#19 - Miracles in Arizona and Vancouver

#19 - Miracles in Arizona and Vancouver
     We went to Arizona in January 2010 with the intention of buying a house because prices were low and also interest rates. We wanted more sunshine in our lives. It rained a lot while we were there and we didn’t find anything that interested us. So, early in March, my husband flew back down. We decided we wanted a double-wide manufactured home in a gated park, for security reasons. We wanted to spend about $50,000 and had received a home equity line of credit approval before he went to Arizona. We preferred it to be in the valley west of Phoenix. Merle only had about four days to look.

     Our son Mike, and his family live at Buckeye, so they helped Merle look. The first day he looked they found a good prospect on Craigslist, which they went to see. It had 4-bedrooms and everything we wanted, and then some–even an orange tree! (A tender mercy). It’s price was $55,000 and Merle bargained it down to $50,000. Everything fell into place and we knew we had a purpose in going to Arizona. We just didn’t know we’d have to wait awhile before we could get there. We had hoped to go down there for the first time by October 2010 but we had to wait until late January 2011 until our surgeries had healed enough to be able to drive for three days.

     Our surgeries? Yes! In June 2010, I broke my ankle on Father’s Day. It was just three days before Merle was scheduled to have back surgery and he was suffering in tremendous pain. Before my surgery that night, my son David and stepson Kurt, gave me a priesthood blessing. He blessed me to heal quickly. During the five weeks I spent at the care center the therapists kept warning me not to put any weight on that foot, but sometimes I just couldn’t help not balancing on it. My prayers were “please don’t let me do anything to reinjure my ankle.” The doctors said I might have to have a second surgery because a tendon on the other side of my leg was out of place. Their time table was always four months ahead for me. I didn’t realize until after I was healed that the blessing was true. I heard about another woman who broke her ankle the previous November and she was in bed about six months because her leg wouldn’t heal. Finally in June her doctor told her a leg heals faster with a little stress, so he had her get up and start putting some weight on it. I actually had my cast and boot off before she did, though my injury came seven months after hers.

     While I was at a care center for the next five weeks, I kept thinking about all the things I couldn’t do and going home to a makeshift bedroom in my dining room. I was at the mercy of others for my basic needs, and afraid I might need a second surgery, and worried about Merle’s recovery too. Four months seemed like an eternity. One night I felt especially depressed. I prayed to the Lord for comfort. I wanted to see my deceased mother or at least an angel, but nothing came. At seven o’clock the next morning, my son Mike called. He was just wondering how I was. He is the most spiritually in-tune of my children, so the quickest to respond to the promptings of the Spirit. We talked for over an hour. I felt like he was an answer to that prayer.

      We both healed and went to Arizona in January 2011.  We spent 3-1/2 months in Arizona and returned again in the fall of 2011. This time we stayed for six months. When we were set apart for our mission to Toronto in 2000, we were set apart to serve for 18 months, but due to my health problems we actually served about 12 or 13 months, so I felt we owed the Lord another six months. When we went to Arizona in October 2011 we put ourselves on a service mission by volunteering our services at Deseret Industries. We worked there two mornings a week (or 8 hours a week, the same as called service missionaries serve). Our time there was greatly appreciated, and we were richly blessed.

#18 - Choosing My Counselors

LDSW #18 - Choosing My Counselors


     Several years ago I was called to be a Primary President. My first assignment was to select two counselors and a Secretary to form our presidency. I had a pretty good idea of who I wanted to fill the positions but I followed the advice given to me by my bishop. I put before me a list of all the women in our ward. Then I knelt down and prayed for guidance. I would specifically pray about each name on the list and then “listen” to see if I felt any promptings either for or against each name. I did not get a confirmation about either of the women I thought I wanted to choose. I got a confirmation about a third person, but I was having a hard time getting the other counselor. I had left out the name of the former First Counselor because I didn’t think I could work with her, and really didn’t want to be counseled by a person who had served in the previous presidency. But, when I placed her name before the Lord I received both in my heart and my mind that she was the one I should call, which I did.


     In the next three months the two women I had wanted to call in the first place had both moved out of the ward, and the person I called as a counselor proved to be a very valuable assistant to me.

#17 - Did the Lord Intervene?

Mike related remarkable incident while he was serving as a Bishop in Kentucky. He had been making home teaching visits to a man in his ward for two or three years. The man was inactive but over time he got to know the him. Eventually, he was baptized and a year later he and his wife and family went to the temple to be sealed as a family. His other relatives didn’t support his decision and were against the Church. Not long after the family was sealed the man passed away, and Mike was called on to conduct the graveside service. As they drove up to the hill where the burial site was located, it was pouring rain and Mike had to shout into the ear of the person dedicating the grave–only the two of them standing under the umbrella. Then everyone ran for cover. The first two cars to leave the cemetery with the immediate family in one car and Mike in the second car, drove around the hill and were going out of the gate when they heard a large bolt of thunder and lightning. They found out that the rest of the group had been stunned by the lightning. Some had to go to the hospital to get checked out. The customary luncheon to be held at the church had to be cancelled. The widow later asked Mike why that had happened. After some prayer and pondering he was given to understand that a fight would have taken place at the church, and the Lord had put a stop to it.

#16 - A Missionary Experience

LDSW #16

Steve had another missionary experience where he and his companion were walking down a dark city street in Santiago, Chile. Steve was the senior companion. As some men approached them on the same side of the street he felt a premonition and told his companion that they should move to the other side of the street. His junior companion argued and then the men pulled out a knife and started to rob them. They began walking away from the men but Steve’s companion had to throw his scriptures at the guy with the knife while they got away. Days later they were in a little store when the companion saw his scriptures for sale. He ended up buying back his own scriptures.

#15 On Being Prepared

LDSW #15


My son, Mike, took his family to a snow resort in Northern Arizona a couple of years ago, where they were racing innertubes on an icy slope. It was crowded. A girl had smashed into a tree and broken her leg and was in a lot of pain. Some people were trying to get her down the slope on a makeshift sled when a man’s voice called out, “Is there anyone here who can give an LDS priesthood blessing?” Mike raised his hand and said, “I can.” The man asked, "Are you worthy?"  Mike was. He had a vial with consecrated oil with him, and the two men administered a blessing to the man’s daughter.  Since then, he always brings his oil with him wherever he travels.