It was a crisp autumn day. We had driven to a portion of the Snake River to float and fish, and have an “Archie Adventure.” I had stuffed myself into my waders, grateful I could use them for warmth, but waddling like a penguin because they really didn’t fit. Ryan had Peter and me help as much as possible but took most of the pressure of planning and preparing this trip on himself.
We traveled slowly down the river, Ryan rowed most of the way because of the low flow. We stopped for lunch, packed up quickly because daylight was quickly being spent and headed toward where Ryan’s truck had been dropped off. Not too far from where the truck was, there was a waterfall. It was beautiful and I decided to try and send a Marco Polo with my phone. While in the process of doing that, we hit a stump.
One of the first things Ryan had told us was to “stay in the boat.” One of the first things I did when we hit the stump was to hop out of the boat. Ryan had to help me back in, my tight waders limiting my movement. Then he got us going again. We’d only started floating, maybe a minute, when I realized I didn’t have my phone and that it had fallen out of my shallow sweatshirt pocket. I couldn’t find it, we couldn’t go back and we continued on our way as tears spilled down my cheeks.
I knew I hadn’t backed up any pictures, videos, and such on my phone. We’d gotten the phone close to when we’d had Archer, and it didn’t matter at the time to put any effort into setting it up. Ryan felt like it was his fault, so I lied and told him I had found all the videos and pictures of Archer in the cloud. I only had what I had shared on social media, and the videos I had been able to download from Marco Polo. So much had been lost. My 2 favorite videos of him, so many photos and memories lost to a river, never to be returned.
Then just a few weeks ago I received a message from someone on Facebook. They had found my phone, and somehow it was still charging. She was sweet and met us in Salt Lake City to give us the phone.
Peter worried about how the phone really was doing, downloaded everything he could from the phone the following day. It was a good thing he did because the battery started shorting out.
Everything that happened to get the phone back and the pictures downloaded were tender mercies. I am still shocked at how it all happened, but beyond grateful that we have those memories of Archer back. The right person decided to pick up a random phone on the river, found us, and we were blessed by their willingness to serve.
“But behold, I, Nephi, will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance” 1 Nephi 1:20 “A loving Savior was sending me a most personal and timely message of comfort and reassurance…I testify that the tender mercies of the Lord are real and that they do not occur randomly or merely by coincidence. Often, the Lord’s timing of His tender mercies helps us to both discern and acknowledge them.” Elder David A. Bednar
During this Easter season, when we are close to Archer’s birthday, it is a tender mercy to be reminded that Archer is not forever lost to us. He is ours, just like Christ has made us His through His Atonement and Resurrection, what an immense tender mercy.
Comments