Guest Post By Alana
While my husband and I were engaged, we ended up moving our wedding date up about 6 months from what we had initially planned.
We were engaged in October and I was going to finish the year of school then get married. During a visit back home to Hawaii Sione and I walked along the beach near my home. I couldn’t shake the feeling that we needed to move our wedding date up and get married sooner.
After discussing these feelings together, we both prayed about it and decided that we should get married in January. We had no vehicles, no idea of where we would end up living, and practically nothing in our bank accounts. We also knew there would be some family members that would not be very happy about this decision. Yet, we knew that this was exactly what we needed to do.
As the time drew nearer things seemed like they weren’t falling in place for us. We had decided to still have our wedding reception in the summer so everyone could celebrate with us. At least we didn’t have to worry about that. Everything else worked against us changing the date even though we knew firmly from the answers to our prayers that it was the right thing to do.
Here’s how crazy things were.
It wasn’t until the day AFTER we got married that we even knew where we would be living. We had no vehicles in Hawaii and we weren’t sure what we were going to do about school. We somehow pressed forward in faith.
That’s where the many miracles and tender mercies began to show up. First, we came across a talk from President Thomas S. Monson where he said, “The wisdom of God is ofttimes seen as foolishness to men, but when God speaks and that man obeys that man will always be right.” These words gave us just enough strength to continue moving forward with our plans.
Then after finding out that we were getting married, Sione’s boss gave him a raise. When we decided to transfer schools we both got accepted AND qualified for grants to cover the cost of college! A friend who worked at one of the nicest hotels on the island gave us a week stay at that hotel as a wedding gift. At least we could stay there while we figured out where we would live.
January 22, 2005 came around and we were married and sealed for time and all eternity in the Laie, Hawaii Temple. The next day we found out a friend of ours had a place for us to rent at half the cost of everything else we had previously been looking at. We realized that not being able to get into any other housing was actually a tender mercy.
My husband’s boss decided to gift us a car and told us to pay him back whenever. A few months later we were hit with a three part tender mercy. Part one: we ended up getting an even better work opportunity as subcontractors for Circuit City. We put up flat-screen TVs and installed home theater systems for the entire island and we could do it around our school schedules. Part two: we stayed very busy because this was just as flat screen tvs and home theaters were gaining popularity and no one knew how to install them on their own. Part three: it paid well enough that we were able to pay back Sione’s former boss right away.
We counted every single one of these blessings as tender mercies. They each came at the perfect timing to help us continue pressing forward in faith and as confirmation that we were doing the right thing.
Today Sione and I have a podcast and YouTube channel where we count and share the lessons that life teaches us. Our mission is to share, teach, and inspire others to become their best selves. The lessons and principles we share allow others to be able to recognize the Lord’s hand in their lives and to learn how to have joy in any circumstance.
Learn more about Sione & Alana here.
