God With Us : How God Watches Over His Children

My new friend, holding baby Amanuel

We had another miracle moment this week.  We went up to the Bad Homburg Church Office building for some financial training.  It tuned out that I already knew all the information and didn't really need to go.  The final thing we did at the office was an unplanned visit to the group of employees that works with church units to figure out how to get better reporting of expenditures on Refugee projects.  There I met Sister S.  After offering some good suggestions, she mentioned that she was about to leave to help a friend, who is a refugee, who was just going into labor with her first child. Sister S has been helping her for months, and mentioned that she needed baby clothes.  I was able to tell her that we have lots of baby clothes and diapers and we would give them to her.  THAT is why I went for training: to provide clothes for this baby.

Here is the rest of the story: 

Sister S tells her story:  My friend E- got involved with helping the Refugees in her town. One day she helped a women from Africa, V- and took her to the store to get a pregnancy test.

V-  had come to Germany in June 2015. She is Christian and had met a Muslim man, A-, on her journey to Germany. They were married and travelled together. At one point he saved her life. When they were in prison in Libya, all Christians were lined up and shot. Because V- was with her Muslim husband, her life was spared. Shortly after their time in prison, they were able to get on a boat to Italy and eventually come to Germany. Both of them were very traumatized by the journey and unfortunately, A- was not able to cope. One day he left V- and has not been heard of since.

E- stayed while V- took the test and verified that she was expecting a baby. V- was very confused. She wanted to have the child but how would she raise the child without a father in a foreign country? When she consulted with some of the volunteers, an abortion was presented as one of her only options.

Heartbroken V- went to have a consultation with “Pro Familia” (Planned parenthood) in town.

Up to that point I had only heard from E- about this “pregnant refugee” who was going to have an abortion. I was praying for her, even though all I knew about her was her name. That day, when I heard she was having a consultation, I felt a clear impression that I should go and speak to her. I felt this love for her, without knowing her. I counseled with the Lord and in the short amount of time that I had, I was able to find a member in the International Ward, Brother G-, that spoke her dialect and transportation for him to come to our town that night. I knew that Heavenly Father was providing this miracle in order for us to help her.

Another friend from my ward, D- and Brother G- met me at the Consultation office and waited for about 2 hours. We did not know if she wanted to speak to us or if she would be even willing to listen to us. When she finally came out we approached her and asked kindly if she wanted to talk and she said YES! Brother G- translated D-’s first question: “Do you know that your baby is a child of God?” and V- was immediately in tears. She told us that she was afraid to have a baby from a man of a different faith and was scared of the consequences this would have for her. We did not speak about all the details, but we promised we would help her and that everything would be ok. When we prayed together after our short conversation, it was as if the Savior was in the room with us. I felt the Spirit so strongly.

We said good-bye that day and that was the beginning of a wonderful friendship. We have had many dinners together and E- and I have made sure she always had what she needed. E- is a stay at home mother and has driven her many times to her appointments and checked on her a lot. V- remained very strong, even though some volunteers refused to help her because she did not have the abortion. We have now found an apartment for her in S-berg and she has been very happy to be away from those volunteers that she had to depend on for help.

V- told me later on that she always knew that it was wrong to have an abortion and that she had prayed for her help. She said when she left the office for the consultation and saw the three of us standing there, she immediately knew that we were sent by God!

When her due date came closer, she explained her fears to me one day and I offered without a doubt to go with her. And last Friday, I left work to meet her at the hospital. 50 minutes later we had our miracle baby –Amanuel.  According to V- the name means “God is with us”. [RHS note: this is the same as Emmanuel : 'im' means with , 'nu' means us, 'El' means God].

Mother and child

It is interesting that I happened to speak to Sister Stay and that she knew of a way to get more baby clothes and diapers. I was overwhelmed when I saw the overflowing box and the diaper bag that Sister Stay had put together for us.

The Friedrichsdorf Ward, my ward, also donated so many things when V- moved. A washing machine, rugs, bedding, towels, shelves, pots and pans and a microwave. I received so many replies to my email when I asked for things for her, I was deeply touched. On the moving day we all discovered a beautiful fact about the helpers. We all had a different backgrounds: German, Italian, Pakistani, Eritrean, Ethiopian and our religions were, LDS, Methodist, Baptist, Moslem and non-believers. However, we worked together to help V- move and all sat at one table in the end enjoying cake J.