Beyond Coincidence...

Adam and my mom recently discovered a crazy story that seems to go much deeper than coincidence. I sent out a version of this story to everyone on Elder G's email list, but thought it would be cool to share here on our blog as well.

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The story begins in the waning years of WWII when there was a dearth of young men available to serve missions, so married men were sometimes called to fill short missions for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was in 1946 that my grandfather, Fay Edmund Hepworth, was called to serve a six month mission in Northern California. He was a 38-year-old quiet farmer in Star Valley, Wyoming with six young children at home, but he faithfully answered the call to serve when his twin brother, Bishop Jay Hepworth extended the call to him. He left in November 1946, minimizing the time he'd be away during the busy season on his farm.

Elder Hepworth recorded in a letter to his mission President that he'd met and started teaching a Mr. and Mrs. Goff on December 20, 1946. Mr. Goff never showed much interest in the gospel, but Mrs. Margaret Goff turned out to be a "golden" investigator, reading the entire Doctrine and Covenants in a night and eagerly devouring any gospel literature they could get her. In Elder Hepworth’s journal, he records having several "cottage meetings" with them and describes her happiness that she'd finally found the truth and her eagerness to be baptized. Margaret specifically requested that Elder Hepworth be the one to baptize her, however he ended being transferred before the baptism occurred. He happily recorded in his journal in early April 1947 that she was scheduled to be baptized on April 5th.

Margaret Goff was baptized at that time and went on to become a faithful and committed member of the church. In 1949 she sent this letter to my grandfather along with a book of poetry she'd written entitled, "The Gospel of Jesus Christ."

My mother, Rosanna, had not been born yet when my grandfather served his mission, but she remembers meeting Margaret and her family several times when she came to visit them in Wyoming. One time Margaret brought a box of fresh oranges straight off the tree in California--an absolute delight to my Mom and her siblings! This picture is from May 1955 and shows Fay and Margaret along with several children from their families on one of the Goff family's trips to Wyoming.

Later, Margaret's daughter, Beatrice, went on to write the primary song, "Faith," which was a favorite of our family's and was sung at my grandmother (and Fay’s wife), Florize Hepworth's, funeral.

Now fast forward about 75-years from that initial meeting between my grandfather and Margaret in Northern California. Our son, Adam, was recently assigned to serve in the B. Ward of the Portland Oregon mission. My mother, Rosanna, heard that my son's new mission companion had the last name "Goff" and she sent my Elder G. a letter sharing a bit about this story. After taking a quick look on FamilySearch, Elder G. and his companion discovered there is quite a connected legacy in this new companionship.

Lo and behold, the great-grandson of Elder Hepworth {Elder Adam G.} is currently missionary companions with the great-grandson of Margaret {Adam's companion}. There are so many independent decisions that had to preface this interaction -my grandfather accepting the call to serve a mission, Margaret accepting the gospel and choosing to be baptized, multiple generations of two families doing their best to pass on their legacies of faith to their children, two elders making the choice to serve missions, inspired church leaders assigning them to labor in the same mission, and, finally, an inspired mission president assigning them to serve together, despite knowing nothing of this connection. But, the Lord knew and directed the necessary inspiration that needed to occur for these great-grandson elders to serve together.

Unstoppable

Sometimes I just start thinking about everything.

I think about when Ellie first started having seizures and how scared and overwhelmed we were.
Our hearts were broken as we worried about how the frequent seizures would affect her life and even more so as she reacted so poorly to the medications.   Now she at least is on a medication that isn't causing horrible side effects,  but we still struggle with the fact that she still has many, many seizures a day.

Then I think of how just a little over a year after Ellie's diagnosis we were blindsided with Spencer's  leukemia and Glen's subsequent job loss.   Our lives were turned upside down for half-a-year and we worried every moment of every day what the future would hold for our son.  While Spence has remained in remission and Glen does have a job now, we still worry about potential relapse.
  There's no two ways around the fact that it's been a hard few years.

And sometimes the weight of it all seems overwhelming.

I still worry if I did things to cause their ailments.  I wonder if we dealt with everything the "right" way.   And I wonder if I'll ever get my groove back again.  Some days I feel like I'm 20-years older than I was three years ago.

Thank goodness for little boosts like discovering this quote written  in Ellie's general conference notebook:  

"As individuals we are strong.  Together, with God, we are unstoppable."

