Missionary moments: 'Lord guides our lives'
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In January 2000, my wife, Jean, and I decided to go on a vacation to Australia and New Zealand after I retired. Our first stopover was at the Chicago O'Hare International Airport. While waiting to change planes, we saw a group of eight elders walking through the terminal. We said "hi" to them and learned that they were headed for Brazil on their missions. We asked where they were from and they mentioned Utah, Idaho, California and Michigan. I responded that I served a mission in Michigan. The elder from Michigan said his parents, who lived near Saginaw, Mich., had driven to Chicago to meet him because his flight had a four-hour layover.
He invited us to come and meet his parents. As we introduced ourselves, his mother, Sister Klopf asked, "Brother Bird, are you the elder that baptized me? I was an 11-year-old in 1958 when my mom and I joined the Church. My name was Debbie Morford."
I said, "Yes." It was a great experience to meet Sister Klopf after more than 40 years.
What was more special to me was that since she and her mother joined the Church, many of her relatives had also joined the Church and many served on missions. She said that today there are more than 80 members of her family active in the Church. Her youngest son was on his way to Brazil. To me it was a testimony from the Lord that even the baptism of one little girl is significant in the lives of many people.
In April 2001, the Church leaders in conference asked that more senior couples volunteer for missionary service. Jean and I talked about it, but decided that we had too many attachments to serve a mission. Then one day a friend of Jean came to the house and said that she was now a real estate agent. She had someone who was interested in buying our house. We said OK, but that we would like to keep enough land to build a house on. They agreed. We then said we did not really want to leave the house until December and they were willing to wait.
The Lord took all of our objections away to serving a mission as a senior couple. Our papers were sent in September and we received a call in November to serve in the California San Francisco Mission. We left for the Missionary Training Center in December 2001.
These events were just one more witness to my heart that the Lord guides our lives as we strive to do His will. — James M. Bird, New Haven, Conn.
