I want to tell you about another missionary who serves
here. His story is truly unique. His family lived in Serbia and the father
earned enough money for them to come to the United States for a family vacation
when the boy was between ten and twelve years old. His mother was pregnant, but still considered
safe for travel. Nevertheless, while
they were in the U.S. she gave birth. The
baby was born with a serious condition that was treatable in the U.S., but not
in Serbia. The baby’s problem was
repaired, but the doctors told the family that the baby needed to stay in
America for seven years before returning to Serbia. Suddenly the vacation changed to
immigration. Somehow some members of our
church became involved in helping them.
Shelter and other necessities of life were provided. The father got a job of some sort and the
children went to school. The family
began to participate in the church of the people who helped them through their
trial. Over time they understood and
believed the gospel and joined. So now
the Elder is one of our most gregarious missionaries and a brother has also
served a mission. The father stopped by
the mission office last week to drop off packages for his son. The family does not live in California, but
somehow his work brought him this direction.
One could see that the son will look much like his father in process of
time. The dad’s expansive smile was
impossible to resist. We felt privileged
to meet him. He did not ask to see his
son. He only chuckled to himself, no
doubt thinking how surprised the young man would be to receive some Serbian
food and whatever other treasures were in those heavy boxes.
We emptied two apartments this week. The rain is back so Len identified a three-hour
window Friday morning when we could load up an apartment in the Fresno area and
get it unloaded into the storage before it started sprinkling. That was really trusting the weathermen! It worked perfectly.
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| The elders face cleaning out the refrigerator. True heroes! |
