Meredith returned home from her mission to Sonora, Hermosillo Mexico filled with stories in her heart that she had reserved to tell us in person rather than share by email. Stories she had not chosen to share until then because she knew of the distinct possibility of my hopping a plane and coming to take her home had she divulged these experiences prematurely. Stories where I, indeed, did not need to intervene--because the Lord had:
First area, first week, a man follows Meredith and her companion with a machete. But they miraculously escape any harm.
A knock on the wrong door, "May we share a message with you?"
"Come in," they say. And then they lock the door behind them.
Meredith and her companera share a heart-felt message, hearts truly beating loudly. And upon finishing, they are told, "We usually do not let strangers leave this house alive. We are going to let you go out that door (pointing to a back door), but you must never return!"
Another time, a man approaches Meredith and her companion in a van and forcefully tells them "jump in the van right now!" In the moment of hesitation and incredulous reaction that follows, Meredith reports that this man suddenly looks behind Meredith and her companion--and seems to see others with them, realizing that they are not alone. He changes his mind and speeds away. Who were those angels with Meredith and her companion that suddenly became visible to that perpetrator? The Lord had yet again intervened.
Meredith would share that, multiple times, she felt that she and her companion were not walking alone as they traveled the dusty streets of Mexico. And in fact, she sensed that one who often accompanied her was my Dad, Rulon McRae! My father, who in 1981, died in a plane crash in Southern Idaho. My Dad, who Meredith never knew in this life. She had seen pictures and heard stories, and had quite recently met his brother, my uncle, Burr McRae. Yet, she knew my Dad was with her at times. She reports that when she first met Uncle Burr, (while currently serving her mission) she felt an inexplicable familiarity that she could only chalk up to her experiences of feeling my Dad's presence as one of her guardian (or ministering) angels. The Book of Mormon speaks often of ministering angels. President Joseph F. Smith said "When messengers are sent to minister to the inhabitants of this earth, they are not strangers, but from the ranks of our kindred and friends...bringing from the divine Presence messages of love, of warning, of reproof and instruction."
The idea of my Dad sometimes accompanying Meredith as a bonus companion on her mission, fills me with gratitude for the divine Love of an earthly father who is now in heaven, and our Heavenly Father who knows exactly how to take care of our vulnerable hearts--the one walking the streets of Mexico with a name tag over the top, and the one kneeling back home, praying for her safety as she serves Him.
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