I Believe in Angels By Elder Carlos A. Godoy

 

I Believe in Angels

By Elder Carlos A. Godoy

Of the Presidency of the Seventy

The Lord is aware of the challenges you face. He knows you, He loves you, and I promise, He will send angels to help you.

Brothers and sisters, I believe in angels, and I would like to share with you my experiences with them. In doing so, I hope and pray that we will recognize the importance of angels in our lives.

Here are Elder Jeffrey R. Holland’s words from a past general conference: “When we speak of those who are instruments in the hand of God, we are reminded that not all angels are from the other side of the veil. Some of them we walk with and talk with—here, now, every day. Some of them reside in our own neighborhoods. … Indeed heaven never seems closer than when we see the love of God manifested in the kindness and devotion of people so good and so pure that angelic is the only word that comes to mind” (“The Ministry of Angels,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2008, 30).

It is about angels on this side of the veil that I want to talk. The angels that walk among us in our everyday lives are powerful reminders of God’s love for us.

The first angels that I will mention are the two sister missionaries who taught me the gospel when I was a young man: Sister Vilma Molina and Sister Ivonete Rivitti. My younger sister and I were invited to a Church activity where we met these two angels. I never imagined how much that simple activity would change my life.

My parents and siblings were not interested in learning more about the Church at that time. They were not even willing to have the missionaries in our home, so I took the missionary lessons in a Church building. That small room in the chapel became my “sacred grove.”

 

One month after these angels introduced me to the gospel, I was baptized. I was 16 years old. Unfortunately, I don’t have a picture of that sacred event, but I do have a picture of my sister and me at the time we participated in that activity. I may need to clarify who is who in this picture. I am the taller one on the right.

As you can imagine, remaining active in the Church was challenging for a teenager whose lifestyle had just changed and whose family was not taking the same path.

As I was trying to adjust to my new life, a new culture, and new friends, I felt out of place. I felt alone and discouraged many times. I knew the Church was true, but I had a hard time feeling part of it. While uncomfortable and uncertain as I tried to fit into my new religion, I found the courage to participate in a three-day youth conference, which I thought would help me make new friends. This is when I met another saving angel, named Mônica Brandão.

 

She was new in the area, having moved from another part of Brazil. She quickly got my attention and, luckily for me, accepted me as a friend. I guess she looked at me more from the inside than the outside.

Because she befriended me, I was introduced to her friends, who then became my friends as we enjoyed many youth activities I attended later. Those activities were so critical to my integration into this new life.

These good friends made a big difference, but not having the gospel taught in my home with a supportive family still put my ongoing conversion process at risk. My gospel interactions in the Church became even more crucial to my growing conversion. Then two additional angels were sent by the Lord to help.

One of them was Leda Vettori, my early-morning seminary teacher. Through her accepting love and inspiring classes, she gave me a daily dose of the “good word of God” (Moroni 6:4), which was so needed throughout my day. This helped me to gain the spiritual strength to keep going.

Another angel sent to help me was the Young Men president, Marco Antônio Fusco. He was also assigned to be my senior home teaching companion. Despite my lack of experience and different appearance, he gave me assignments to teach in our priests quorum meetings and home teaching visits. He gave me the chance to act and to learn and not just be an observer of the gospel. He trusted me, more than I trusted myself.

Thanks to all these angels, and many others I encountered during those important early years, I received enough strength to remain on the covenant path as I gained a spiritual witness of the truth.

And by the way, that young angel girl, Mônica? After we both served missions, she became my wife.

I don’t think it was a coincidence that good friends, Church responsibilities, and nurturing by the good word of God were part of that process. President Gordon B. Hinckley wisely taught: “It is not an easy thing to make the transition incident to joining this Church. It means cutting old ties. It means leaving friends. It may mean setting aside cherished beliefs. It may require a change of habits and a suppression of appetites. In so many cases it means loneliness and even fear of the unknown. There must be nurturing and strengthening during this difficult season of a convert’s life” (“There Must Be Messengers,” Ensign, Oct. 1987, 5).

Later he also taught, “Every one of them needs three things: a friend, a responsibility, and nurturing with ‘the good word of God’” (“Converts and Young Men,” Ensign, May 1997, 47).

Why am I sharing these experiences with you?

First, it is to send a message to those going through a similar process right now. Maybe you are a new convert, or coming back to the Church after wandering around for a while, or just someone struggling to fit in. Please, please, do not give up on your efforts to be part of this big family. It is the true Church of Jesus Christ!

