My Grandfather recently passed down a lot of the books in his library and one of the books I picked up is entitled “LDS Adventure Stories” by Preston Nibley.

One of the stories I read tonight was one of the most amazing accounts of bravery and faith I’ve ever read.  It details a plane crash in Alaska in Joseph H. Tippetts’  own words and was published in the Improvement Era in October of 1943.  If you are a member of gospelink.com you can look up the account and read it online.

I was going to write a detailed article of the story, but upon reasearching the lds blogs I found details of this event are given nicely in a blog called “Alaskan Odyssey” written about a year ago, which includes pictures from the crash. 

It is a miracle that 4 men survived the plane crash and lived for a month in the harsh Alaska winter.   They all had broken bones, yet had to struggle to survive the weather and when a search party gave up looking for them, all they could do was pray and work to find assistance.  The hardships that were endured and overcome are miraculous.  Brother Tippetts gives an amazing account of how faith, patience, prayer, and God’s providence kept he and his companions alive.  He also accredits the Bible and Book of Mormon and a book called Unto the Hills by Richard L Evans as books that kept his faith strong throughout the trial in the wilderness.

Joseph Tippett’s concluding words in his account show his humility and faith:

In looking back over our experience I can truthfully say that God was good to us.  we can give him credit for leading the boat to our rescue.  The captain of the boat had gone over thrity-five miles off his course to come into that little bay to rescue us.  He was influenced to come to that spot in answer to prayer.  We regard it as a modern miracle.  The influence of the faith and prayers of our good wives and friends did much to bring us safely home…we join in thanking God for performing a miracle in our behalf.  May we ever remain faithful to him.

Also just last week, Joseph Tippett’s son appeared as a guest blogger and wrote about more details of Joseph Tippett’s life and you can read this account here.

After reading this, I feel amazed at what God can help us accomplish when we put our trust and faith in Him.