Tender Mercies #1, Comfort Germany Move

1-9-20
In Sunday school class this week.  Something that was brought up was keeping a tender mercies journal.  I Love this idea!

One of the small tender mercies I had received came to mind.  My husband spent 12 years active duty in the Navy.  After that, he spent many years active in the Navy Reserve.  In 2015, he was activated and deployed for a year to Germany.  This deployment was unaccompanied, so it was for him only.  We decided that we would bring the family to Germany as well, at our own expense.

Because this was an unaccompanied tour, there were many things we did not know about how things would work as far as having our family there.  We did the best we could to get information ahead of time, but much of it would not be available until after we got there.  We packed our household into storage, shipped a few hundred pounds of household goods with movers to Germany, packed our suitcases and left our home.

James flew to Germany first.  The kids and I planned to take a couple weeks in Washington before flying out of Seattle to Germany.  We planned to attend a family reunion in the Tri-Cities, and then visit with family members who live in the state, since we were going to be gone for a full year and wouldn't be able to see them.

I had been super excited and grateful about the opportunity to go to Germany.  But as our household was packed up, we were homeless for a bit, and all kinds of uncertainties were in front of me, I was having some serious anxiety.  Mostly about what was ahead of us.

We attended a ward (church) in the Tri-Cities one Sunday while there.  It was a big ward and the seating extended past the chapel and back into the gym.  We sat in a row in the gym.  I noticed the family sitting behind us, but I don’t remember why.  I’m shy, and after the meeting, would have just ducked out quickly.  But somehow, a conversation was struck up with the family behind us.

She asked where we were from.  I said that we were in the process of moving to Germany for a year.  She got excited at the mention of Germany.  She said, “Oh, you are going to love it!”.  She went on to tell me that their family had been stationed there with the military for several years.  She was so enthusiastic and said it had been an amazing experience for their family.  She said they would do it again in a minute given the chance.
 
I was filled with warmth and much of the anxiety was driven away.  I knew my Heavenly Father was aware of me and my concerns, as insignificant as they might be.  I didn’t believe for a minute that it was an accident that we just happened to sit in front of that family.  I felt my Heavenly Father’s love for me through that tender mercy!