So this isn't really fair, I have three AMAZING blood brothers and Marshyl already got his own post a while back, but I am in need of writing down what he has taught me. Marsh is recently without work, and he and his wonderful wife, whom I happily claim as blood by marriage, have had their share of challenges. Just a few weeks ago their little Garrett became very ill. They took him in to the docs, and the docs, not seeing a case this bad in the valley--had him immediately life-flighted to Primary Children's Hospital. His stats were not good and there he stayed for almost a week with Jen by his side. The first night when Marsh and Jen found out just how bad their little guy really was, they wept together knowing that had they waited another day to take Garrett in, he probably would have passed away. There was some intense feelings for sure.
Many prayers went up. A nurse had some oil on him and helped Marsh give Garrett a blessing. Miracles!
In all the mist of their awesome challenges, I started to worry a bit about mouths to feed, no job, helicopter bills--and in family prayers our concerns for/in behalf have of Marsh and the need for a job, and for Garrett to get better, were ever present. With a somewhat heavy heart for my amazing brother--he sure put me in my place!
On the day they came home with Garrett from the hospital he stopped by my place. THERE IS NO WAY ONE CAN WORRY after talking to such a man filled with complete faith and trust in God. I am the sister, who should be good and encouraging and building up, and yet every time I leave my brother's presence I am uplifted by his complete surrender and confidence in God's plan for him and his family. Have you ever been around someone that could infuse faith into your soul, simply because you were in their optimistic presence?! Well that is Marshyl. His faith is steadfast in Christ. And as a result, he has caused my faith to be strengthened.
These set of pictures perfectly display Marshyl's nature! Brytt and Thayne are just as much a ham as Marshyl is, but they need a little prompting to make it come out. Marshyl is just this way by nature! ;)
My heart is filled with gratitude to Hillary, my good friend at work, who recently told me that she came to the conclusion that she knows that God is aware of her body and the pain that she is in constantly. And that if it [a body that functions nicely] was somehow part of the plan, she would surely not be suffering and would be healed. But with awesome faith she trusts and knows that God knows she is suffering. He knows she is in pain, and He will help her deal with/through the pain. And by him not taking it away at this time/not in the plan--proves that He has a plan for her, because she knows she would be healed if it was not part of the plan. Oh the wisdom and the faith of this girl. She has taught me lots.
NEW JERSEY
I recently had the impression that I needed to fly to New Jersey for the weekend.
The timing was incredible because the weekend suggested to my mind/heart was not great timing. Plus not to mention that I haven't been back to New jersey since the mission. But I felt impressed to go and I know better than to fight. It was great to see Marcel! What a kid! He got more than he bargained for getting to hang out with me for four straight days. We had quite a few happy miracles. We ate at this little dinner joint
three different times and we all fell in love with our waitress Samary. She loves her family. And I was very impressed with the love she expressed for them. In the very way she spoke she reminded me of how a Christlike mother is and I hope to be. Friday night Marcel had the impression we needed to go into New York for a young single adult conference. By the time the impression came--we were looking at getting to New York at almost 10. But on our train ride over, I met this amazing girl, Allison (the one on the Left), who had just finished several months backpacking all over.
We only chatted for 10 mins, but I found a friend! I was impressed with her. Since coming back we have chatted a little and she stated something so profound, "The only thing is...what happens if you know (or think you know) what you should be doing, but are holding yourself back- because of fear of failure or even fear of success? The 3 month journey I was on was meant to help me figure things out.... I guess it did, but now that it's time to take action, I'm not sure I'm ready... It'll all out, but man, sometimes it's hard to have such patience, not to mention faith." I don't know what Allison's views are on God, but surely this girl has got some deep reservoirs. I think she has more faith than she knows. If Marcel would have not taken the step of faith and gone into New York for the brief moment we stayed at the conference--my 10 mins/new friend with Allison would have not happened. WINDOWS of time! God's hand can be seen everywhere! Thank you Marcel!! And THANK YOU Allison!Sunday brought about the crazy of all days. Marcel and I left early to get to New York to help make the 900+ sandwiches needed for the Young Single Adult conference. For the evening, we were going to head over to Sister Ortiz's home to teach family night and eat her amazing Dominican food! She said she would invite a few families over from mission times.
After our WONDERFUL sacrament was over (I heard four different stake president's speak and it was amazing) we left to make the trek back to New Jersey so we could make the dinner appointment I had set up. When we walked outside, Marcel felt uneasy and said we needed to go back to the Testimony Meeting which would be starting in mins. After some battling/figuring out impressions we went up and I texted Sister Ortiz that I would be 30 mins late or so to dinner.
