Be Still and Know That I Am God

Therefore, let your hearts be comforted concerning Zion; for all flesh is in mine hands: be still and know that I am God (D&C 101:16)

I believe in a God of miracles.  I have been blessed to have been raised by a mother who taught me to recognize them, both big and small.  For the small ones, I have removed my hat, looked heavenward and simply said, "Thank you, Sir."  For the large ones, words fail and I can only "be still" and thank God in silence.

The week of September 1-7, 2013 has been filled with miracles.  In May we received the WAVE, the arrival of 30 missionaries(with a few stragglers later in the week) In June, we welcomed the wavelet; 20 new missionaries, July followed with 21, but September continued to swell, until the TSUNAMI of 38 arrived on Tuesday, September 3, 2013.  The logistics of welcoming, training, transporting ,feeding, housing and storing the luggage of 38 new missionaries, their companions, office staff and Mission  President and family can get to be overwhelming.  Add in a multiple-step process to obtain their residency papers and the need for detailed planning becomes essential.

If everyone would have arrived at the same time and the same place and/or if everyone was returning to the same place, the process would have been greatly simplified, but then we would not have qualified for degree of difficulty points or seen the hand of God so plainly.

Four days before the tsunami was due to hit, we received word that 6 of the missionaries did not receive their visas and would arrive at a later unspecified date.  We offered a 5 minute fast and prayer and were delighted that it was answered so quickly.  At 11:30pm Spain time, received our first miracle,-- 3 of them received their visas and would arrive on Tuesday but four hours later than the large group from the Spain MTC.  We called President and asked him for the names of three more trainers and where they would be serving.  To update the logistics required a fifth 2am work  night.  At 11:30 the next night we received Part II of the previous miracle---3 more missionaries received their visas.  Rinse, lather and repeat, we spent a sixth night working till 2am.

The addition of 6 new companionships required renting four more apartments.  Our contingency plans had 4 of them "in the pipeline," but we needed two more immediately.  The process of leasing an apartment in Spain generally takes 5-6 weeks.  On Monday, September 2, Large Miracles were manifest.  We leased two apartment in 15 hours.  The miracles required an adjustment to the logistical plan, as we now had one less office Elder to help since he needed to go and sign papers and furnish the apartment, so once again we burned the midnight oil, the 1 am oil and 2 am oil.

One of life's greatest pleasures is realizing that one is in the right place at the right time, fulfilling a unique purpose.  Hermana Deere, our mission president's wife, commented that she wondered how the mission would have coped without Elder Castillo's logistical planning----and our detailed colored coded spreadsheets.  I realized then, the reason why our own visas had been delayed four months.  In September of last year, there was already an office couple and would have been no need for us to serve there.  Likely, we would have been assigned to an struggling area of the mission.  We would not have been in place to help welcome these awesome young missionaries.  To trust God means to trust in his timing.  I felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude to be permitted to be part of this work. 

On Tuesday morning I sent a text to the office team, that these are our days and these are our times, our opportunity to make a difference; give thanks and watch the hand of the Lord be manifest.

Seeing those missionaries walk down the platform will be one of the defining images of my mission. Even now, my eyes tear up and I am filled with a silent, unspoken gratitude.  Unlike usual teenagers, they did not high five each other, they did not bump shoulders.  They did not exit from the train in pairs or small groups and gradually make their way towards us.  They waited everyone was off the train and then boldly marched to the gate.  They came forward with purpose, courage and faith.  I knew how Antipus must have felt when those stripling warriors marched in. A train station of people stopped and watched. I can't wait to hear the soundtrack for that entrance. It will be way more awesome than all those sports movies when the underdogs get off the bus and walk into the stadium.  It will have to have lots of French horns to do them justice.

Stripling warriors!!!

The next 24 hours were filled with a whirlwind of activities, not least of which were multiple runs to the airport,and a small, contained fire in the Stake office which required the evacuation of the chapel (fortunately, this happened after President had finished interviewing ALL the new missionaries, and after they had eaten supper).  At 11:30pm that night,  President sent us the list of which new missionaries would be going with which trainers to which areas.  We finished the last of that ticket buying frenzy at 3 am. and prepared the residency documents for the 12 missionaries who would be traveling 8-10 hours to get to their areas.  They would stay an extra night.

 We witnessed small miracles Thursday morning---although after multiple days of very late nights, all miracles seemed huge.  Normally we are able to process a maximum of 8 new missionaries.  We needed to register 12.  Usually, if you miss your preregistration slot, you go to the end of the line and they close promptly at 1 pm---regardless if there are still people waiting. The Lord's hand was manifest again and again that morning. First, we were able to get an additional 4 pre-registration slots that very morning---not 48 hours in advance.  Repeatedly in the past, if a document is missing, the standard response was "come back tomorrow."  As Elder Butler was in one governmental office getting the first required document, I was with the missionaries in the other office waiting for our first appointment, knowing, that if we didn't have the documents from Elder Butler in time, we would not be able to register our missionaries.  Ten minutes before the office opened, I told the missionaries to pray, and I ran to the other office, to find that Elder Butler had just barely been admitted.  I asked the worker if she would process the first four papers and let me have them.  Miraculously, she agreed.  I sprinted back to the other office to find they had problems that delayed their opening--another miracle, as we had technically, missed our appointment.  As the worker was fingerprinting the first four, I handed him  the documentation for the remaining 8.  As he looked over the papers, he noticed that one document was missing for each missionary.  I explained that they were on their way, and expected to hear, 'come back tomorrow."  Instead, he smiled (a government bureaucrat worker smiling is a small miracle in any country) and started processing the paperwork.  The first four finished before Elder Butler returned with the missing documents.  The workers in charge of fingerprinting  commented that they couldn't start without the missing paperwork.  Again I expected to hear 'come back tomorrow' or 'go to the end of the line', but instead, the first worker told the others to go ahead and start.  Another unheard of miracle.  Elder Butler arrived soon afterward and so we were able to process all 12 missionaries, and had them on their buses with 15 minutes to spare!

Thursday's meal with new missionaries and trainers.

We have 198 missionaries now serving in the Spain Malaga Mission.  Of those, 111 have been here for 4 months or less.  Over 50 per cent.  As we face the growing pains of such a young mission, I am not overly concerned; my "heart is comforted concerning Zion." As my mom taught me, God is in His heaven and all is right with world."  Sometimes to know God, all we need to do is be still.