I Know God Lives. He Lives. (response to being in Boston the day of the Bombing)

To all my family and friends,

Yesterday was an extremely tragic day, but in another aspect, it was an experience that strengthened my faith and testimony that my Father in Heaven is watching and protecting me, as I walk by faith and not by sight. For those who do not know, I am currently serving in Amherst, Massachusetts. This is an hour and forty-five minutes away from Boston. We never go to Boston on our P-day unless we go to the Boston Temple, then after we can enjoy the city of Boston.

It turns out that yesterday we went to the temple. Elders Campbell, Hanberg, Croft, and I all carpooled together from Springfield to the Boston Temple. The Boston Temple experience was absolutely phenomenal, but for the consistency of this story I will write about that spiritually uplifting time in a different letter. After our temple session, we visited converts of some elders in my group who had served in Revere – which is about 20 minutes away from Boston. After that we got on the T and went into the city of Boston. When we got on the T I had a feeling that something was off. I thought at first it was because there was a dog trying to lick me, but when we got off the T the feeling wouldn’t go away. At the time I didn’t know why but looking back it is quite obvious. We walked the streets of Boston together, and were able to see the famous Boston Marathon that was going on that day. We wandered around Copley Square, the Boston Commons and Quincy Market. It was great, but again something was off. It was a mutual feeling in the group, so we all thought we needed to head back early. We didn’t know why, but now we do. We took one last look at the Marathon, and made our way back to the T and then to Revere, where we got our car and left the Revere/Boston area.  We stopped by this absolutely delicious Roast Beef place for some food. At this time, it had been 40 minutes since we had decided to leave Boston early.

We were on the freeway headed home when we got a phone call from our Zone Leaders. They asked us frantically where we were. We told them we were 30 minutes outside of Boston. They told us to hurry home and we asked why. When we got the horrific response that there had been a terrorist attack in Boston we were all stunned. We asked what they knew about it, and our Zone Leaders told us we could turn on the radio to find out more. After 5 minutes of listening we realized that we had been protected by the Lord. We had walked around Copley Square, we had walked right next to the Boston Marathon, saw the finish line, saw the crowd, walked everywhere on the streets. It is terrifying to say, but we missed the bombs by 20 minutes. We got off the T in Revere at about the same time the bombs in Boston went off. We were able to leave before the city was closed. We were blessed. God lives. I know God lives. He lives. We were standing and walking where the bombs went off. Heavenly Father lives. We were blessed to recognize and heed the promptings of the Holy Ghost, when we didn’t even know why.  We were walking by faith, not by sight. To everyone who reads this, both those of the LDS faith and those who are not, I want to bear my testimony that God lives. I know that Heavenly Father has a hand in our lives EVERYDAY. I know that God lives. He lives. I know this Church has been restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith. I am grateful to have the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and the gift of the Holy Ghost in my life to direct and protect me. Those who want to know the truth whether you are LDS or not, please read Moroni 10:3-5. I promise if you follow the challenge in this scripture you will be given knowledge about how to receive peace in your life and an amazing feeling of comfort.  I have limited time today. I look forward to telling you next week about how amazing the Boston Temple was. Until next time.

Elder Tait

2 Years. Make it count.