Testimony meeting was great and Marcel and I were both curious as to why he had been prompted to stay. The meeting went an 1 1/2 and after it was over we hurried to get to pen station. Marcel and his long legs and me trotting in heals and a skirt to keep up! :) Looks like I was going to be an hour late to the dinner appointment. Gulp. But all along knowing/trusting God had a plan.
While on the train back to New Jersey, I had the impression I need to open my mouth and talk. Okay--so most people know I don't really have a problem opening my mouth, but this particular time I told the Lord that if I did, on the subject I was being prompted to talk about--the subject matter would make Marcel quite passionate about not to mention I didn't feel like I had any grounds to speak on the subject I was going to bring up. But again, "open your mouth". What will I say, "Open your mouth". So I did just that, and sure enough Marcel became very passionate about the subject. So passionate in fact that we missed our train stop to Newark. When he realized we had missed the stop, he jumped up and we both started hurrying through the train to make the next stop at a little window opening of time. Marcel was quite bothered about missing our stop and could not believe that he had missed it. This was the first time, of a life time traveling on the trains that he had ever missed a stop.
We were in Elizabeth now, which although closer to our already an hour late dinner appointment but still, by waiting for another train we were 45 mins away from getting back to my car- and then another 30 mins after that driving to the appointment. Marcel asked me if we should wait for a train and backtrack, or if he should have his friend Blaine (this is Blaine)
come get us. We opted for Blaine. Marcel called him and told him to come pick us up at the Elizabeth chapel. He told me he didn't think Blaine would be there for 30 mins. I could not figure out all the impressions. And I kicked myself for setting up a dinner appointment with the Ortiz's. I pondered over why I had not been warned/prompted not to set it up, but it felt okay when I did. I called the Ortiz and told them our situation. They already had eaten dinner by this time and were just waiting for us to come. Again, to the dinner appointment/party I had set up.
Marcel and I had time to kill to walk to the Elizabeth Chapel. So I took his arm and we strolled down the allies together. Being in heals and a skirt-in the hood, in the dark may have made normal girls scared, but being with Marcel I felt totally protected. I was not worried at all. We walked through some pretty dark areas, and finally came into a parking lot where these two kids were Skateboarding.
Marcel asked them if they would like to hear a message about Christ. I was surprised when they said they would listen. Then--all the craziness of the evening and all the promptings we followed but didn't understand why--all added up! Domingo and Jose had been prepared by God to have that discussion. At first Jose (the one on the left,) wasn't interested and was just politely listening but that changed towards the end of the conversation. Domingo (on the Right) is a very deep kid. He had done a ton of thinking on his own. I don't think I have ever met more respectable 16/17 year-olds in my life. I surely wasn't like that when I was 17. We talked for a good 15 mins and then all walked over to the church to meet up with Blaine. It wasn't until we were mins away from the church when I realized what God had given me. 
Here I was back at the Chapel that Jean after he had joined the church, brought Adele, and through his mighty prayer brought Marcel to the chapel to be baptized. 
!!!!
Yes I felt like crying, and that night in my room I did my fair share of it. I told Domingo and Jose that it was not just chance that we had met. Domingo has had the missionaries over to his home before to meet with his mom. It was such a crazy thing, I had a name tag on and was blessed to meet Marcel. Marcel later had a name tag on and now both finished missionaries, were teaching the gospel together to Domingo and Jose... in the city/the very Chapel that Marcel made his first covenants with God! The chapel I had come to love for 7 1/2 months. But had not been back to in over six years. God truly is amazing!
Well, the miracles still go on. Blaine had been in Roselle Park at Marcel's house. He could not get a hold of us all day and figured he would keep his appointment with Marcel, but was rather ticked that Marcel had not answered his phone. When he left Marcel's place, he had the impression to go to the Elizabeth Chapped. He thought the idea was completely random. He doesn't go to that chapel, the city had nothing to do with anything we had done all weekend. He pushed the thought from his mind. 2 mins later Marcel called him and told him we were stranded and needed him to pick us up at the Elizabeth chapel. :) Coincidence? I think not!
Because Domingo and Jose had stopped skateboarding to chat with us, they were pretty cold. Blaine and I gave them a ride to their house. Domingo recounted for Blaine how we had met and made the comment he felt like we were sent from God with a message. He also commented a few different times that he was impressed with how optimistic Marcel and I were. I have never had a comment quite like that before.
