Missionary Miracles in Mexico

Our lives entered a wonderful but challenging new phase in early 1996.  President James E. Faust of the First Presidency called us by phone to serve as mission president and companion in a yet-to-be-determined Spanish-speaking mission.  Soon thereafter a letter came formalizing our call to preside over the Mexico City North Mission, beginning in July.

During the three years we served, from 1996 to 1999, we saw the partial fulfillment of two related scriptural prophecies.  The first is Jacob 5:72, where Zenos foresaw that in the last days, prior to the Second Coming, “The servants did go and labor with their mights; and the Lord of the vineyard labored also with them.” 

The second relevant prophecy was Joel 2:28-29, wherein the Lord promised: “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:  And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.”

We quickly learned we were not alone in the work.  It was clear that the Lord’s earthly authorities were dedicating much of their time to missionary work.  In the mission presidents’ seminar in Salt Lake City we heard from all members of the First Presidency, eleven of the twelve apostles, and many of the Seventy.  During our mission it was our privilege to meet every member of the Quorum of the Twelve and to have close association with several of them.

But it became clear that the Lord’s agents beyond the veil were equally involved.  In their weekly letters to their mission president, missionaries regularly recounted spiritual manifestations they or their investigators had had.  It was clear that not only “old men” were having inspired dreams, but that dreams were a frequent means of providing divine guidance to missionaries and investigators alike.  Additionally, there were multiple reports of divine protection, healings, and promptings.  We’ll begin this post with brief references to several of our own experiences.  We’ll then quote from several of the stories missionaries told of what they had personally witnessed.

 

Selected spiritual blessings my family and I personally experienced

 

Inspired counsel from President James E. Faust at the time he extended the call to us

President James E. Faust

• They wouldn’t judge us by the number of baptisms but by how our missionaries turned out twenty years down the road. [Twenty years later, it’s a bit of a mixed bag.  Among our missionaries there are stake presidents, bishops, a mission president, and many happily sealed husbands, wives, and parents.  Regrettably, there are also less active members, who are missing out on the blessings they once enjoyed and which they promised to those they were teaching.]
• We should not set goals or quotas for the missionaries but should invite them to set their own goals. The mission “goal” then would become simply the sum of all the individual companionship goals.
• Too many in Latin America had come in the front door of the church and exited through the back door. We needed to concentrate on bringing in true converts who would help build the Church, not simply numbers to try to impress someone.

Mini-miracles on our way to the field

• First, as we drove toward Salt Lake City from Georgia, near St. Louis, our car lost power, coughed, sputtered and wouldn’t accelerate. We limped off the freeway about 4:30 and tried to find someone who could fix it before closing time. After several unsuccessful efforts we finally at 5:00 found a fellow who was willing to stop what else he was doing and order a fuel filter for us, which he was able to install just minutes before his quitting time of 6:00 and send us once again merrily on our way.
• We drove on, expecting to find a motel somewhere around Kansas City, but we found that every motel near the freeway all the way from the western half of Missouri through Kansas was full due to several big conventions, athletic events, etc., so we ended up driving all through the night and through most of the next day. I had typically been on the verge of falling asleep when driving just across town, but this time I didn’t get unusually sleepy for the whole time until we hit Evanston, Wyoming, where we found a rest stop for a couple of hours.
• Our Mexican visas were delayed by unexplained problems, which rather miraculously were resolved just in time to arrive in Salt Lake and be delivered to us just prior to our departure on June 27^th.

 

Early blessings upon arriving in Mexico City

• Managing to drive in the intimidating traffic of Mexico City without serious accidents or becoming permanently lost. During the entire time we were there we frequently felt guided and prompted in our driving, such that we were able to arrive on time in the right place, in spite of our sometimes intending to go somewhere else.  On other occasions we were able to find elders that we needed to find at a specific time.  (None of them had cell phones in those days.)
• Feeling comfortable in making missionary transfers one week after arriving, without any suggestions from the assistants to the president or from the prior mission president, with whom we had met for only an hour and a half, most of which time was spent showing us mechanical features of the mission home.

