Special dome of protection we receive as missionaries

I have been thinking recently about the protecting hand of the Savior for His servants. Everyday we are blessed and protected.

All of the buses here have signs painted on them with messages like “Jesus Lives” “I love Jesus” “Jesus Saves” etc. Inside the buses are frequently signs that have messages like “Jesus protects this bus. I drive the bus.” The dichotomy is that they drive like the devil is sitting beside them. So it is a good thing that they know who Jesus Christ is and that He saves! Everyday I feel like we are protected as we ride in the buses.

Sometimes when we travel to or from Esquipulas we are lucky enough to sit right behind the driver. This is good in that there aren’t as many seats across, so, with luck, you might not be so crowded. But it is disconcerting to sit where you can see how many chances the driver actually takes—passing on curves, crossing over center and/or double lines, driving too fast, etc. When you are cramped in the back, you aren’t as aware when your life is hanging in the balance! 

Now, onto a completely different, but related thought. I have mentioned before that there are many guards with shot guns—everywhere. I make a point of always greeting them with a smile because if something ever happened I want the guys with the guns to be on my side. They usually greet me very pleasantly and seem to enjoy the token of friendship. They are generally located where businesses have transactions with larger amounts of money and they are always at banks, supermercados and farmacias.

Last week we had an odd experience. On Thursday about 5:30 PM I walked out our gate to catch a bus to our class. Across the street was a truck with a large enclosed back. No big deal. They are everywhere all the time. Two men were in the cab, as if they had just pulled up to the curb to park. But what really surprised me was that right next to our gate was a man dressed in black with a bullet proof vest like all the security guards everywhere--with the typical shotgun in hand. I was surprised to see him here. But I followed my normal procedure and greeted him with “Hola. Buenas tardes.” He turned and was obviously as startled to see me as I was to see him. About then Spencer was arriving at the gate. Suddenly without saying a word, the “guard” bolted across the street and jumped into the cab with the other two guys and they sped off. I have no idea what it was about, but it gave me a creepy feeling—like they were up to no good and my sudden appearance and full eye contact with the guy with the gun interrupted their plan. I was glad to see them leave and I was glad a bus arrived immediately and we could hop on and leave too. Nothing happened, but I just felt that overpowering feeling that the Lord was protecting us and His angels were on our right hand and our left (see D&C 84:88).

One more story of protecting care. It seems like I am falling more than ever. I know my kids are thinking “More than ever!? Mom was always a klutz! How could this be” But anyway, for having been born into a family of athletes, I really got the short end of the stick. Besides not being fast or coordinated, I always had really small ankles (still do) and turned them all the time. Now that we walk on these crazy paving stones, cobble roads and crooked, slanted sidewalks, I seem to be turning my ankle and/or falling more than normal. [Just an aside note that I remembered last week, I remember once when our Risk Management officer from state government came to Prescott and laughingly told me that I—who was in administration—was one of his biggest risks because I had three industrial injuries from falls at work in one year—and with my crazy back, it took longer than normal to get healed up. Sigh. We laughed about it as he asked, “What can I do to help you walk better?”] Well, anyway, you guessed it, I fell in Esquipulas again last week. No big deal, but the skin tears always get infected. It took me almost four weeks to heal the last skin tear from a previous fall in Esquipulas. Then at the temple three days later, my foot caught on a rug in the annex when there was a change in elevation and I fell on the same stupid knee, breaking the skin tear open again. I jumped right up—more embarrassed than injured. When I was walking to school this morning and watching very carefully where I put my feet, I suddenly had a little teaching experience from the Holy Ghost. It is true I fall a lot, but I have amazingly strong bones. No one ever believes the screening tests because my bones are like those of someone half my age. What a special blessing it is to have strong bones! It sort of compensates for being a klutz.

It made me think of Pollyanna. In recent months I told both Aly and Sierra that Pollyanna was one of my favorite movies when I was young and I read all of the books. Playing the “Glad Game” is a lifetime habit of mine. Without even thinking about it, I am always noticing something good about even really tough situations. So, right now I am really “glad” (and thankful) that Heavenly Father has protected me from serious harm by blessing me with really strong bones!

Just thought you might want to know that I know we are protected. There is an additional protection as we are obedient and committed to serving Heavenly Father’s children. I know Heavenly Father loves me and is pleased that I am here—how else could I have survived?

Love,
Mom/Jeanine

P.S. One more amazing evidence of having a dome of protection: in my fatigue last night I forgot one of our most serious near misses. As you may have guessed we eat a lot of beans and rice. I typically make a big pot of chili beans once a week. Occasionally I use the pressure cooker for the beans because it is faster. The Limburgs left a cooker here. There isn’t an indicator for the #’s of pressure—just the petcock. A couple of weeks ago, I had the pressure cooker started and I was cutting all the yummy little vegetables I put in the chili. Spencer was going to start the dishes and I suggested he wait until I finished chopping all of the veggies. So he left the kitchen to take a nap on the couch. I was happily working away when the steam came to a head. I immediately went over and turned the heat down, just like normal. Then, I decided to go to bathroom as long as I had interrupted my work. I walked from the kitchen to the bathroom and was there for less than a minute when I heard an explosion. Apparently the safety valve was old, cracked, defective or something. When I returned to the kitchen, the valve (not the petcock) had been blown out and there was hot steam and bean juice (virtually all the liquid all over the kitchen. It was so hot it literally burned and cracked the texturing on the ceiling. There was dark juice on every wall, the cupboards, the counters, the window panes, the floor, refrigerator, etc. We had a major clean up chore and we have to repaint the kitchen and the ceiling. An inconvenience, certainly, but what a blessing. If either one of us had remained in the kitchen we would have (minimally) been severely burned/maimed, if not killed. It was really pretty much of a miracle that we both left the kitchen. Just one more evidence of the Lord’s protecting care. See why I have a testimony that we are being protected?