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Hey, welcome to Follow Him Favorites. This is where John and I share a single story
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to go with each week's Come Follow Me lesson. John, Exodus 1 through 6. You have a story
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and I'm ready to hear it. Yeah, we remember that both Moses and Enic said something similar
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in the proletariat price that I'm slow of speech. I'm of a slow tongue. I can't talk.
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Well, in Exodus 4, 12, the Lord says, now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth and
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teach thee what thou shalt say. Interesting phrase, I'll be with thy mouth. I thought,
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what is that gift of tongues? We helped him. I do have kind of a gift of tongue story.
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You know Hank that I am intrigued by World War II history. I have a book called A Distant
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Prayer. It's by Joseph Banks and Jerry Barrelman. Elder Ben Banks was Joseph Banks. I believe
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the youngest brother. When I read this book, I thought, okay, this is not like Hogan's
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heroes. He was on a B-17 crew, shot down, spent time in the German prisoner of war camp.
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Towards the end of the war, the Germans say the Russians are coming. We're going to evacuate
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the camp and march you out of here. They march for like six weeks and then the Germans
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were ordered to the Russian front. So now these prisoners are on their own. They're
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alone. If I remember right, they have a big white PW on the front and the back and
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on their pants that means prisoner of war. Well, this story is so cool. They're marching
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through these towns. They don't have a map of Germany. He said he tried to remember
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one for the best he could. We crept along slowly and deliberately, these group of prisoners
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of war. Hardly making a sound, maintaining ten feet between each member of our team.
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It was a great leader at times like this because he never got excited or panicked. Suddenly,
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I was startled by a voice in the darkness as I instinctively turned to look, a door open
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from my house on my left. The light from inside shown on me and it was such an unexpected
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contrast from the darkness that temporarily blinded me. I stood there like a deer caught
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in the headlights of an oncoming car and able to move. Suddenly, a German soldier came
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striding out of the house straight for me, followed by a woman. Fortunately, the field of light
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was restricted enough so they could only see me giving my three partners a chance to take
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cover. As the soldier got closer, his shadow shielded my eyes enough for me to see a huge
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German tank parked next to the house. I could see the excited look in his eyes. I stood
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there transfixed, unable to move or make a sound. I didn't know whether to run, put my
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hands up, followed my knees back for mercy, so I just stood there. When he reached me,
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he shouted something unintelligible in German. Before I could think of what to do, I was startled
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to hear myself respond with a calm, confident German phrase that was obviously appropriate
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to what he'd asked me. He then replied to whatever I'd said with an almost cheerful,
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yaw, yaw, yaw. Then he put his arm around the woman, turned his back on me, went back
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into the house and closed the door. I was so astonished and frightened, I simply stood
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there with my mouth open. My buddy said, seen and heard the whole thing. And when I didn't
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move, they came out and grabbed me and pulled me behind the nearby out building where we
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could hide. The whole encounter took only a few seconds. The first thing my buddy said
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was, what a nurse did he say to you? And what did you say back when you talked to him?
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I told him I had no idea, either what he said or I said. I couldn't speak German. I knew
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that I didn't use any of the few German words I learned in the POW camp, like hello, yes
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or no, sir. Even if I had my accent would have been terrible. A German would have recognized
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me as a foreigner immediately. Whatever I said had satisfied him and all of us stood there
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marveling at disbelief what had just happened. Considering I was standing fully in plain sight
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of this soldier with my straggly beard tattered clothes, no coat, bright white letters painted
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on my trousers and shirt. It was impossible he didn't recognize me as an escaped prisoner.
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Instead of shooting me or calling for help though, he looked straight at me, spoken his
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native tongue, listened to my response and a foreign tongue I had never spoken before,
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and he accepted my answer as legitimate. Even if the guards hadn't figured it out, there
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was the woman who also stared at me and heard the words that passed between us. Why didn't
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either of them figure out what was going on? As all of this settled in my mind, I felt
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a burning in my heart that told me I had been blessed once again and that the holy ghost
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had interpreted what the German had said to me and put the appropriate words in my mouth
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to respond. I had been blessed with the gift of tongues. I don't know what those two
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Germans saw, but obviously they didn't see any letters on my clothing, though they
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should have stood out like a neon sign in the bright light that shone through the door.
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The spirit may also have changed what they saw, I think in some way my appearance had been
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transformed so they didn't recognize me. I've heard it said that for something to be
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a miracle, there can be no logical or earthly way to explain it. If that's true, then I
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was clearly the beneficiary of a miracle, and it thrilled me to know that God was still
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watching out for me and that he cared for me. Wow. I will be with thy mouth, and that's
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exactly what he did. Oh my word. That's amazing. What does the Lord say to Moses when Moses
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says, I won't be able to say anything. Who made man's mouth? Who made man's mouth? Have
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not I, the Lord? Yeah. That's right. That is awesome. We hope you'll join us on our full
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podcast. It's called Follow Him. You can get it wherever you get your podcasts. We're
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with Dr. Crystal Pierce this week. She's awesome. She walks through these first chapters
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of Exodus. She has such an expertise that it's really fun. You'll see things you've never
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seen. Then come back here next week. We'll do another Follow Him favorite.