamphlets of Jesus on the seat.  They, of course, wondered if they could have some!  Who knows where these little seeds will land?  They are the "doves" just ready to receive the truth!

-This is a tender mercy of a personal insight.  As we were sitting in a little meeting with some new teaching friends, it occurred to me that we actually might be giving more "weight" to the validity of the young missionaries' message.  This culture has such respect for older people.  Just our presence and our occasional comment or testimony really adds to the witness.  They intently listen to us.  We are more than a tag-along - we might actually have a needed, valued place!