Promptings happen everyday. Being aware of them at all is, at times, a problem, however, a bigger problem is being willing to act upon the promptings. Regrets of missed opportunities to serve others and share the gospel linger long in my memory.
The story I share today strengthens my testimony of God’s love for each of us and that it is important to listen to the still small voice of the Holy Ghost. First some background to this story. People in the Dominican Republic do not always have ways or means to get the medical attention they need. Either there are no doctors with appropriate equipment or they do not have the money to get the help that they need. The public hospitals (national healthcare) is free for everyone but this is kind of how it works as I am told. If you are in a moto accident which happens often and you have a badly crushed leg or arm, the national health care will cut it off for you for free but if it need specialized, pins, plates, surgery you have to have the ability to pay for that. Many do not have the means and therefore do not have a choice. I do not know the extent of this but I do know that I have never seen so many amputees as I have here. I'm a little side tracked here...just know that health care here is not the same as it is in America.
Anyway, we received a recommendation for a missionary wanting to serve a mission and his picture was of a very nice looking young man but he had one eye that was all white and a little larger than the other one. I felt the prompting that I needed to do something for this young man but as I thought about it there were too many questions that I didn’t have answers to. For example, could this eye be fixed here in the DR or does it need to be done in the United States? Could it be fixed and fixed safely? Could it be worse? Who could help? Would it be impossible to care for afterwards? And who would have answers to these questions?
I called our humanitarian missionaries, the Atkinsons, to ask them about hospitals where the church provides equipment. They are aware of the medical facilities and some physicians here. They gave me a name of an eye Dr. but I did not call her. As I thought about it, the thought of helping seemed like there were too many unanswered questions and I probably couldn’t do anything anyway.
At the end of the week we drove to the Church Camp in Banao. It is an hour and a half away. The Riggs, another Sr. Missionary couple run the camp and we wanted to visit them. There was a youth group just packing up to leave and who did we see first thing, this young man with the eye problem. What do you think the chances are of my seeing him. There are over 95000 members of the church in this country that might come to this camp once or twice in a lifetime and I see THIS young man. I knew then that I needed to do more.
I pondered what to do to help him. Elder Anderson asked what to do with the application and I had no good answers. He sent it on to be processed. I asked a friend what she thought I should do and she suggested I should get hold of Dr. Christiansen, an eye Dr. who had been here a few weeks prior; A humanitarian group of eye specialists had come to work with an eye clinic sponsored through the church humanitarian services. She said she had his email and he could probably answer my questions. He answered everyone and more. He has provided this young man an opportunity for a normal life. His has been called to serve in Guatemala however his MTC experience will be in Utah where he gets the surgery he needs.
Elder Swapp and I have since met and spent time with this young man. He comes from a humble home in the country but he is a giant of a man. He is kind, sensitive, and pure. He is intelligent and loves to read. He is well prepared to serve a mission and has taught himself English by reading an old Ensign magazine and talking with missionaries. He wants to be an engineer one day.
This is not the end of it. More tender mercies have happened to this young man and I will save them for another post.
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| We had the privilege of going to the temple with this young man as he took out his own endowments. |
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| Another young man was at the temple for his first time as well. He came alone. For many of the young missionaries they do it all on their own, and that is a story for another day. |
I know that the Lord knows and loves this young man. And I know that because I listened to that still small voice I was able to help the Lord bless this young man. He goes to the United States to begin his mission in July. He will be a great missionary and thanks to Dr. Christiansen, Dr. McCann and others, plus promptings of the Holy Ghost he will be able to live a normal life. We have had many small miracles that have helped this life-changing event come to pass. Our family, my sister Gwen and her husband Mike “just happen” to be coming down here and traveling back the same day he needs to fly to SL for the surgery so he has someone to fly with, to stay with and watch out for him during this time. I know that the Lord is aware of his needs and loves him. I also know he is aware of each of our needs and cares about us. He wants us to return again to him. And we can if we continue to listen to that Still Small Voice that guides us back to Him again.
