Missionary moments: Mysterious ways
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My son, Ryan Gifford, was discouraged when he first began serving in the
Australia Sydney South Mission in 1994. He did not find people interested
in religion, and he questioned why he was even spending his time serving
there. At home, we were doing everything we could possibly do to encourage
Ryan. He needed to know that our Heavenly Father needed him in Australia,
and he hadn't just been sent there at random.
Then one day we received a letter from Ryan in which he described the end of what had been a very frustrating day: "We were having dinner at Sister Stevens' home. She is a member in our area. Before we ate, I got to talking with her about Utah. She said she knew someone from Utah. She said it was an elder who had baptized her. I asked her who it was (knowing that there would be no chance that I would know the person), and she said his name was Bruce Gifford.
"I looked at her funny and said that he was my dad. She couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe it. I was having dinner at a lady's house in Australia whom my dad had baptized 25 years earlier when he was on his mission in Bristol, England. I'm starting to realize that I'm here in Sydney for a reason. Not just luck. The Lord works in mysterious ways."
You see, Ryan's dad passed away when Ryan was 14 years old. After receiving Ryan's letter, I was able to verify from Bruce's missionary journal that he had baptized Sister Stevens while in Bristol. (Her last name at that time was Plant.)
Bruce always felt that our family would be blessed because he served a faithful mission. I'm sure Bruce never realized that his son would be blessed by a member he had baptized. This was a real turning point for Ryan. He now knew how important it would be to give all he had to our Heavenly Father and to the people of Sydney, Australia.
Ryan returned from a faithful mission in 1996 and today works at the Family History Library. He married his wife, Tina, in 1998 in the Bountiful Utah Temple. They have one baby son, Matthew. — JoAnn Gifford Van Adrighem, Davis Creek Ward 1st Ward, Farmington Utah South Stake
Another in a series of "Missionary Moments." Illustration by John Clark.
