From Elder Walker

Friday , March 27th

Today was a day of miracles! We were asked by President Blatter to take the four Port Angeles Elders and Sisters to the temple, as they were unable to go with the rest of us on Thurs. the 17th. (They were doing presentations all day about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to several classes at the high school.)

We left Sequim at 7 a.m. with Elders Schaffner and Fife in the back seat, and Sisters Bigley and Scheer in the fold-up seat in the rear. We planned to be at the Bainbridge Ferry at 8:30 for the half hour crossing, and then take the freeway, which would take another 30 minutes, getting us to the temple by 9:30. (They were scheduled to be in the 10 a.m. session with Pres. & Sis. Blatter and the missionaries who are going home this month.) 

Our plan seemed great, but when we reached the Hood Canal Bridge, it was closed for traffic! (It is a floating bridge and the whole center of the bridge opens for ships to go through.) We sat on the bridge, in the dense fog, for 39 minutes. We could hear the ships whistles and fog horn but we never saw anything! Yikes! That changed everything! We would now miss the Bainbridge Ferry, and if we tried to drive through Tacoma and up Hwy 405, we would never make the 10 a.m. session. We started praying, and immediately the thought came, “try to catch the 8:40 Kingston Ferry.”  Crossing the bridge, we turned left instead of right, and hurried as fast as possible toward Kingston. We drove onto the Ferry at 8:39—the last car allowed to enter. Before I could even park and shut off the engine, the ferry was already on its way. Whew! That was the first miracle! 

The trip across the water took 30 minutes, so when we disembarked at 9:10, our GPS showed our projected arrival time at the temple to be 10:10. We couldn’t text the President to let him know where we were because he was already in the temple. So, away we flew! I kept praying, “Please, Heavenly Father, these wonderful missionaries need to be in the 10 o-clock session with their mission president. Please help us to get there.” 

If you have ever been on I-5 in Seattle, you will immediately recognize the next miracle. (Last week when we were there the traffic was so congested that the bus driver left the freeway and took side streets to pass everyone!) The traffic on I-5 opened up so that I was able to drive 60 mph for many miles. It bottlenecked some at the Bellevue exit, but while going through the tunnel and across the bridge, I was able to go 75, even 80 most all the way to the temple exit. Miraculous! 

We pulled into the temple parking lot at 9:56! Linda jumped out, rushed in, and asked if they could delay the 10 a.m. session. They called the temple president, who verified with President Blatter that we were, indeed, supposed to be in that session, so they held the session. After dressing as quickly as possible, all six of us were soon seated in the ordinance room. 

As I watched the Mission President’s expression when these 4 beautiful missionaries took their seats, all I could do is weep while thanking Heavenly Father for His tender mercies, for opening the way for us to get there. The session began at 10:15. 

After a wonderful temple experience, we drove to Deseret Book for some needed supplies, went to lunch, then began the 3 hour trip back home. We arrived at 7 p.m., totally exhausted, and so very thankful!