It's a quote by Rosemary Wixom from Women's Conference and I was impressed that she picked it out from all the talks as meaningful enough to  write down.   It's something I needed to remember right now.

While I can never deny the comfort and strength that we felt so acutely when we were in the midst of those trials, I often let my day-to-day busyness get in the way of allowing myself to feel that same comfort now.

How grateful I am for the perspective that my faith in God gives me and  for this Easter season to reflect on what Christ's atonement truly means to me.  

Grand Design

In the midst of being surrounded by life's dark clouds over the last few months, we have clung to the faith that this has all been a part of God's grand design for Spencer's and our family's lives.   Through that faith we have felt the bright light of God's hope breaking through the clouds, trusting that no matter what the outcome of this journey may ultimately be, that we would be uplifted and strengthened in every step.   Although we can see better a glimpse of it now, we hope one day to look back at the dark threads that have been added to the tapestry of our lives over the last few months and see fully the defining beauty that they've brought to the grand design.


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"Not 'til the loom is silent

And the sparrows cease to fly,

Will God unfold the pattern,

And explain the reason why. 

The dark threads were as needful,

In the weaver's skillful hand,

As the threads of gold and silver,
In the pattern that he planned."

author unknown
cross-stitch by my aunt RaChel Pont
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UPDATE: 

• Spencer is enjoying being at home and is feeling pretty good. 

• This past week his hair, including eyelashes and eyebrows, have fallen out one final time!   

• He has a check-up tomorrow and every week for the first month, then they will move to monthly for the first year. 

Trusting the Lord

"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." 

As a teenager, this verse in Proverbs became one of the first scriptures that really resonated with me.   I don't remember what teenage stress I was going through at the time, but whatever it was, this verse brought me comfort and hope that there was a higher plan at play.  

Since then, I have not only committed the words of the verse to my own memory, but I've also taught it to my children from a young age.  Although most of them can recite it word-for-word, I'm not sure that it really means much to them at this point of their lives.  In fact, although I've considered the verse to be somewhat of an unofficial mantra for my own life, I truly didn't fully grasp the meaning of it myself until the last couple of months. 

It's one thing to be able to say that I trust in the Lord and his plan when life is relatively uneventful and the hard things are mostly happening to other people. But when those paths involve  your family life being turned upside down and watching your child endure painful treatments for a life-threatening illness, suddenly trusting the Lord  and letting him direct our paths seems a lot harder.  As much as my heart wants to trust, it's hard to make my brain understand why Spencer and our family have been set on this new path filled with heartache, fear, and pain.    While that old path seemed tedious at times, I've found myself longing for it more and more lately. 

Then I wonder... what if God had left us on that old path? 

Although I'm sure I would be a lot less tired than I am, I also surely wouldn't know the depth of my compassion for Glen.  We've been like two stars passing in the night lately and although it's achingly lonely sometimes, my love for him has deepened as we've struggled separately, but together to try to keep our family strong.

Nor would we know the extent of the generous and loving community that surrounds us.  We literally have been flooded with kindness, meals, gifts, notes, conversations and acts of service from the beginning moments in this journey and that outpouring of love has touched the depths of our soul in a way that we will never forget.   

Nor would I have an inkling of the comfort we would feel as we hear of children, loved ones,  and people we barely know all over the world praying for our son and our family to be buoyed up.  The power of those prayers sustain us through our most difficult days. 

Nor would we have known the strength of the ties that bind families together.  Cousins, uncles, aunts, grandparents, sisters, and brothers all binding together for one cause is a powerful force and them reaching out in love has meant the world to us. 

Nor would  I ever have known the strength, maturity, and uncomplaining optimism that our sixteen-year-old son possesses.  We seriously had no idea.   

Lastly, if we had not been put on this new path I would not understand the solace I would find in God's plan and in his restored gospel.


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UPDATE:

His ANC is rising (about 160) and we are hopeful that he may be able to come home for a few days this week. 

In the meantime, Spencer has become one of  the nurses' easiest patients.  He still needs antibiotics and vitals a few times a day, but otherwise spends most of his time  unhooked from the IV tower. 

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We will go forward, trusting in the Lord with all our hearts; and leaning not unto our own limited understanding.  In all ways we will try to turn to him in good times as well as the challenges in our lives, and he shall continue to direct our paths and bless and comfort us every step of the way.