Other mini-miracles experienced during our mission

• Completely forgetting the PIN number for our Athens bank account and being unable to withdraw cash. But after prayer one night I had a dream in which I saw the number once again.  In my dream two of the digits were switched, but I was able to compensate for that with only minor experimentation.
• Feeling a strong spiritual impression in the early morning hours one day following much meditation and prayer about how to lead the missionaries more effectively and how to deal with minor missionary disobedience. The answer revolved around setting very high standards for ourselves and teaching the same to others but leading  with persuasion, love, and patience.
• Feeling impressed to focus much on retention and reactivation. Baptisms were never as high as we would have hoped, but our mission was tops in the area in retention.  Numbers of members reactivated by the missionaries regularly exceeded and sometimes doubled the number baptized in a given month.  I remember one week receiving a letter from a missionary apologizing that they had had no baptisms that month.  He said they had, however, reactivated twenty people.  I responded that those twenty reactivated members were worth forty converts.  The ward now had twenty fewer people to have to work on and twenty more who could help with the work.
• Looking in vain for over a half hour for the file of a missionary for whom we had had a disciplinary council and for which I had to type up the minutes. I looked in each pile and each drawer two or three times, carefully, to no avail.  Finally I made it a matter of prayer. I asked that if it was important to find the file that night that I might do so quickly.  Within ten or fifteen seconds of finishing the prayer the thought came into my mind of another place to look.  And there it was!  It was a great reminder that the Lord does care about even seemingly small things.
• Being led to check answering machine messages during a quick trip home between general conference sessions and being reminded thereby of a fireside speaking commitment for that same evening that I had totally forgotten. The related miracle was that the bishop called to remind me of the commitment, as that was an exception to what normally occurred.
• Being able to borrow a clothes hanger from a nearby dry-cleaning establishment when I locked the keys inside the mission car. With the help of an elder skilled in breaking into locked cars, we were soon on our way again.
• Virginia recorded: “It has been interesting to observe and participate in the activities of missionary work. We have been impressed repeatedly with how much the Lord is helping us and guiding us in His work.  One illustration is the healing of sick missionaries when we have asked for His help.  On several occasions, as soon as we started praying specifically for a certain missionary, that missionary has recovered before medical treatment was administered.”
• Protection of our daughters Kathi and Debbi when the car in which they were riding home from seminary hit a tree. Virginia recorded: “It’s a miracle no one was hurt badly, because neither the car nor the tree survived.”
• Being privileged to speak at regional conferences and stake conferences with members of the Quorum of the Twelve and members of the Area Presidency. These included Elder Richard G. Scott, Elder Henry B. Eyring, Elder Robert D. Hales, Elder D. Todd Christopherson, and Elder L. Tom Perry.  A conference with Elder (now President) Eyring was especially memorable.  As he visited with a group of us prior to a regional leadership conference, he said, referring to the Savior, “I know Him.”  Following the first session of the conference, he led those of us on the stand into a private room, where we knelt with prayer, and he petitioned the Lord to know what we should do in the next session, which was about to begin.  He then asked me to speak extemporaneously on a topic he assigned at the beginning of the second session.  I felt blessed that it was a topic on which I had some strong feelings and experiences and felt otherwise enabled to share what I hope was some helpful counsel with those present.

 

