Here’s a story we sent for our home ward newsletter this month. Elder and Sister Wilde are our Orem neighbors who are serving in the office of the Paris France Mission right now.
STONEWOOD 4TH WARD NEWSLETTER
April 2021
We have a story to tell. It’s another miraculous experience from mid-March that again involved Elder and Sister Wilde. We are amazed at how often our mission lives cross!
Air France in Paris had a suitcase that had been left at the Charles de Gaulle airport for more than three months. They were just getting ready to destroy it, according to their policy, but when they opened it, they found a missionary tag, scriptures, and some teaching records. Their hearts were softened as they realized that this suitcase belonged to a Church missionary and they just couldn’t destroy it. They looked up the number of the Church mission office in Paris and who answered the phone? Sister Wilde. As they talked about some of the identifying content, it appeared that the missionary had served in Cote d’Ivoire. So, of course, they called the only people they know in Cote d’Ivoire to see if we might have any clues about its owner.
Indeed, we did. During the five brief weeks that we helped out in the Abidjan West Mission, we helped Elder Kema get ready to return to his home country of Vanuatu to finish his mission there. He wouldn’t finish until June 2021 but flights to Vanuatu were rare and we were trying to take advantage of the last repatriation flight. He made it to Vanuatu the end of Nov 2020, but his suitcase did not. He and his mission president had tried and tried to track it down, but to no avail. He still held out hope and that hope was rewarded by his loving Heavenly Father. We are grateful that the Air France workers felt impressed to try and find its owner, a very unusual move, and called the Paris Mission office. We are grateful that the Wildes answered and knew someone in Cote d’Ivoire. And we are grateful that we happened to know this elder in the neighboring mission.
Elder Kema’s suitcase arrived in Vanuatu around March 26th, with all his personal items intact. This experience will always remind us of Heavenly Father’s love for each one of us and the very personal way He ministers to us. It also impresses upon us that all of us can be the earthly angels He uses to bless His children, in ordinary and not-so-ordinary ways.
We send our love from Bamako and Abidjan.
Elder & Sister Lewis
Our Cote d’Ivoire Abidjan East and Bamako, Mali Mission 