January 4, 2015

This Christmas marks the 10th Anniversary of the tsunami that struck Indonesia and many other areas.  Our son Marc was a Mormon Missionary on the northern part of the Indonesian Island of Sumatra where the tsunami killed 250,000 people.  Fortunately he was on the eastern side of the island in Medan.  He felt the earthquake.  Linda Gibb's ,our Bishop's wife, called around 8AM on Sunday asking if Marc was all right.  I was unaware of what was going on.  We had talked to him the day before prior to the tsunami.  I hung up the phone and went straight to the computer.  It seemed that Medan had only felt the quake.  There was some damage.  We went to church.  Being a mother I was concerned.  As I sat there I could hear Marc saying to me as he would "MOM, I am all right."  It was a very strong impression.  Having him halfway around the world in that part of the world where so many people had been killed, was hard for me.  (We got an email from him two weeks later.  He had been to busy to write.  I wanted to smack him one.) I called the church.  The voice at the other end said "Oh, your son is one of the four missionaries on that island."  I was able to call Marc.  However, there was a problem.  Marc told me this Christmas, the phone was at the church.  Not at his apartment.  And the phone didn't always work.  So all my calling was pointless.  Marc's mission president had made a plane reservation earlier in the month to visit Medan the day after Christmas.  He was there the day after the tsunami.  That was the Savior intervening to get help to those who needed it.  President Jensen gave Marc and his three native companions money to buy relief supplies to go into the are hardest hit.  One of his companion's was from the area and knew were to go to buy the supplies.  Marc spent the next two weeks spending 18 hours a day buying supplies and unloading planes.  Medan became the point where all the relief supplies from around the world were flown into and loaded onto trucks.  He was had the privilege of helping.  He was so excited when one of the pilots of the planes gave him a Sprite.  It is not an easy thing to send a son or a daughter out into the world.  But I know the Lord takes care of His missionaries and the families at home.  Bad things may happen, but he Lord will make it right in the end.  He is in control and knows how out of control it seems to us.  I am on the Lord's side.  He will defeat the bad guys.  All will be made right.