Divine manifestations reported by the missionaries 

Inspired dreams

• One elder told of seeing us in a dream before he met us, and recognizing us when he met us, confirming to him that he was in the right mission.
• One investigator lady was convinced she should be baptized, in part because of two dreams. In one she saw herself seated in a chair with several brethren putting their hands on her head.  In the second, she was seated in a beautiful chair which she was able to describe in some detail.  The elders were able to tell her that description perfectly matched that of one of the chairs in the temple.
• Another elder told of teaching two couples and their children in the same home. Among other things, they showed them a Church video.  Afterwards, one of the men told them that just two days earlier he had had a dream in which he foresaw everything that would happen that evening.  What the elders taught and what they did was precisely what he had dreamed.
• A missionary sister told us: “The father of the family [of some investigators] had a very special dream. He dreamed that he was in a place where everyone was dressed in white and that no one could enter there unless they were worthy, and he saw that his wife got baptized by immersion, and when she came up out of the water there was a physical change in her.  She came out young, and he also was baptized, and he was joined to her forever….  We know that they are going to be baptized, and we know they are going to enter the temple and be sealed as a family.”
• Another sister missionary wrote: “One of our investigators told us that she had dreamed about me and that she can’t forget my firmness and the look I had in the dream as I told her that the Church is true. She says the dream was very real.  When we took her home after church, she told us she is going to be baptized.”
• “We were teaching some investigators and one of them told us that she had dreamed everything we had told her in the discussion.”
• “We introduced ourselves [to a new contact we met in the street] and he acted like he already knew us and our Church. We shared a short discussion, and it turned out that he had had a dream about us two years before.  And he really remembered me because of my hair.  We have an appointment with him for Thursday.”
• “A brother told us that he already knew us—that he had had a dream. He saw my companion and me.  He said we came by his house and talked with him, and he felt very good and that my companion then introduced him to the bishop, and he described him, but then we took him to the chapel and introduced him to the bishop and he told us that he saw a strait and narrow path that led to a glowing palm tree, that we two were there and he heard a voice tell him, “It’s your decision.”  It was very special.”
• “Sandra felt apprehensive because her deceased father had been Catholic, and she was afraid she’d be betraying him if she got baptized. We told her if she really wanted to know, she should ask God.  She did and got a true answer.  She told us that she had a dream in which her father told her that she should get baptized and that they were teaching him the same gospel.”
• “Three of our four investigators scheduled for baptism had dreams in which someone told them that our Church is the true one and that baptism was the correct decision. The other one said that in answer to her prayer she felt an inward joy that she had never felt before.”
• “Once we were tracting and arranged an appointment with a lady. When we went to the appointment she wasn’t there, but we met her on the street about four days later and she told us to come to her house.  The day my companion went something very special happened.  That day we were on splits, and they shared the first discussion and the lady said she had dreamed about us, and in the dream she found us and asked us if we were the ones who helped the people and if we were the ones who baptized the dead to save them, and that was why she had asked us to come back.”
• A former atheist who six days before meeting the missionaries had a dream or vision in which he saw two personages, one of whom said, “This is my Beloved Son. Hear Him.”  The man had never read the Bible or any LDS literature.
• “As we gave the third discussion to some children, one of them told us that he didn’t believe in God nor in prophets. We tried to use the commitment pattern, bearing testimony, and doing everything we could, with no results.  He simply didn’t believe.  Two days later we went back to give the fourth discussion.  He told us he had had a dream and saw a very bright light, and someone spoke with him.  He told us it was God.  He told us he felt very good and never again would deny the presence of God and now had a lot of faith.  I know that God provides when we do our part.”
• “As we taught the first discussion to Jose Silva, we showed him the picture of Jesus Christ in America and he said, “I don’t know where, but I’ve seen that before—in a dream or somewhere.” He is very interested.  I think he’ll be baptized this month.”
• “We had an experience with what we learned from the assistants in their training session. We decided to just guide people to find answers rather than tell them the answers.  We have an investigator sister who had a lot of problems believing that Jehovah is Jesus Christ.  I told her that we could show it to her, but that the only way that she would know would be through her own study and prayer.  We taught her how to use the Study Guide and the footnotes to help her get started.  That night she studied and found a lot of things that supported what we had told her, but she was still confused.  So, she prayed and went to bed.  That night she had a dream in which she was studying the Bible and everything she read said that Jehovah is Jesus Christ.  Still confused in her dream, she asked the Lord who he was, and she heard the voice of the Lord tell her that the things she was reading were true.  I am so grateful that we had a training session that taught me what I needed to do.  Instead of simply showing her some scriptures, we made her think and pray so that she could receive a powerful answer and testimony from the Lord himself.  Now she knows how to do it on her own.”

