Well I survived another week here in Nederland. This week was not what I was expecting but amazing in a lot of ways!!
There are two things that I want to share that were huge testimony builders for me!
There is this lady in my ward that we go and visit every now and again. She is really awesome and I love her a lot! She is about 26 and has been through a lot of things in her life but still has a strong testimony of the gospel. The whole time I have been in Breda, she has talked about this missionary that changed her life when she was 4. She always talked about how he was so kind to her and that he is the reason she made it through all the hard things in her life. She also told us that she has been looking for this missionary since she was 4. She has been praying to find a way to come in contact with him and thank him for all that he did for her. So side story, my family has some good family friends and the husband served in the Netherlands about 20 years ago and every now and again I ask people if they remember him. I knew him and his family in Germany and he drove me to seminary every morning. I love their family and know them really well. Anyways, so we were at this member's house this week and I asked her if she remembered any missionaries from 20 years ago. She said well the missionary that I am looking for is in the Air Force, has a family, and flies planes. My jaw literally dropped(she was describing our good family friend exactly). I asked what his name was. She said Creer. I got really excited and said I knew him really well and that he is awesome!! She broke down into tears. She has been praying to find him for almost 20 years and now she had finally found him. I quickly helped her get in touch with him and now the connection has been made after 20yrs. The things that amazes me about this story is how intertwined the Lord is in our lives. I didn't know this member before I came to Breda. I didn't know that she had been praying to find this missionary. Her prayers to find this missionary started before I was born and yet, I was the one to answer them. The Lord allowed me to live in Germany at the time I did so I could meet the Creers and know to ask if anyone knew them. This experience helped me realize that the Lord is literally in the details of our lives. I am no one special, but the Lord used me to answer this prayer. I have learned that prayers are always answered no matter how long they take and the Lord is planning the answers to our prayers before we even ask them.
The other incredible lesson I learned this week is that sometimes the miracles we want are not the ones that the Lord has in store. Last week we had 6 baptismal dates and Sister Spencer and I thought that those were the miracles the Lord wanted us to see this transfer. We were doing everything we could to make them happen. But then all except for one of them got cancelled this week. I began to ask, why did this happen? The Lord promised us that we would have these baptisms...or rather he promised us that we would see miracles. I was frustrated. I thought that those baptisms were the miracles we were supposed to see. I realized though that sometimes the miracles we WANT to see are not the ones that the Lord WANTS us to see. I realized that these people will be baptized. It just won't be as soon as we thought. The Lord needs them more prepared and that is better than them not being prepared. The Lord told that we would have baptisms to motivate us to work harder. I wouldn't have pushed so hard at the beginning if I didn't think they could happen. And the great part is they will happen. We both needed the motivation. These investigators made a ton of progress and more than they would have had we not pushed them. We found a lot of other investigators this transfer and worked so hard. I have grown in more ways spiritually than ever before. The Lord doesn't always give us what we want and that is a blessing. He gave us the miracles we needed rather than the ones we wanted. We still have one more week left of this transfer and it is going to be amazing. I am grateful to be humbled and realize that I want the Lord's miracles much more than I want my own.
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