Two days before leaving Palau at the end of their mission in July, Elder Scott Lieber and Sister Kristin Lieber experienced an event they describe as nothing short of miraculous.
The foundation of the event began over 40 years ago, when Elder Lieber served as a young missionary on Palau.
Found in the western Pacific Ocean, the small island country of Palau consists of over 300 coral and volcanic islands and nearly 22,000 people. Palau has one branch, the Koror Branch, and 421 Latter-day Saints. The first missionaries in Palau arrived five years before Elder Lieber in 1978. The island is part of the Micronesia Guam Mission.
A life saved
In an interview with Church News, Elder Lieber explained that he helped start the first Scouting organization on the island of Palau in 1983.
One day, while returning from a first-aid activity, Elder Lieber, his companions and the boys they were with came across an overturned boat in the ocean near the Didall Causeway between Koror and Meyuns. Next to the boat was a young girl, an older man and an older woman face down in the water.
One of Elder Lieber’s companions, Elder Matt Fairbanks, was quick to act. He jumped in — about 25 feet down to the water — swimming to the older man who was face down in the water and pulled him to shore. Elder Lieber was second to jump, swimming to the lifeless young girl, carrying her to shore. Finally, the woman was brought in by Elder Tirin Ratieta.
When Elder Lieber pulled the girl to shore, she was unresponsive. That’s when the missionaries began CPR while they waited for emergency services to arrive. Later that evening, Elder Lieber and his companions went to the hospital to give a blessing to the girl, who was in a coma.
It has left a lasting mark on the Boy Scouts involved. One Scout, Wayne Ongino recently said: “A speedboat ran off course right into the mangrove trees. Elder Lieber quickly pulled over to the side of the road and without hesitation jumped into the ocean from the causeway road to rescue all the passengers. He, Elder Fairbanks and Elder Ratieta carried everyone from the boat up to the road, took control of the traffic and administered first aid and CPR while they waited for paramedics to arrive.”
Harvey Olsingch was a young boy at the time who later joined the Church and is now the first counselor in the stake presidency of the Lake Elsinore California Stake. “It has been something that has been with me for many years,” President Olsingch said.
After that day, Elder Lieber was unsure what happened to the girl, and her story had remained a mystery for over 40 years.
A senior mission 40 years in the making
Throughout his young mission, Elder Lieber wrote to his high school sweetheart, then-Kristin Corey. She often expressed wanting to return to Palau with Elder Lieber, even writing one week: “I would love to go back to Palau with you some day and see all that has been accomplished.”
Shortly after Elder Lieber returned home, the two were married.
In July 2024, the Liebers had the opportunity to serve a senior mission earlier than they originally expected. When they put in their papers, they committed to go where the Lord called them but privately hoped and prayed they would be sent to the Micronesia Guam Mission where Palau is.
On Oct. 1, 2024, they received their call to the South Pacific.
Arriving to the mission field, they were greeted by Micronesia Guam Mission President Masaru Okuda, who 41 years earlier was the missionary assigned to replace Elder Lieber in Palau when he finished his service. When they reunited for this senior mission, President Okuda felt inspired to assign them to Palau.
Senior missionaries hadn’t served permanently on the island for more than a decade, and sending a missionary who knew the language, culture and people would be extremely valuable.
Arriving on the small island nation, Elder and Sister Lieber began running into new and old friends. One friend they did not find, however, was the girl saved. Frankly, Elder Lieber didn’t even know who he was looking for. During the entirety of their six-month mission, the Liebers quietly hoped that they would be able to run into her — they didn’t.
But toward the end of their service, the Liebers felt prompted to extend their mission a few weeks to wrap up some things they had started.
A celestial collision
On July 25, two days before they were to leave, the Liebers met with former Palauan Scouts and government leaders to present a donation of a historic Boy Scout troop photo to local offices.
After the small meeting, former Boy Scouts Ta’nge Mariur and Burton Wong asked Elder Lieber to retell the story of the 1983 boating accident they had witnessed.