Healings

• An elder reported administering to a blind girl, who subsequently regained her vision.
• “We were visiting with a recently baptized member who told us an experience that shows how God has his hand in everything. A week before his baptism he decided to pray.  He asked God if the things that we had been teaching him were true.  He also asked God to show him that we were really his servants.  His wife had some reaction in her eye that caused it to turn as red as blood.  She had had it before, and normally it took about 15 days to get better.  He asked God to send us to their house to heal his wife.  The next day we didn’t have an appointment with them, but after the mission conference, when we got back to our area, we got off the bus near their house and I felt that we should call on them.  So, we went.  We gave a blessing to the wife and she got better in two or three days.  I have learned that when I feel I should do something, I should do it.”
• “The other day I got so sick I wasn’t sure I could go out to work that morning. The husband of our cook asked me why I hadn’t asked for a blessing.  For some reason it hadn’t occurred to me.  He and my companion together gave me a blessing.  In less than an hour I was feeling perfectly well.  We went out and worked hard.”

Divine protection

• One elder wrote: “I’d like to relate a miracle that my companion, Elder Taylor, and I experienced this week. When we got on a bus, two other people got on at the same time.  One of them came to the back of the bus and closed the door and the other went to the front, next to the driver, and both pulled out guns.  One of them pointed his pistol at us and said, “This is a holdup” and told everyone to put their money, purses, watches, etc., in a bag one of them was holding, and the one gathering up the money and everything else got to where we were and looked at my face and then at my companion (we were both willing to give up our money and watches, etc.) and said:  “You two step aside,” and he continued to rob everyone else but us.  During the robbery we had no fear, as the Spirit came to comfort us and protect us, and as we got off at the next stop, the Spirit confirmed to us that it had been a miracle.  Now I don’t believe that the Lord cares for us.  I know that he does.”  His companion reported the same story and added: “It really was a miracle.  He didn’t see our name tags, because he looked straight into my eyes and those of my companion….  I have never felt so protected in all my life.  The Spirit fell on us strongly, and I felt it strongly.”   This was one of two experiences reported to us during our mission when everyone on a bus was robbed except for two missionaries.
• “I learned this week that we really need to be guided by the Spirit. Elder Ordaz and I changed our route to return home the other day, and it turned out that thereby we avoided a series of shots the police fired in the very road we normally used.”
• On another occasion, a man with a knife chased two missionaries, but did not catch them.

 