When it comes to your happiness and salvation, it is always worth the effort to keep trying. It is worth the effort to adjust your lifestyle and traditions. The Lord is aware of the challenges you face. He knows you, He loves you, and I promise, He will send angels to help you.

In His own words the Savior said: “I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your [heart], and mine angels round about you, to bear you up” (Doctrine and Covenants 84:88).

My second purpose for sharing these experiences is to send a message to all members of the Church—to all of us. We should remember that it is not easy for new converts, returning friends, and those with a different lifestyle to instantly fit in. The Lord is aware of the challenges they face, and He is looking for angels willing to help. The Lord is always looking for willing volunteers to be angels in others’ lives.

Brothers and sisters, would you be willing to be an instrument in the Lord’s hands? Would you be willing to be one of these angels? To be an emissary, sent from God, from this side of the veil, for someone He is worried about? He needs you. They need you.

Of course, we can always count on our missionaries. They are always there, the first ones to enlist for this angelic job. But they are not enough.

If you look around carefully, you will find many in need of an angel’s help. These people may not be wearing white shirts, dresses, or any standard Sunday attire. They may be sitting alone, toward the back of the chapel or classroom, sometimes feeling as if they are invisible. Maybe their hairstyle is a little extreme or their vocabulary is different, but they are there, and they are trying.

Some may be wondering, “Should I keep coming back? Should I keep trying?” Others may be wondering if one day they will feel accepted and loved. Angels are needed, right now; angels who are willing to leave their comfort zone to embrace them; “[people who are] so good and so pure that angelic is the only word that comes to mind [to describe them]” (Jeffrey R. Holland, “The Ministry of Angels,” 30).

Brothers and sisters, I believe in angels! We are all here today, a giant army of angels set apart for these latter days, to minister to others as extensions of the hands of a loving Creator. I promise that if we are willing to serve, the Lord will give us opportunities to be ministering angels. He knows who needs angelic help, and He will put them in our path. The Lord puts those who need angelic help in our path daily.

I am so grateful for the many angels that the Lord has put in my path throughout my life. They were needed. I am also grateful for His gospel that helps us to change and gives us the chance to be better.

This is a gospel of love, a gospel of ministering. Of this I testify in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2020/10/44godoy?lang=eng

Angels that Intervene with Children By Anne Hinton Pratt

 

Angels that Intervene with Children

By Anne Hinton Pratt · February 10, 2022

 

Some of the most beautiful and touching stories told are those about angels protecting children. Several months ago, I shared several of these in an article. I’ve since received additional amazing and inspiring experiences from readers like you that you’ll want to feast on.

Miraculously Rescued from Fire

Kenny Mazzanti, a retired Sergeant on the California Highway Patrol had several experiences where he saw firsthand where angels protected children.  He writes,

“I was patrolling southbound I-5 near Lebec (between Los Angeles and Bakersfield CA) when I saw the backend of a motorhome burst into flames. The driver pulled over to the right shoulder of the freeway and the family piled out of the motorhome. Most of the motorhome was fully engulfed by flames when I approached the family.  The mom was counting heads. 1,2,3,4…

“Where’s little Johnny?” 

“One of the children said that he had been asleep in the back of the motorhome. I had the family move further away and prepared to go in to find the child. (It’s not the heat that will kill you; it’s the poisonous gasses from the burning plastics that will get you first). The door handle was too hot to open, so I used my handkerchief to open the door.  I took a deep breath and pulled the door open to charge in and retrieve the child. That wasn’t necessary.  There stood little Johnny holding his teddy bear as flames swirled all around him. I grabbed him by his sleeper and pulled him from the fire that took all the hair off my forearm, and then closed the door behind him. 

“We got away from the burning motorhome, and Johnny’s mother did a thorough inspection of her child.  Not a hair was singed, not even on the teddy bear.

“One of the other children asked how he got out?  Johnny told them very matter of factly that ‘The man in white’ had awakened him and led him to the door. Then, pointing at me, Johnny said, ‘And then HE grabbed me.’ [1]   

What an extraordinary rescue! When God and angels intervene, such amazing things happen. This next experience that Kenny relates will take your breath away.  He continues:

“Back about 1979, one of the Officers that I supervised was patrolling Interstate 5 near Newhall, CA saw something of concern.  A young couple had stopped for lunch at the Denny’s Restaurant in Newhall and had resumed their journey entering southbound I. 5.  The Officer pulled ahead of them, activated his overhead lights, and slowed his and their cars bringing the young coupe to a stop on the freeway shoulder.  The Officer approached the driver’s window.  The driver defensively questioned why the Officer had stopped him.  He was doing nothing wrong, and in his mind, this was obviously an abuse of power… 

