Challenges and Blessings

The past few weeks, it seems like several people we know have been struggling with very serious life challenges. I mentioned Gates in this post. On Sunday, May 22, we found out that our good family friend, and Ryan’s scout leader, has been diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer. Our ward and his ward (next to us) had a fast Sunday to Monday, and then had a two-ward prayer together on Monday, May 23. It was a good experience for Ryan to participate, especially since he loves his scout leader. Ryan immediately started to include him in his prayers, and has a very tender and sincere faith about the situation. It will be difficult for Ryan to have his scout leader released and a new one come in, but we will continue to check on the family and do what we can for them. We’ve already taken a couple of opportunities to do things for them. (I forgot to mention when I originally posted this...Ryan pulled out a tooth at the prayer service! Friends, family, and loyal readers know that Ryan pulls out his loose teeth in interesting and unexpected places. We were sitting on our church bench listening to Ryan's scout leader talk for a few minutes before the prayer. All of a sudden, Ryan showed me that he was holding his tooth!)

That same week, we found out that the 11-year-old (now 12) daughter of a friend of ours had collapsed in her PE class on Wednesday, May 18. The PE teacher had to do CPR for 7 minutes until the ambulance arrived. The ambulance transported her to the hospital, where it was quickly determined that she would travel by life-flight to Primary Children’s Medical Center. Doctors discovered that she has a very serious heart defect, and she was immediately put on the heart transplant waiting list. She has since been released from Primary, but goes back several times a week for testing, can’t do the activities and sports that she used to love, and must stay within minutes of Primary, just in case a heart is located for her. Again, Ryan quickly added her to his sincere, faithful prayers, and we have had the opportunity to do a couple of things for them. Here is a story about her that aired on the KSL news tonight.

On Sunday, May 22, we also learned that the home of a family we know was completely destroyed in the tornado in Joplin, Missouri. Even as I write, the family is still searching through the rubble for any items that can be salvaged, and just trying to clean up. We also include them (and all of the hundreds of people affected by the Joplin tornado) in our prayers, and we were able to contribute some items to a humanitarian aid delivery for the people in Joplin.

It was somewhat overwhelming for us to learn of all of these things within a matter of days. But we quickly remembered how blessed we are. I think it has been good for Ryan to specifically pray for so many different people in so many different challenging situations. He has always been a very compassionate person, but these experiences are developing that characteristic even more deeply. We know how blessed we are, and are grateful for everything we have.