Sister Lieber recounted, “As he told it, a government photographer said, ‘I have heard this story before.’ Then the Koror State Legislature floor leader stated, ‘I have also heard this story before, from a co-worker of ours.’ The photographer went out and returned with a beautiful Palauan woman who joined us.”
As Elder Lieber shared the story yet again, Sister Lieber explained that the woman who had joined “buried her face into her hands and began sobbing. She said through her tears, ‘That was me.’ We were all so stunned, and the seven people in the room were all wiping tears.”
The woman introduced herself as Shielly Oilouch, and she fell into Elder Lieber’s arms, tearfully whispering, “Thank you for my life.”
Mariur and Wong suggested that Elder Lieber say a prayer of gratitude in that sacred moment. Elder and Sister Lieber held her hands as he prayed in Palauan.
Said Sister Lieber: “We all felt the hand of God in that room.”
After the meeting, Elder and Sister Lieber accompanied Oilouch back to the mangrove swamp near the causeway — the very site of the 1983 accident — to take photos and share memories of that day.
On their final Sunday afternoon in Palau, Oilouch brought her husband and child with her to the Koror Branch sacrament meeting. Also in attendance were three of the Scouts in Elder Lieber’s troop in 1983. During the meeting, Elder Lieber bore testimony about the “full-circle” miracle they had just witnessed, and the congregation wept and rejoiced together.
Before the Liebers flew home, Oilouch requested one more meeting with them — this time with her brother who had always wanted to meet the man that gave his sister her life.
When Elder Lieber arrived that evening, he discovered that Oilouch’s older brother, Raynold Oilouch, is Palau’s vice president. He thanked Elder Lieber for saving his sister’s life, and the family expressed how deeply grateful they were.
The Liebers describe it as a “celestial collision.”
“Kristin and I have experienced so many heavenly orchestrated events and personal interactions that defy belief. To us, celestial collisions are events that connect — which are filled with the Light of Christ,” Elder Lieber said. “In our case, these celestial collisions have given us a sure witness that our choices and actions matter beyond the moment and even beyond the scope of mortality.”
A lasting mark on Palau
Avery Midas, a reconnected friend of the Liebers, told them: “Elder and Sister Lieber, you truly belong to this island. What you have done throughout these years is phenomenal. On behalf of all of us, I just want to express my gratitude and thank God for creating such great people as yourselves. The bond between us will be forever cherished, and you will always be a part of our lives. … You are the reason I believe in angels sent from up above to set an example of how our Heavenly Father loves His own children.”
For witnesses to the reunion itself, the event felt like a divine sign. Burton Wong, who was with the Scouts on the bridge in 1983 and in the reunion when Oilouch met the Liebers, said: “I can’t believe I’ve seen a true miracle now. It’s God’s way of telling me … that God will never leave me or forget me. Even if it takes 40 years, He will still bless me and give me what I pray and ask for.”
Ta’nge Mariur, another witness of both the accident and the reunion, reflected: “We all felt the hand of God in that room. Reuniting with a Palauan legend, Elder Lieber, and Sister Lieber has brought love, light and a flood of emotional memories that I now share with my own children.”
As the Liebers prepared to return home, they felt that the incredible events of their last days in Palau were part of a larger plan.
Elder Lieber said: “It seems from the very beginning of our mission to this amazing culmination, we have been watched over, blessed, and had a very definite purpose in coming back to Palau. There are no words to express the series of events we have felt and experienced through the last seven months.”
Leaving their Palauan family behind “left a void in [their] hearts,” he added, yet they felt deeply humbled and honored to have been instruments in such an incredible experience.
The news of this miracle reunion has since been shared throughout Micronesia. A week later on Guam, Elder Lieber was invited to tell the story via Zoom devotional to missionaries in the Micronesia Guam Mission, and the Liebers have received an outpouring of love and support.
As Ongino put it: “The amount of positivity and light that you emitted to so many remains intact, even after you returned 40 years later. … You taught us all that by the examples you displayed each day.”
