When Serenity and I married in 2005, we were ‘empty nesters.’ Five years later, we were close to the goal of serving a mission together when I was called as president of the Qualicum Beach Branch of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Vancouver Island. It appeared it would be several more years before we could become full-time missionaries.
Two-and-a-half years into my calling, I asked our stake president to call a new counsellor for the branch presidency. Several weeks later, the stake president met with Serenity and me. He had prayed much about my request, and each time the answer was the same: I should be released and replaced by the brother I had suggested as a counsellor. Although surprised, I was happy that Serenity and I could now fulfill our mission goal.
But the timing was not yet right. We were called as ordinance workers in the new Vancouver British Columbia Temple. After a year commuting between Vancouver Island and the Mainland, we were released. Finally, we were free to serve a mission. After our last shift at the temple, we drove to our summer home in Star Valley, Wyoming, to await our mission call.
A Mission Call Brings a Surprise
While there, we were invited for an interview with the director of the Global History project at the Church History Library (CHL), part of the Utah Salt Lake City Headquarters Mission. Impressed with our research and writing backgrounds, he said he would contact the missionary department and recommend that we be assigned to serve at the CHL. Several weeks later, our call came—to Poland! Serenity was delighted. I was not. I had set my heart on spending my mission safely ensconced in a cubicle at the CHL doing what I love to do, not travelling halfway around the world among people who spoke what was, to me, an almost unlearnable language! My first reaction was to phone the CHL director and have him correct this obvious error.
After discussing the call with Serenity and making it a matter of prayer, I rethought my position. I knew that mission assignments came through revelation, and I believed in Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” If I tried to have our assignment changed, would I be leaning on my own understanding rather than trusting in the Lord? After some internal debate, I did phone the CHL director—to tell him that we were going to Poland.
We Go Forward With Faith
After two weeks at the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah, we were off on our twenty-three-hour journey from Salt Lake City to Minneapolis to Amsterdam, and finally to Warsaw.
We soon came to love serving with the Polish Saints, specifically in the Warsaw Second Branch. We also participated in several special assignments. We helped prepare for President Dieter F. Uchtdorf’s visit to Poland. We hosted a medical-missionary couple from Frankfurt by driving them around in our mission car, an Opel, to inspect Polish hospitals. We assisted the Polish Young Adult leaders in organizing an eight-country conference to be held at Szczyrk, a ski resort in southern Poland.
Another Detour Arises
All was going well when, four months into our mission, I had a heart attack. A stent was inserted to open the blockage in my artery, and it solved the problem. However, the night before I was to be released from the hospital, I suffered a stroke, the treatment of which caused a femoral pseudo-aneurysm at the site of the stent entry. Then, while still weak from these events, I was stricken with a pulmonary embolism. It was a miracle that I survived what one of my Polish doctors described as “a cascade of life-threatening conditions.”
For the next two months, I was in and out of the hospital. Besides good medical care, what helped me endure those months were priesthood blessings, prayers, and the love and concern of so many people: Serenity, family and friends back home, the members of the Warsaw Second Branch, the mission presidency, office staff and missionaries, the folks at the medical missionary department in Salt Lake City, and the missionary doctor whom we had hosted earlier. He not only monitored my progress but also accompanied Serenity and me on the train from Warsaw to Frankfurt and tended to me until we were safely on our flight back to Canada.
The Lord Brings Us Full Circle
A year after returning home, Serenity and I submitted our papers to complete our mission. This time, we were called to the CHL, where we served two consecutive missions, researching and writing country profiles, including Poland, for the Global History Project.
Over the years, I’ve wondered why the Lord sent us to Poland. I guess I’ll never know while on this side of the veil. However, financial reasons may be part of the answer. When we filled out our mission papers, we signed up for the comprehensive medical insurance offered through the Church by one of the major insurance companies. Those serving abroad were completely covered, whereas those serving in the United States had to pay a percentage of any medical costs. Considering the several operations I needed and the extended hospital stays, even a percentage of the bills would probably have wiped out our life savings had we served in Utah. As it was, the insurance company paid all our expenses, even the translation of my Polish medical records into English.
Despite my medical challenges, I am so thankful that Serenity and I trusted in the Lord to direct our path to Poland.
As we waited in the Warszawa Centralna station for the train to begin our journey home to Canada, an artistic young woman from our branch came to say goodbye. With tears in her eyes, she gave us a framed pencil sketch of the Saviour. We treasure that memento—a visual reminder to “trust in the Lord.”