Impossible Really Means Miraculous

When Howard served as Mission President to the first mission in Ukraine (1991-1994), the motto he chose for the mission came from Matthew 17:20: "and nothing shall be impossible unto you."  This scripture taken in its entirety teaches that all things are possible to those who have faith in God.  To say this in Russian, one would say, with God “nothing will not be not possible" (a triple negative).  The missionaries and their President talked about this constantly and put faith into real action.  It was a mission filled to the brim with true miracles.  Some of these are recounted in Howard's book, The Morning Breaks published by Deseret Book.  Both of us can testify that great miracles occur when we exercise great faith.  Prayers are answered in ways that seem improbable to the natural man. 

As we prepare to begin our volunteer "mission" to Ukraine, we can't help but reflect upon the miracles that have occurred over the past several (17) months since we agreed to be married.   And really that is the first miracle.  When Howard's beloved wife, Colleen, died in late 2014, Howard had no intention of marrying again.  He had lived a long, full life and was in poor health.  Colleen had died after a long period of total disability caused by an operation gone wrong.  Howard had stayed constantly at her side, serving her faithfully, just as she had served him faithfully during his long years of church service.  Eleven years of care-giving had taken their toll; however, as his 80th birthday drew near, his daughter and son-in-law suggested that he should go with them on an outing to celebrate.  They decided to "double date."  And who could he ask who would not "get the wrong idea?"  They settled on Laurel, a close relative of Colleen's, whom Howard had known well for nearly sixty years.   As for Laurel, she certainly did not get the wrong idea and accepted the invitation only because she believed that Howard deserved a little fun after such a long, difficult period of his life.  She admired him for his spirituality and for the faithfulness with which he had served Colleen  -  but having been twice widowed already, she was not looking for another opportunity for marriage, especially not to a man 15 years her senior. Uncharacteristically, Howard decided on the first date that he wanted to marry Laurel and asked her to marry him on the second.  Howard considers it a great miracle that Laurel was willing to sincerely pray about the idea despite his health and age.  Laurel has learned to get answers to prayers and received not one, but three unmistakable answers that it was the Lord's will that we marry.  What a blessing that marriage has been to both of us!  We are truly in love and our combined faith has been rewarded with the additional miracles needed for us to serve as volunteers in Ukraine.

Once we determined to marry, we immediately set a goal to serve an LDS mission as soon as we possibly could.  We wanted to serve in Ukraine and we knew that if he was to serve a mission, Howard needed to improve his health dramatically. Even before our marriage, Howard’s son-in-law, Rolf, helped him to change his diet and begin to lose weight.  As soon as we were married, Laurel put him on her famous “mean-wife diet.”  We submitted our missionary application in September 2015, once we were sure he was no longer an insulin-dependent diabetic.  He had lost over 100 pounds by then. 

We were thrilled to receive our missionary call between the Saturday sessions of the October 2015 LDS General Conference. And yes! Miracles of miracles!  We were called to serve in the Kiev (Kyiv) Ukraine temple, just as we had indicated as our first choice!  We were to report to the Salt Lake Temple for training in March.  Our Stake President was very surprised by our call because of Howard’s age.  In his experience, 80 year-olds were not called to serve full-time missions, and especially not called to serve overseas.  We were positive that there was something the Lord wanted us to do in Ukraine, not just because of the unusualness of our call, but because of many, many spiritual experiences and insights too sacred to relate here.

After our call, we continued to dedicate ourselves to the improvement of Howard’s health.  He continued to intentionally lose weight, eventually losing a total of 150 pounds before leveling off.  We walked every day to improve his stamina.  We sold both of our homes and moved into a condo (read here: lots and lots of hard work!) Laurel worked to conclude her law practice (read here: lots more work).  We sorted through Howard’s papers because the Church History Department asked for those relating to the opening of the Ukraine Mission.  In other words, the entire focus of our lives was to prepare for our mission.

