Heavenly Father Know Us

Heavenly Father Know Us

February 5, 2020

This morning we had a wonderful experience I want to share.

Wayne and I served a twenty three month mission in the Trujillo Peru Temple.  While serving there, we enjoyed it so much, we made it a goal to serve another mission in the Arequipa Temple, which at the time, was under construction.  The dedication was announced for December 15, 2019.  We submitted our papers the first of October and anxiously waited to receive our mission call email.  We were called to serve as missionaries in the Arequipa Temple on March 13th.  We were thrilled to be called to Arequipa but disappointed we had to wait until March 13th. 

Wayne talked to the church missionary and travel departments and was able to  get the date moved up to February 7th.  Wayne made our travel plans to fly February 5th.  SLC to Dallas, connecting flight to Lima, spending a day there to do our immigration paperwork, then on to Arequipa arriving at the temple on the 7th.  

On Monday, the 3rd at about 9:00 pm, we got a notice from the airline asking us to fly out a day early on the 4th because they had a bad weather forecast in Dallas and didn't want us to have flight delays. We were mostly packed and almost ready to go, so Wayne changed our flight to leave on the 4th. 

We left home a day early, we arrived this morning in Lima, a day early.  We decided to spend the day at the Lima Temple and the night in the Alberge.  We went over to the temple for the session.  As Wayne walked through the halls of the temple, he met a man he recognized, Abel Gonzales.  Wayne has wondered about him for 45 years.  

Brother Gonzales was a Catholic priest when he was a young man.  He was taught by some missionaries and was converted to the church.  The Catholic Church disowned him so he went to school at BYU.  While there, he got a job teaching Spanish at the LTM (language Training Mission).  Wayne was a young missionary at the LTM learning Spanish for his mission to Peru.  Brother Gonzales was Wayne's teacher.  He lives in Lima and is a sealer in the temple.  What a sweet reunion.

After the temple session, Wayne and I were asked to witness a sealing of a family.  A mom and dad, a little boy about 5 and a little girl about 2.  Brother Gonzales was the sealer.  What a wonderful experience to share in the temple today.  Wayne was so happy to see Brother Gonzales and to share memories.  

It wasn't by coincidence that we were in the temple today.  To think that if we would have been in Lima tomorrow we would have missed all of this.  I'm so thankful for a Heavenly Father who knows us, loves us, and wants us to be happy.  This was such a wonderful day.