Uncle Clyde and His Miracle at Green River, Wyoming
Spiritual thought given by Jim Hartley, Elders Quorum President, at the Hidden Village Ward Council, February 7, 2021
I’d like to relate a true story about my granduncle, Clyde Bunker, and his miracle at Green River, Wyoming. In April 1917, America entered World War I. Uncle Clyde was drafted into the army and sent to Europe. He was among the 1.2 million American troops in the war’s massive final battle … and he was also among its more than 120,000 U.S. casualties. He suffered from exposure to mustard gas and was wounded by a German artillery shell. In 1918, after the war was over, Uncle Clyde’s unit was sent to Cheyenne, Wyoming, where they would be discharged.
Uncle Clyde healed okay from the artillery shell wound, but unfortunately, he still suffered from the effects of the mustard gas. He felt he needed more rest before returning to his wife and infant son in southern California. After he was discharged in Cheyenne, he took a train to Green River, where he needed to transfer if he was to return home. But instead of transferring, he hoped he could stay a few weeks with my grandparents who lived 60 miles south in Manila, Utah (which is north of Flaming Gorge). My grandmother, Ethel Bunker Miner, was Uncle Clyde’s older sister.
On a Saturday, when he arrived at the Green River train station, he tried to telephone my grandparents, but there was a terrible storm that had knocked out the telephone lines.
The next morning, Sunday, Grandma announced that they would not be going to church. “Instead,” she declared, “we must borrow a car and go to Green River and get Clyde. I saw him last night in a dream and he was in Green River at the railroad station. He was trying to reach us, but for some reason he couldn’t.” Based on Grandma’s dream, they borrowed a neighbor’s car. When they arrived at the Green River train station, sure enough, they found Uncle Clyde. Completely surprised, he asked Grandma how she knew he was there. When she told him of her dream, Clyde said, “The Lord truly heard and answered my prayer.” Uncle Clyde was able to stay a few weeks with my grandparents to regain strength before returning to his family.
A miracle happened for Uncle Clyde because Grandma was in-tune enough with the Spirit to know the difference between a normal dream and the promptings of the Holy Ghost and to act on them.
Being able to receive and recognize the guidance of the Holy Ghost is especially vital for us in our day. In the April 2010 general conference, Sister Julie B. Beck, former Relief Society General President observed: “The ability to qualify for, receive, and act on personal revelation is the single most important skill that can be acquired in this life.”
https://abn.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2010/05/saturday-morning-session/and-upon-the-handmaids-in-those-days-will-i-pour-out-my-spirit?lang=eng
Our prophet, President Russell M. Nelson warned, “…In coming days, it will not be possible to survive spiritually without the guiding, directing, comforting, and constant influence of the Holy Ghost….
He implored, “I urge you to stretch beyond your current spiritual ability to receive personal revelation….
“Nothing opens the heavens” declared President Nelson, “quite like the combination of [and note these next five things] increased purity, exact obedience, earnest seeking, daily feasting on the words of Christ in the Book of Mormon, and regular time committed to temple and family history work…”
President Nelson again implored, “I plead with you to increase your spiritual capacity to receive revelation. … Choose to do the spiritual work required to enjoy the gift of the Holy Ghost and hear the voice of the Spirit more frequently and more clearly.”
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2018/04/revelation-for-the-church-revelation-for-our-lives?lang=eng
May we work diligently to increase our spiritual capacities and skill in receiving and recognizing the guidance of the Holy Ghost. In the process, who knows whose lives we’ll be prompted to rescue, like my grandmother did for Uncle Clyde?
