A simple prayer led to an outpouring of help from neighbors and members of the Clarksville Ward for a family in Clarksville, Maryland.
After speaking with her children serving missions — Elder Sebastien Spencer and Sister Eleanor Spencer, serving respectively in Malaysia and on Temple Square — Amber Spencer offered a quiet prayer on Oct. 27, 2025. Inspired by her children’s desire to serve, she asked to be of service in her own way.
The next morning began like any other for her in Clarksville. Spencer got into her car to take a daughter to school, though they were running later than usual because her daughter had slept in.
“It was my day off from teaching, so I left the house in my pajamas because nobody would see me going just to school and back,” Spencer later wrote in her journal. “So I thought.”
At around 7:30 a.m., traffic came to a standstill. Spencer drove up to the car causing the delay, a white vehicle with its hazard lights flashing, and asked the driver if he needed help jump-starting it. Through tears, the man explained that his transmission was broken and that his only concern was getting his daughter to school.
Spencer offered to take the girl. As the daughter climbed into her car, Spencer noticed tears streaming down her face.
“I saw big tears rolling down her cheeks,” said Spencer. “I told her I was sorry that life is hard.”
The girl replied, “That’s our only car. I’ll be OK. I’m just worried for my dad.”
Spencer, who promised to return and check in with the father, said it broke her heart to watch the child walk into school wiping away tears.
When Spencer returned to the broken-down car, traffic had backed up even more. Wearing pajamas and slippers, she jumped out and tried to help the man push the car out of the road.
It didn’t budge.
“I prayed that someone else would notice and help push, but nobody did,” Spencer said. “So I walked into the middle of the road, in my pajamas and slippers and put my hands up to stop a big truck. I hoped a big guy was in it.”
To her surprise, the truck was filled with five football players from the local high school. The boys quickly jumped out, pushed the car into a nearby parking lot and proudly lined it up perfectly between the lines. They patted the man on the back, offered words of encouragement and headed off to school.
Spencer asked the man what his plan was next. He said he intended to walk the 2 miles home, so she offered him a ride. During the drive, he opened up about losing his job, being evicted from his home and the difficult downsizing his family was facing.
Spencer felt impressed to share the prayer she had offered the night before and explained how she was trying to follow the example of her missionary children. The man immediately recognized their names — his older daughter had played in the orchestra with Sebastien and Eleanor.
They clapped their hands and agreed: “God is watching over us. He is so good.”
Spencer knew that while money could help in the short term, it wouldn’t solve everything. She thought of turning to the people she knew best would help; her ward family.
She asked if she could email the neighborhood, the community and her church congregation to see if anyone had work. “I wrote [in the email] the whole story — how I prayed, how I was in my pajamas, how the football players showed up and how this family needed help. What happened next was incredible.”
Within 10 minutes, people began responding.
“Someone was on their way to Home Depot for packing tape,” said Spencer. “Someone dropped off Chipotle. Someone left $200 in their mailbox with a scripture that said, ‘Be of good cheer.’ Others brought dinner, gave $50 and went grocery shopping for them.”
Within two hours, the man had secured a job — and work scheduled every day for the rest of the week. Members of the ward lent the family a car, organized dinner rotations and continued rallying around them with love and support.
What Spencer saw as an answer to a prayer, the family saw as answered prayers of their own.
The support didn’t stop there. As the days passed, Spencer’s relationship with the family continued to grow as members of the ward and missionaries kept checking in, providing meals, transportation and encouragement.
Still today, the service continues with the family serving the Spencers and those who served them.
Looking back, Spencer sees the experience as a reminder that God is aware of every detail.
“I feel like God is playing chess,” she said. “He moves one piece, then another, and at exactly the right moment, everything comes together.”