Promptings and miscellaneous miracles

• “Sister __________ told us her experience. Before we contacted her in the street, the night before she had prayed to God to send her someone who could guide her as to what she could do to improve.  The next day we met her and taught her the gospel of Jesus Christ.  She was baptized and received the Holy Ghost and she told us she has found the peace she was looking for.”
• “We were walking Tuesday night after some appointments had fallen through and we felt that we needed to go see a certain sister. We got there, and she was feeling very bad.  She no longer wanted to pray and in general felt very bad.  We chatted with her, we read some scriptures, and we helped her feel the love that God feels for her.  As we finished, she said that she had asked God to comfort her, and then we arrived.  She said that the door had a lock and that no one could get in, but when we arrived it was open.  It was great to know that God guides us to where we should go.”
• “Recently we were teaching a Brother L_____. In the discussion we talked to him about the Sabbath day.  He said he worked Sundays.  We told him that we would pray for him, so he wouldn’t have to keep working that day but that he should do it too, and we assured him that Heavenly Father answers prayers.  This Sunday he came to church and said he didn’t know what happened, but he now had a testimony of prayer, as they gave him Sundays off.  Next Sunday he’s going to be baptized!”
• “Today Jose Luis was baptized…. He had so many interesting questions, and the most special of all was that he had questions that I didn’t know how to answer on my own, and I could feel how the Holy Ghost helped me answer him, as the Lord really put the words in my mouth.”
• “A few days ago, I was able to realize how our mission is guided by the Lord. One day we had been walking for quite some time through our area and had no contacts.  We were heading to visit a certain family when I felt such a strong need to go into a nearby shop that my feet virtually carried me in by themselves.  We bought some bread there.  Soon two people who worked there asked us what kind of work we did.  They told us that they wanted to listen to us and know the truth.  Now I know that through the Spirit we met them and that through that same Spirit they will know the truth.”
• “This week the Spirit has been trying to teach me some important things…. For example, Thursday we were going to meet with someone we had contacted earlier in the week.  As we walked to his house I thought: “He’s going to leave.  We’d better hurry.”  But then I thought, “No.  Why would he leave?  We just got through calling him.”  My companion began to run, but I followed along in ignorance, thinking, “Why do you want to run?”  We reached the apartment complex where the old man lived and ran up the stairs.  We turned around at the corner and we saw him just outside the gate.  We called to him and got his attention.  Later we found that he had thought we had said we were going to meet at his brother’s house.  Later the same day we had a similar experience that helped me learn to listen to the Spirit.  We arrived at the chapel 20 minutes late to meet with a member who was going to accompany us to a lesson with some women.  The thought came into my mind, “He’s on the other side of the chapel, around the corner.”  (There are two entrances.)  We walked quickly for a block and turned at the corner.  It was a dark alley, but we saw the taillights of his car.  We ran and arrived barely in time….  Yesterday we went down the hill to get to the chapel.  We were crossing the street when I remembered Thursday’s experience and thought again, “I’d better run,” but my rational mind told me that I was just remembering my earlier experience.  Well, about 20 seconds later, a white van turned the corner behind us.  I heard voices and suddenly they began to shout various phrases with the Savior’s name.  I heard the side door open, and as I continued to walk, they hit me with an egg!  With these three testimonies, I know I need to obey the voice of the Spirit.”
• “Three weeks ago, we went by a certain house and felt the need to knock at the door. We knocked, but no one answered.  We sat at the side of the house, thinking about our area and how things were going.  A few minutes later, we went on our way.  Later we came back the same way and my companion said, “Let’s knock on that door again.  Remember, last time no one answered.”  I said it was okay, so we did.  A very friendly lady opened the door, and we introduced ourselves.  I suppose she felt the same Spirit encouraging her to accept us.  Soon we were inside, teaching the first discussion to her and her daughter.  By the time we left, we felt like part of the family.  In fact, they asked us to return even before we invited them to listen to a second lesson.  I know that this work is guided and directed by the Holy Ghost and that Christ is at the head of it.”
• “A sister had been scheduled for baptism for two weeks, but the day before her baptism it turned out she had reservations about the law of tithing. We decided to postpone her baptism for two weeks, during which she was to pay her tithing to see if the Lord fulfills the promise made in Malachi 3:10.  Last Tuesday when we went to see her we found that they had given her an additional day of work and the opportunity to earn more money.  She recognized this as a blessing from the Lord for having paid her tithing.  Her testimony was greatly strengthened, and she said she was now ready to be baptized.”
• “Paola is 96 years old. She doesn’t hear well with her ears, but she hears with her heart!  At first it didn’t seem very easy to teach her, but the Spirit of the Lord inspired us.  Since she couldn’t hear, we drew pictures of each discussion, and it was a very gratifying experience to be able to teach her.  Each discussion was unforgettable.  Finally, at her baptism both my companion and I had to help baptize her, and it was a thrill for the three of us to be dressed in white in the water.  We normally shouted so that she could hear us, but as I said the baptismal prayer, I didn’t, and she repeated every word, and the Spirit of the Lord fell on us.  Those present who saw her two hours later saw that her face had changed, and she seemed to have more strength in her body.  It is never too late to change, and this kind of experience makes the mission worthwhile.”
• “I had the greatest experience of my life. It was so wonderful to be in the temple with a family I had baptized.  I was able to be a witness at their sealing, and as I saw how happy they were, it filled my whole being with joy.  The purpose of missionary work isn’t to baptize but to see families enter the temple.”
• “This week we met with a 16-year-old young lady who had wanted to be baptized for a couple of months, but her father wouldn’t give his permission. She wanted to do it without her father’s permission, but we told her we couldn’t do it.  I suggested we have a fast so that he would give her permission….  Two days later we talked to her and she told us that her father had given his permission.  She was very happy because before, when she started having the discussions, he had told her to never think about getting baptized.  I know that God softens hearts and that fasting is a very powerful weapon.”
• “Yesterday we baptized the first complete family of my mission. We found them when we were standing outside an apartment building and a lady asked us from her window if we needed help.  So, we contacted her and set up an appointment.  In the fifth discussion she shared her experience about the day we met.  She never goes to that window, but that day she felt she should do so.  Not only does she never go near that window, but she also never talks to strangers outside her window, but that day she felt she should.  We told her that what she felt was the Holy Ghost.”
• “A lady we met shared an experience with us. She was going up a stairway as we were going down by the side of her.  She had a lot of problems and pressures, and she told us that as she passed us she felt a peace and a sensation of joy and rest.  It’s great to know that we radiate the Spirit of God to people, and all of it is due to the prayers that my companion and I offer each morning on our knees to have the influence of the Holy Ghost.”
• “We were trying to get a VCR to show a video to a family of investigators, but no one had one, or the one they had was broken, or they weren’t home—a thousand excuses. We were very sad and disappointed because we were going to make a bad impression on the family, and so we decided to make a final effort.  We offered a prayer in our hearts, and 10 seconds hadn’t passed when a brother who never goes to church and who never speaks to us stopped us in the street and asked where we were going and if we wanted a ride.  We accepted, and we told him about not having the VCR, and he told us: “Oh!  I have one and I’ll be very happy to loan it to you.”  Wow!  We were very impressed to see how quickly the Lord answers our prayers.  Of course, he first tries our faith and our efforts and then rewards us in a very special way.”

