Jake in Germany

This blog post has been written by Sarah's older brother, Mitch. Sarah will not undergo any major operations today.  Instead of talking about Sarah specifically, it will be focused on her influence as it relates to her older brother Jake. 

Sarah has a 19-year-old brother serving a two-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Germany. They were so close growing up, especially in the years prior to him leaving for Germany last summer. He’s been struggling not being with the family during this time (he still has a year to go), but has received much comfort, support, and has seen miracles since Sarah’s accident. Here are a few of those miracles he has seen:

Two weeks prior to Sarah’s accident, my mom suggested that we all write handwritten letters to Jake. “Why?” we asked. “I got a prompting.” Well, you can’t argue with revelation from God. So, we all sat down and wrote him letters.  We mailed them off and expected him to get them in about 2 weeks.

Then Sarah got in a car accident.

Jake said that he had just got the mail, grabbed our letters, and sat down excitedly to read them when he got a message from our dad telling him to call as soon as possible. Jake called, heard the bad news, but had those unopened letters right in front of him. One of those letters was from Sarah with an update on her life and how much she’s enjoying her summer with her friends and family. After Jake read through all the letters, he folded up Sarah’s note, put it in his pocket, and carried it everywhere with him ever since. It has been a source of peace and comfort for him.

I’m thankful that God gave my mom a prompting to send Jake handwritten letters knowing what would happen shortly, and I'm thankful for a mom who was receptive to that prompting. I’m thankful God sees everything beginning to end and somehow plans for things like this in advance.

Here is another example of how God planned for Jake to receive comfort in this time of need. The day Jake found out the terrible news, he and his companion were planning on going to the church building which is about 25 minutes away from their apartment. However, on their way there, they got a call from a member of the church asking if they were free to meet. They agreed to come, and the meeting happened to be only a few minutes away from their apartment. As soon as their meeting ended, Jake got a call from his zone leader telling him he has a surprise for him at the apartment. Since they were only a few minutes away, they were able to get there quickly and come home to a surprise of 8 missionaries waiting at their apartment! These Elders were there for Jake to offer comfort, support, and a much-needed priesthood blessing.

Due to the tight schedule of those 8 Elders, if Jake and his companion had been at the church, they possibly would have missed the surprise and Jake wouldn’t have been able to get that needed support from his mission friends. I know that God is aware of everything and helps us receive the comfort we need, often through other people, as it was in the case of the letters and these missionaries. God is in the details of everything around us. We just need to keep our eyes open for His tender mercies.

Lastly, and probably the most miraculous of miracles that Jake has seen, is the change in one of the people they are teaching. Jake has been teaching a German Catholic priest for a few months. He has made significant progress in the last few weeks and has a desire to join the church. This is a huge step for him, considering his position in his current religion. However, he has a few concerns about baptism and has been somewhat offended in the way the missionaries have handled his questions and concerns, or by the missionaries’ lack of responsiveness. In fact, prior to Sarah’s accident, he told the missionaries that, although he still wants to join the church, he doesn’t want to communicate anymore with them.

Then something happened that softened his heart. On the same day of Sarah’s accident, they got a text from him about how his dad was struck by a car while walking on the street. His dad was now in the hospital in a coma with a good chance of the doctors needing to amputate his fingers. He told Jake how sad it was to just lay there by his dad in the hospital, not being able to do anything about it, with no one around him who understands. “That makes two of us who are experiencing hard things,” Jake said. “What do you mean two of us?” he replied. Then Jake told him about Sarah. Jake did understand exactly how he was feeling. 

They were able to relate to each other perfectly and express those same concerns about the inability to do anything and the tragedy of their accidents. In the spiritual state this man was in, Jake was doubtful about him coming to church and progressing towards him joining the church in the near future. But, after their conversation, he said something along the lines of, “Okay, we can talk more about it after church on Sunday. And we can talk more about my baptism.” His baptismal date is two weeks away.

            It was a tender mercy that this German’s heart was softened through Sarah. Her accident allowed Jake to relate to him, be there for him, and continue to help him progress towards baptism.

            Sarah’s influence is stretching across nations already. Her light is shining despite her confinement in the hospital. Her strength is beginning to change lives. Sarah’s strength will forever change lives.