Late in November Laurel became concerned because every time we went for a walk, Howard was completely exhausted for the entire rest of the day.  After a series of doctors’ appointments and tests, it was determined that he was severely anemic.  We received lab results on December 30, 2015 showing that Howard had stage 3 colon cancer.  Undaunted, we set out to heal it.  To us, it was just another obstacle put in our way by the Adversary.  We had had plenty of those and, given our strong spiritual witness that the Lord wanted us in Ukraine, this was just another obstacle to be overcome. 

Laurel, although an attorney, has had a great interest in medicine and in other types of healing modalities for many years.  She has also had experience with terminal cancer, having lost her late husband, Mark Riddle, to cancer.  Howard put himself into Laurel’s hands and Laurel put herself into the Lord’s hands.  We have been led every step of the way.  We knew when to refuse surgery, we knew not to submit to traditional chemotherapy, we knew what other kinds of treatments to request, we knew where to go to receive treatment, we knew what diet and life-style to pursue, we knew what dietary supplements to use, and we knew when to finally have surgery (after the lymph nodes were clear of cancer).  Howard received, along with amazing care, some beautiful Priesthood blessings which unfailingly promised him healing.  And miracle of miracles! Howard is completely cancer free!  And he became so without compromising his immune system!  

We are grateful to Dr. Jonathan Murphy, MD and Dr. Maggie Gamma, MD, both of An Oasis of Healing in Mesa, Arizona, Dr. Lee Peterson, MD and Dr. Richard Rasmussen, MD, both of Utah Surgical Associates in Provo, Utah, and Dr. Jeffrey Wright, ND, of Utah Valley Health Clinic in Provo, Utah, for their faith and great care.  These doctors who helped us to achieve this miracle declared that it was a miracle beyond their power to orchestrate.  We know that it is!  We are so grateful to the Lord for His kindness and gifts to us. We are determined to use this extension of life to serve Him until our very last breath.  We have been all the more convinced that the Lord has something for us to do in Ukraine and are determined to do it. 

When President Kenneth Packer, the current Kiev Ukraine Mission President, learned that we had received a call to Ukraine, he requested our help in the mission.  Although we had a desire to serve in the temple, we began to wonder whether or not we should serve more than just in the temple.  Perhaps the Lord has additional things in mind for us. 

At this point, Howard’s health looked really good and the principal doctors involved in his care believed that we could go, but we felt that it was right that we contact the missionary department and tell them what we had experienced. We received the answer to our letter through our Stake President who was asked by the department to compassionately rescind our call.  The missionary department has an unbendable rule that one who has had cancer must be in remission for at least five years before the department will even consider a full-time missionary call.  This was a blow almost as great as the original diagnosis of cancer.  We had worked so hard and with so much faith.  We had sacrificed much in terms of time, money and a complete refocus of our lives.  But again, we were undaunted, knowing that the Lord wants us in Ukraine.  This was just another obstacle to be overcome.

We decided, with the encouragement of our Stake President, to call ourselves on a “mission” to Ukraine.  When the Stake President asked the missionary department about this, they said there was nothing stopping us from doing this, except for a small minor detail: it would be impossible to get long-term visas on our own.  Impossible you say? “With God, nothing will not be not possible!”  Although it was certainly difficult, through Laurel’s determination and Howard’s contacts, we have received our long-term class D visas.  This was made possible through an agreement between the International Center for Law and Religious Studies at BYU Law School, and the Religious Studies Department of the Ukrainian National Academy of Sciences.  

We are currently in Portugal recovering from jet lag and visiting with Laurel’s son and his family.  We will arrive in Kiev (Kyiv) on August 29^th where a beautiful apartment awaits us.  We will move our church records to Kyiv and serve as local members.  We have already been asked to serve in the temple and to lecture and teach on the LDS Church for the Ukrainian National Academy of Sciences.  We have also been asked to participate in the 25^th Anniversary Celebration of the Church in Ukraine which will occur next month.  At the suggestion of the Kyiv Stake President, we will be living in an area where we can work with less-active members. This will be a major emphasis during our time in Ukraine.

And so we have begun our “mission impossible.” We solicit your faith and prayers for our success in this great adventure.  Stay tuned for the rest of the story …..