Yesterday contained a wonderful "tender mercy" from the Lord to me. I was serving in the Lucy Mack Smith home (mother of the prophet Joseph Smith) for the first time in about 4+ months. It is one of my favorite sites, but it is not visited by guests very often. There hadn't been many visitors, when in walked this couple - Elder Jeff & Sister Jo Ann Price from Sandy, Utah. I saw their name tags, but he was in jeans and she was in pants, so I knew they weren't from our area so I asked if they were on their way to their mission or coming home! There wouldn't have been any other explanation for the way they were dressed. They said they were on their way to serve a 1 year mission in the Columbus, Ohio mission. When I pressed further she said that she had been called to be the school teacher for the children of 3 Amish families that had recently joined our church. These families have been "shunned" by their Amish community since joining our church and so she is going to be the teacher for the new LDS children. We seemed to just have an instant connection during the tour of the site. They said that they only had time to visit 2 sites and this was one of them they decided to visit! I was surprised and happy they had come. We said good-bye and they went out the back door to see the grounds. 

Photo taken inside the house before they left

 This assignment of theirs seemed so fascinating to me and as I sat back down I had the thought to go out in the back yard with them and ask if I could stay in touch with them during their mission. So I went....They seemed pleased and so I gave them my email address and blog address and invited them to follow my journey and they said they would email me when they could. Then again noticing their missionary tags, I asked them if they had Price relatives in the Phoenix area and Elder Price said "yes, I was born and raised there." I asked who his parents were and he said Bob and Dorothy Price! Well Dr. Bob and Dorothy Price were close friends of my first husband's parents, Greg and Faye Doyle. I asked him if he remembered the Doyle family and if he remembered the Doyle's two children that died in the car accident back in 1972. He said absolutely. I told him --  I am Greg's wife and he and I immediately gave each other a big hug! I told him that I knew his parents well and have many fond memories of them. We had a good chat for several minutes and I took their picture again outside in the yard. I can hardly believe that I nearly missed the blessing of being able to connect with them in this special way if the spirit hadn't nudged me to go outside, and ask more questions!

I am still feeling grateful and humble at how God is so often in the details of our life - even when it is not a matter of life and death. But this experience just reminds me that he wants us to feel joy and stay connected to those that mean something to us......I can hardly wait to follow their mission experience!

Photo taken out in the backyard
Elder Jeff Price & Sister JoAnn Price