We challenged Domingo and Jose to pray and ask God if he really lives. We promised them that if they would pray and ask, we know that they would receive an answer. We also asked them to pray about meeting us and what we shared with them, to ask God if it was true. They said they would pray. They got out of the car, and I asked Blaine if we could have a quick prayer. My heart was overwhelmed with deep gratitude.
Then it was a rush to the 2 hour late dinner appointment! What a blessing it was to find the Ortiz's had the missionaries over. And because they were over, they went through with the dinner. OH my heart thanked God for taking care of the situation. I felt so bad, but all things worked out. Sister Ortiz invited over two of my favorite member families from that area--the Massey and the Curry families. My heart was ready to burst. Six years will do a lot to families. The Curry's who could not have children have now been blessed miraculously with two of their own children! Miho Massey and her little family--are so grown up. It was so late, and they all needed to go home because they had already been there for several hours, but our moments together were tender.
Brother Curry was curious to see that I was "still" cheery. He made a sincere comment about how he wondered if that was just how I was before because the mission did that to me, but seeing me six years later and almost 30 years old he now knows that, nope, the mission probably helped magnified those feelings, but cheery is part of who I am. (Now don't be thinking this is all a great thing! My poor husband has to deal with a wife that can smile and be very pleasant at any waking hour in the morning. If he is a grumbler in the morning and takes time to shake sleep from his mood--he and I are going to have our work cut out! I will allow him a cloud cover attitude with hopes that he will let me keep the sunshine. ;) )
Monday came and I spent the morning with my perfect hosts! We just sat around and chatted. I thanked Sister Ortiz for her patience in the night before. She admitted that she couldn't figure why I would set up a dinner party and then wouldn't even show up. But she understood how God sent Marcel and I to meet with Domingo and Jose. A meeting, that has impacted my life in many ways. She was kind.
I said good bye to my choice friends and drove to go be with Marcel and Blaine before I had to fly out. The whole weekend was filled with impressions on how I need to "be" with Marcel and where he was. I have never felt so intrusive to someones personal space. Especially when it was me to set up being there and took over his weekend plans. Thankfully Marcel was happy to have me there, but it was still hard and all weekend I battled trying not to ask the Lord why he had sent me. Even on Monday, again the impressions came to be with Marcel. 15 mins before I had to drive to the airport, 4:45 pm, Marcel was doing some things on line and I was getting my personal study in. I opened up to Alma 8 and received an answer from God that whatever the reason was, he was pleased and I accomplished what he sent me to New Jersey for. My cheeks were wet and I hoped Marcel would not see my tears.
Oh and I won't even go into the miracles getting me home. Truly god is aware of us.
Citlalli picked me up from the airport and took me home. By 2 am I was back home and I was saying my prayer for the night. I sang a hymnn first, and came to a verse of scripture that I looked up to see if I could find the statement in the hymn supported by the scripture. Instead, I found yet another scripture that had basically said what Alma 8 told me. I wept again.
My Trip to New Jersey taught me that I murmur and show an awesome lack of faith. Yes, I still went to New Jersey you can say, and we followed impressions, but if you give a gift and don't give it with your whole heart--it profits you nothing. My murmuring inside myself was as good as just killing my faith. Lesson learned.
Marcel surprised me this Sunday when I woke up to this text..."Hey i decided to get rid of all my rap music because the way i been using it hasn't help me draw closer to Christ not that I feel it is wrong But I do not think it will do much good to help me anyway i figured it might make you happy to know." We had listened to Rap music all weekend. I did not feel it was my place to say anything. I could not understand how it could do "good" for his soul, when I felt mine was being weighed down. But here he was telling me that he didn't think it brings him closer to Christ--so he is giving it up. :) You could not have found a more tearfilled smiling while kneeling in gratitude girl than me that morning! Marcel is becoming "soft" again! I love that kid!
Well how about them apples for a really late post! Moral--follow your impressions, even if they wipe out a savings account, cause you to miss your best friend's BYU performance and your favorite earthly dad's 60th birthday bash--even if you are told to open your mouth or stay for a meeting...don't let doubt and fear squash your faith. God has a plan! The question comes down to for me, Do I trust God and his plan or don't I? And if I don't trust the plan, why not? It is tried and true and God defiantly sees the bigger picture.
To everyone I met in New Jersey, it was amazing! Thank you for adding to the trip.
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