This week was my youngest child’s birthday. Leah turned 6 years old. My baby is getting so big! I sent her a stuffed camel (she loves stuffed animals and has an entire zoo in her room), but she was missing a camel, which they have plenty of here where I am.
I also participated in the Bob Hope Reading program here at the USO (which I am so thankful for), where they donate books I am able to read to her on video and then send the book and the recording home in the mail. She loved it!
I was sad I didn’t get to be there with her, but happy she was happy and could hopefully feel that connection with me through those gifts while we are apart.
Last Sunday I had the opportunity to speak at our LDS Service Member Group Sacrament Meeting. I spoke on Elder Sikahema’s General Conference talk from this last October entitled “A House of Sequential Order” (churchofjesuschrist.org) and described the transcendent events of the beginning of the Restoration of The Church of Jesus Christ. I described the importance of the sequential order of those events, and how each of us must have the Gospel of Jesus Christ restored within us throughout our lives in similar order.
As we continue on the covenant path throughout our lives, we must continue to restore these truths within us, and share them with others, to receive a fullness of joy in this life and in the next.
I had the opportunity to participate in the opening night of Hanukkah last Sunday with a Chaplain who is also a Rabbi. He taught us of the history of the holiday and the significance of it in our lives today. We lit the menorah, played the dreidel game, and ate traditional Jewish treats. It was a neat experience.
I also met a member of our church who just deployed here recently. Her Battalion Commander asked if anyone from our faith would be willing to come and pray for their unit and over their headquarters building. The next day, I had the opportunity to meet her commander and listen to her story. She is well educated and spiritually inclined, has experienced many religions through her family members, including The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
She described the concerns of her unit, the transitions they were in the middle of, and the mission they are called to do. She discussed her concerns about how she could best lead them and asked for a blessing. Even though I described how I have the priesthood and can give a personal blessing, she asked for one more for the unit. So I prayed with her and her Captain, who was our church member in her office, to invoke a blessing upon her, her unit, and their office space. I followed the promptings of the Spirit and honestly don’t remember most of what I said. But I felt the power of the Spirit working through me and hope that she felt and will continue to feel that power in her life throughout their mission.
After that, the Captain asked for a priesthood blessing as well. I did so and felt prompted to bless her with comfort and reassurance regarding her family back home; that as long as she is faithful to her covenants, the power that comes from those covenants will bless her family and give her peace. She described after the blessing through tears what that meant to her as she shared her concerns about her family, which I had no idea about earlier. I testified to her that God knows every challenge and concern she faces and blessed her with these things for a reason.
It felt amazing to be an instrument in God’s hands once again this week!
In His Service,
Chaplain John Critchfield
Chaplain John Critchfield
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