Another Tender Mercy

Me and Nic Jr. in Ireland

Yesterday one of my grandsons was baptized. He lives in Africa, Mauritania, to be exact, and because of the distance and cost we couldn’t be there. I thought of him all day long and was with him in spirit. But let me share with you the interesting story of this baptism.

When D8 and her husband went to Mauritania (a country which is 98% Moslem) they notified Church headquarters in an effort to determine if there was a branch or Church unit there. They were told that they were the only known Mormons within 5,000 miles of where they would be living. So SIL8 was set apart as a group leader which gave him the authority to bless and pass the sacrament to his group (his family!). They have been there for about 18 months and every Saturday they have their own Sacrament Meeting and Primary. (The reason for Saturday is that the Moslem Sabbath is on Friday and so the weekend or days off work are Friday and Saturday. Sunday is the first day of the work week.)

It has been different but they have gotten along well until they realized that their oldest son would turn eight in December and needed to be baptized. SIL could do the baptizing, but they had a problem because they didn’t have two witnesses. They corresponded with headquarters to try to find a solution and the only two options were to fly the family someplace where there was a branch or ward or to wait until they returned to the States. They couldn’t afford to fly everyone out and my grandson didn’t want to wait. So they kept talking to headquarters and praying.

This is the daughter and family that met us in Ireland last July and while we were together we talked a lot about the problem and discussed possibilities, but we didn’t come up with anything feasible. After we returned home we got an email from D8 explaining that while they were in Ireland a new military group was transferred into Mauritania and there were two Mormon priesthood holders in the unit. For some reason I thought the unit had about 20 people in it, but this week she told me that it was a four man unit. Now what are the odds of a four man unit being transferred into Mauritania with two Mormon men in it? 

The baptism was held yesterday in the ambassador’s swimming pool. Many people from the embassy and the children’s school were invited to attend the event and there is no telling what other miracles will follow. I haven’t heard from D8 yet about how it went, but I’ll keep you informed.

This is definitely one of the tender mercies of the Lord. He is in charge, He knows what we need. He answers our prayers and He loves us. I am so grateful.