A Great Story

Last Saturday, we drove to Fayetteville (about 2 1/2 hours from Jacksonville) to attend a Mission Training Meeting with Elder Zwick and Elder Pino of the Seventy.  We left at 6:45 a.m. and took the 2 elders who serve with us in the Jacksonville 3rd Ward.  One is from Idaho and the other from Clinton, Utah.  The Abneys took the other 2 elders and the sisters drove their car.  Next time, we will switch and take the sisters and the elders will drive their car.  All of them prefer to ride with the senior missionaries to save the miles they have been assigned for their car.  They have only so many miles they can drive each month and the rest of the time they ride bikes.  We have a huge area to cover so they really like to conserve their miles.

It was slightly cooler when we left that morning and as we drove along these wooded highways wherever there was water (ponds, rivers) a ghostly mist was rising, also in low lying fields.  It was quite beautiful.

Anyway, at the meeting, Sister Zwick told this great story about when Elder Zwick and she were called to serve preside over the Chile, Santiago South Mission. They arrived on July 4, 1989.  Sister Zwick was feeling quite overwhelmed as she did not speak Spanish and she was responsible for the health and welfare of 200 young missionaries, half of whom spoke no English, in addition to her own 4 young children.  She wondered why there was a 10 ft. tall fence all around the Mission Home.  She was certain she would never be able to drive on roads where drivers made 4 lanes out of 2.  In the midst of her lament, they received a phone call.

"President," came the voice on the other end, "You don't know me and I don't know you, but I am one of your missionaries and I am standing here in a phone booth with only my companion's overcoat on.  We were doing a baptismal interview in the chapel when 7 terrorists broke in and held a gun to my head and made me take off all my clothes in front of the seminary students who were also in the chapel at the time.  They poured floor wax on my clothes and set them on fire.  The chapel is burning and I was wondering, President, what you want me to do."

Sister Zwick said she stood in the kitchen sobbing, saying, "I can't do this. I have to go home!"  Her 10 year old son came and put his arm around her and said, "Heavenly Father will help you." "And," she concluded, " He did."

Elder Zwick
Sorry, I couldn't find one of his wife.

Elder Zwick followed up with a marvelous talk, building on his wife's story.  The take away moral was "Never limit yourself by what you think is your capacity, but allow Heavenly Father to expand your capacity.  AND HE WILL!"