 

Visions and voices

• An inactive member reported seeing a very bright light surrounding a sister missionary on a bus and took it as a sign that he needed to get back into church activity.
• “We had three baptisms this Sunday. They were very special people.  During the fourth discussion we asked them to tell us the answers they had received to their prayers.  The 18-year-old young lady told us that while she was bathing, she decided to pray.  She said she heard a voice tell her to get baptized and continue strong in the Church.  Then we asked the 13-year-old young man, and he said that he too heard a voice telling him the same thing.  What a great experience!”
• “A brother whose wife had left him with five children went to church this past Sunday and was very happy with what he learned in the classes and in priesthood meeting. He told us of an experience he had as he saw one of the young men receive the Aaronic Priesthood.  He said that when the brother put his hands on his head, he saw a tall, bearded personage, dressed in white, and with an impressive light surrounding him.  He said he felt much joy and that he still has that feeling, so much that he’s very excited to continue listening to the discussions.  We challenged him to baptized, and he accepted.”
• One elder related how they had taught a young man of age 19 who said that an angel had appeared to him and showed him the two elders whom he was to meet and told him to accept their message. He found them on the street and asked them how he could do what they did.  He was subsequently baptized and has been preparing for his mission.
• Another elder related how after prayer one of their contacts said a personage in a white robe appeared to him and told him to listen to the missionaries.

 

Lives changed

Perhaps the biggest miracle of all was seeing the changes in the hearts and lives of both members and missionaries.  There were many reports of confused and disheartened men and women who found peace and joy as they accepted the gospel of Jesus Christ and changed their lives accordingly.  There were men who had previously abused their families who became faithful and loving Latter-day Saints.  There were formerly weak and disobedient missionaries who became leaders in the mission with fervent testimonies.

Of course, not everyone the missionaries taught accepted their message.  And not all missionaries experienced the same spiritual manifestations that others did.  I remember interviewing one pair of missionaries who lamented they had only one person in their teaching pool.  They confessed to sleeping in each morning well past the established time they were expected to be up.  I told one of them, “Elder, the Lord is protecting the good people in your area from meeting you, as you have nothing to offer them.”  Some companionship changes were made, and the next I heard the elders in that area were getting up on time.  And they had a good teaching pool.  Just as the promise is true that signs follow those who believe, so is the converse true, as summarized in D&C 82:10: “I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise.”

We are grateful to be living witnesses that “the Lord of the vineyard” is indeed laboring personally with his earthly servants.  And we are grateful to live in the promised day when the Lord would pour His Spirit out upon all flesh, when His children young and old would enjoy dreams, the gift of prophecy, and even visions as they served as missionaries or as they listened to those who did.