Happy Birthday Dear Becca!! temple miracles

Dear Rebecca,

As we think about your birthday and reflect on your life and your influence in our lives, we feel the very gratitude that is your hallmark characteristic.  You have voiced many times, and you live it to the full, the notion that gratitude shapes our lives and allows us to navigate the rough waters. And we agree.  And we are so grateful to our Maker for you. For so many reasons and in so many ways, we are grateful for you.

We have been talking and thinking about what to link your birthday blog to—what would you enjoy or relate to—and we have been led, both through experiences placed in our way and through thoughts that have presented themselves to us, to share with you the following (and yes, we are aware of the irony and also the timeliness of this topic for you):

Brother M last June with his immediate family

This week we found out that Brother M was struggling.  His brother, told us of some of the circumstances.  Both the brothers and their sister had been sealed to their mother and her deceased husband in June in the Cebu temple and we were privileged to be there.  Each brother was then sealed to his wife and their children.  It was a three-generation eternal fiesta.

But, as is always the case, trials come along with the blessings, and Brother M has been afflicted with some kind of disease that is turning his lower leg black, then he developed an ulcer on top of that.  Pretty ugly.  But then he lost his job of 15 years.  He is a security guard at a bank, another guard got mad about something and punched him a couple of times in the face so he hit the guy back and they were both suspended.  So, needless to say he was feeling rather dejected. When we visited him he kept shaking his head vigorously, like a big bull, so mad at himself, so mad at the other guy, so sure there was no way out of the hole he’d put them in, trying to shake off the pain and memory of it, trying not to cry.

Elder Cropper felt strongly that a return trip to the temple would give this couple the perspective they needed to help them face their battles, but their next goal for returning wasn't until in 2014.  We were heading to Cebu to stay with the Schmutzes and attend the temple for our monthly visit, so I suggested they come with us.  It was a stretch for them—conceptually to do something that spontaneously, and financially even though the expenses would be from our perspective, minimal— but they agreed and we got him in to a doctor the next day (they put him on antibiotic and took a culture—results pending) and picked them up for the trip the day after that.

Small talk was minimal, and any other talk was virtually non-existent on the 4 and a half hour trip.  When we had to communicate something vital, like scheduling for them at the patron house, or sessions, we just hoped we were being understood.  Sister M’s English is a little more fluid than his, and we are SOOOO grateful she and others we speak to have developed the skill to the extent they have, but still there is always a language barrier that adds an element of risk to every conversation.

At the temple we did some initiatory work with them, then basically left them on their own while we went off to accomplish other necessary tasks.  We didn’t even see them again at the temple when we went the next day, though they were there.

As we travelled home that evening, there was still plenty of silence. It wasn’t until we boarded the barge, got out of the truck, and Elder Cropper and Brother M were standing on the boat under the stars that he expressed how peaceful he felt.  He said all his feelings of fear and anger were gone, and that in the temple he felt peace and he knew that everything would be ok—he knew none of his problems were even important, like they weren’t real anymore, though he still knew they were ahead of him.

His wife, always faithful, even back during his less active, gambling addiction days, had never lost sight of that certainty, but to have her husband feel it was a miracle, and she couldn’t express enough how grateful she was for that experience. They had done initiatories, attended two endowment sessions, and participated in sealings, all in the less than 24 hours we were  in Cebu.  In telling Pres Schmutz of it, Brother M said, “It was good to remember our covenants.” Isn’t that the truth.

Becca, since we can’t mention the most salient detail of your life right now, but since it looms so large over every aspect of your life, let us just say that we are so very grateful that you and Marcus have made those same covenants.  What a comfort it is to picture you two together for eternity, come what may.  How grateful we are that the two of you honor and cherish your temple covenants, and are raising your children to do the same.  A multi-generation eternal fiesta.

See the dome of light over the temple. 

While they were in the temple, we were getting our other Cebu stuff done, including getting our dose of Schmutz lovin’ that is mandatory to our enduring to the end with a glad heart. President Schmutz told us the most amazing story. A woman who was visiting in Cebu, stood in her high rise hotel window shooting pictures of the city view.  She saw the temple not far off and took several photos.  After looking at the pictures in the camera it puzzled her greatly. The camera was seeing something that she couldn’t see.  She went back to the balcony that evening and took some more, and they reflected the same phenomenon.

  She thought she saw angels over the temple

She was so intrigued she set out to find the building.  She showed up at the mission office on the temple grounds and asked about what the building is and what it is used for. She then produced her camera and showed Sister E, the office manager, the photos she had taken.

There were a couple dozen photos of the temple, some close ups, some at night, some day, and in every photo there was a visible bubble over the temple, like a rainbow without the colors. In some, the bubble was large, others just barely covering Moroni.  In a few there was a double layer.  It was certainly astonishing, and though it may be explicable through some sort of law of physics or light refraction process, it was nonetheless provocative.  Sister E copied the pictures onto her computer and Elder Cropper of course got a copy of the pictures. 

Even during the day time it is visible.

What looks like a double dome

When one considers that every prophet in the history of the world has prophesied of the restoration, and looked forward to the time when Elijah would restore the sealing powers;  when you think that the lives of those prophets and all their people is in vain if the work of temples does not go on; when you think of the prayers that have been said for countless generations that Elijah would return and usher in this work; and when you think that here, on the isles of the sea, that work is going forward; it is no wonder that a temple of the Lord would have a visible protection.

And you dear daughter, valiant mother in Zion, are part of this great work too.  We picture that same protection, hovering over your entire family, holding it together, protecting you as a unit because you faithfully chose to lay claim to the great blessings and promises of the temple. We could not be more proud of you.  We are astonished at your courage, your cheerfulness (I know, gratitude is the secret!!) your pioneer spirit—forging ahead in school and life, with its current added struggle, as if it wasn’t extremely hard.

May God continue to keep your family within his protecting care.

Love always,

Mom and Dad 

Different times of the day it's still there

Perhaps protection, perhaps celestial power. Maybe through God's lense  he sees our personal temple this way.