Thursday, August 14, 2014

James Alma Slater saved from a volcano

(A volcano in New Zealand)

When they had 3 small children, James was called on mission to New Zealand. Mary willingly accepted the responsibility of the care of the children and farm. James had many faith-promoting experiences on his mission. At one time he and his companion were going to a certain village some three days travel by horse back. They had been traveling two days and expected to reach their destination the evening of the third day. After they had saddled their horses on the morning of the third day, ready to start on their last day's journey, James heard a voice telling him to turn back and not go to the village. This bothered him greatly. He realized they had traveled for two days and couldn't think of any good reason why they should return, so they started toward the village again. They had only gone a short distance when the voice spoke to James again and told him to turn back. He said the voice was clear as though someone had been standing near him. He told his companion about this prompting and after prayer and further consideration, they decided to turn back. They felt quite depressed, not knowing why they were warned. They traveled all morning and came to a farm and barn so stopped at this place. A terrible volcanic eruption took place near the village to which they had planned to go. They stayed in the barn during this eruption and although it was mid day, it was darker than any night they had ever seen. When they came out of the barn, they found 18 inches of ashes covering the ground. They later found out that the town they had been warned to flee from had been covered by a lava flow, destroying most of the town and taking several lives. He visited the town about four months later, and was awed at the great destruction.

(James was Grandma Tot's grandpa. He's the one who pressed all the ferns of which I own none.)

1 comment: