In late 1995, Elders Reid Clements and Matt Woods were serving in the Washington D.C. North Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. While they did not serve as missionary companions, they did live in the same apartment and worked together in the same district.
During the baptism of someone they taught, they posed for a photo with the person who was to be baptized. Twenty-nine years later, their sons would re-create that photo.
Elder Carter Clements, a missionary from Boise, Idaho, serving in the city of Dar Es Salaam in the Tanzania Dar Es Salaam Mission, was in a bind. His current companion, Elder Nashhon Mvanda, had just received his visa to serve in the London England Mission. Elder Clements would have been left without a companion on May 6, 2024, less than a week away.
Meanwhile, Elder Vincent Woods from Orange County, California, was serving his fourth transfer in the mission along the shores of Lake Victoria in Mwanza, Tanzania, over 700 miles (1,137 km) away. He had been placed into a trio of missionaries for that transfer, the only trio in the mission.
Weeks after Elder Woods was transferred to serve with Elder Clements, mission President Samuel Eghan explained in a zone conference that he did not know why he had originally put Elder Woods into a trio, but there was a purpose behind his decision. President Eghan moved Elder Woods to become a companion with Elder Clements on April 29.
“We connected instantly,” Elder Clements said. “I just felt like we were brothers, almost, and we just got to work. It was a lot of fun.”
Elder Woods and Elder Clements discovered their connection during their second day together. Elder Woods asked his companion if his father had served a mission; Elder Clements explained that his father had served in the Washington D.C. North Mission nearly 30 years prior.
“Woah, that’s crazy,” Vincent Woods said. “My dad served in D.C.” The missionaries reached out to their fathers to see if they knew each other.
Matt Woods quickly replied back to his son, saying that he had served with “an Elder Clements from Rexburg, Idaho,” while on his mission. They were never companions, but they had lived in the same apartment and occasionally worked together. He then asked for the name of Carter Clements’ father.
Matt Woods said that he was “mind blown” to realize that his son was serving with the son of someone who had served with him, halfway across the world, more than 29 years apart.
“It was yet another tender mercy in a never-ending string of mercies in my life,” Matt Woods said. “Heavenly Father’s earth is small. We are all connected. And every once in a while, He allows us to recognize how aware He is of us. The odds of our sons having this experience three decades later on the other side of the world defy all coincidence.”
After learning of their sons’ connection, Matt Woods had an idea. He sent them a photo of him and Reid Clements. In the photo, Reid Clements stood by Matt Woods as they were to baptize someone they had taught while on their missions in late 1995.
“We knew at that instant that we had to try our best to re-create the photo,” Vincent Woods said.
The two missionaries worked hard in their area, teaching the people of Tanzania and strengthening the branch they served with. As Carter Clements’ mission came to a close, they met William, a man interested in learning more about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. After meeting with the missionaries, William chose to be baptized.
On July 21, William was baptized. Carter Clements and Vincent Woods celebrated William’s decision with a photo, re-created to look like the photo their fathers had taken nearly three decades prior.
“While it was neat for them to be able to re-create the picture,” said Reid Clements, “what’s really special is their motivation [and] the love they have for William, for the people of Tanzania and for the Lord.”
“God has a plan,” Carter Clements said. “He cares about us, and He connects us for certain reasons, and we don’t always know those reasons, but I know we were meant to be put together.”