“Without a word, the Officer reached up on top of the car and took down the car seat that secured their newborn baby and handed it to the young father. Apparently, they were not yet accustomed to having a baby with them when they travelled.”[2]

What kept that unattached baby from falling off the top of the car as it picked up speed on the freeway?  God is so good…

I love the scripture that talks specifically about children’s angels:

“Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.”[3]

Yes, these angels are often directed from the Father to protect small children.  Sometimes they protect them from their own lack of judgment…

Angel Protects From 12-Foot Drop

Janet Johnson remembers a beautiful experience she had with a young son being protected from a greater injury.  She wrote:

“My youngest child of four, a six-year-old boy, had climbed up into an open loft, twelve feet above our garage floor. He was leaning over the edge of the loft dropping army guys onto the floor below.  He leaned too far and toppled out of the loft headfirst. His shoulder hit a shelf on his way down, and he landed on the floor screaming in fear and pain.

“When I rushed into the garage and found him, his shoulder was bloody and the skin was torn, but I was shocked that his head had not hit the garage floor. I was so amazed as I held him in my lap that I commented on that fact. Although we had never taught, or even talked about guardian angels, or the possibility of loved ones who had passed being angels in our lives, he looked at me through his tears and said, ‘It’s because I landed on the angel. He was soft.”[4]

Isn’t it interesting that this child was protected from a severe head injury, but not saved from all pain?  The angel provided an intimate sweet experience for the child and his mother.  What a gift!

Angel Saves Two Girls from Accident

Allison Dunlap recounts a harrowing tale of angelic aid to two of her young daughters.

She writes,

“This happened when I was a young mother of 4 daughters. We lived on the corner of a busy street, but going the opposite direction was a lovely little neighborhood park that my girls loved to play in.

“One day I was nursing my baby when I heard a knock at the door. There stood my neighbor Sister Fredley with my two little towheads. She was nearly in tears as she told me what had just happened. Maddy and Rachel had noticed the front door unlocked and had quietly slipped out and wanted to walk up to the park to play. Sister Fredley was backing out of her driveway that had a slight slope on it, making the bottom of it not visible from her rearview mirror. She heard a man’s voice holler to her to “STOP”! She wondered what man would be yelling to her as we had very few that actually lived on our street. After she put her car in park and got out to look around to talk to the man, she noticed my two little girls in her driveway walking up the street towards the park.

“She looked everywhere for the man who had hollered to her to stop but found no one out in their yards on either side of the street. She realized then she had been helped by an unseen angel to protect my little girls from being hit by her car as she blindly backed out.

“As she related to me on my porch what had just happened, I was flooded first, with embarrassment at my negligence, but then an overwhelming feeling of gratitude to the Lord for protecting my innocent little daughters and sparing them and her and me from the devastating sorrow that would’ve beset us all. I thank the Lord for all the help He gives to us as we strive to bring souls into the world and do our inadequate best to raise them.”[5]

What a blessing!  It wasn’t the plan for the girls to die that day, and an angel and an “in-tune” neighbor helped God’s will to be.

Angelic Hope during Abuse                                                                                               

Sylvia was a child in an abusive home and growing up she felt very unloved by her parents.  She told me that one day, when she was a young girl, an angel came to her and said,

“Don’t worry Sylvia, things will get better!”  

She held on to that promise for many years, and after she left home and started life on her own, things went in a beautiful direction, but it was the memory of that day that pulled her through.[6]

Why?

Why was an angel instructed to visit Sylvia, or the boy in the fire, or protection for the boy on the loft and the two little girls, but not sent to other children in similar conditions? Somehow, these visits were part of these children’s’ specific plan.  It was God’s GIFT to them.  Other children receive other good gifts such as learning how to overcome trauma or how to circumvent their own difficulties.  God gives us ALL gifts. 

In scripture Moroni asks a profound question,

“…have miracles ceased?  Behold I say unto you, Nay; neither have angels ceased to minister unto the children of men…”[7]  

Do we believe Moroni? God knows the life plan of all children down to the details. He knows what gifts they need.  The fact is that angels protect and succor MANY, if not all children from time to time.   In my mind, these are the inspiring stories that are worth retelling…

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[1] Kenny Mazzanti, personal correspondence.  Used with permission.

[2] Kenny Mazzanti, personal correspondence.  Used with permission.

[3] Matthew 18:10.

[4] Janet Johnson, personal correspondence.  Used with permission.

[5] Allison Dunlap, personal correspondence.  Used with permission.

[6] Sylvia [last name withheld], personal conversation.  Used with permission.

[7] Moroni 7:29