A Blessed Sabbath

You know that warm and pleasant California mission we were anticipating?  Well, some days not so much.  Like the bizarre beginning to this Sabbath!

By 9 am this morning, rain had turned to snow with the promise of several inches throughout the day.  We were dubious about even making it up our driveway for the 10:00 sacrament meeting.

But, we had a prayer, called a local member for route advice to get out of Pine Mountain, and decided to head out.

President Whitmer contacted all members in outlying areas, advising them to just stay home!
To our Utah friends, this would look like 'no problem', but when all the roads are steep and winding with no guard rails, it becomes a different issue!

Luckily my companion is a good driver and also took it slow enough for his white-knuckled passenger.  Then, another blessing!  A car came onto our road that we could follow right to the church!  A member!

When we arrived in the parking lot, he emerged from his car and started taking pictures all around.  Not until we met Bro. Sprague inside did we find that he had come up from the valley for the day (to their summer home) and this was the first time he'd driven in snow!!  (Hence the photo shoot)  We all had a good laugh about our gratitude to have a seasoned driver lead the way for us!

Anyway, it turned out to be a hearty little band of eight branch members in our quiet chapel.  We decided we had everything we needed to worship together.  So two of the men administered the sacrament after we sang a sacrament hymn.  It felt wonderful to be there together.

President Whitmer was anxious to get us home safely after that, but he gave a lovely brief message about the importance of the sacrament in helping us to be clean once more.  Then, before we left, he asked if he could take a picture of the group to remember this time together.  We all felt the same way.

I think this experience is only going to be sweeter in the remembering.  There was a real spirit of reverence there with us.   I also loved our dedicated president who made the hour long drive to the chapel to be with his flock.

"For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them."  Matt 18:20






And although we couldn't ask for any more blessings this morning, there was a break in the storm long enough to almost clear the roads for our drive home.