Los Molinos 8 - Not Coincidences

Los Molinos 8 - Not Coincidences --- and, Happy Birthday to my Mom!  

About a month ago, while I was still with Elder Guzman, we were on our way back from a conference one day. We got on a bus or public transport and sat by a woman with two children. I was really tired and honestly I was tempted to take a quick nap but something told me to make conversation with her. So we started talking as a companionship with her family and she told us that she was a member of the Church. After talking some more, she told us the story of her baptism how she found the message, and her testimony of it all.  But then she told us that due to the fact that she was the only member in her family and lots of stress and trials, about 8 years after her conversion, she distanced herself a bit from the church.  Now, 6 years later she found herself with us in that very moment, inactive in the Church.

I vividly remember the message we shared with her about the love that Christ has for her and her family and how much He wants her to return to His fold. She remembered in that moment that her friend had been curious on where the LDS church was in Las Americas. We tried to explain to her how to get to ours, but being that it's difficult to explain sometimes, we gave her an easier address to the stake center. We asked this woman, Jenny, if she would like us to come by and visit her along with her husband and kids and she politely rejected the invitation and told us that she would call us when it was her time.

Fast forward ... we got a call a week ago from the zone leaders. They told us that a woman and her children had visited the stake center 4 times in Los Frailes but that she belonged to our area in Los Molinos. They gave us the address and told us to look for the family immediately. Elder Pediet and I last Tuesday went directly to her house and called her as we arrived. Turns out that she wasn't home but that her children were there. We explained to her that we would be brief and just set up a return appointment. She told us that she was going to send down her neighbor to accompany us to talk with the children at the door to see when we could come back.

We went up the apartment complex and as we arrived at the door, I see the same very same woman coming down the stairs that I had talked to on the bus a month back! The look of surprise and curiousity on her face was obvious. I was stunned. We ended up setting up a return appointment with the family which was the family of the SAME FRIEND for which she asked us for the address to the church on the bus. They went to church on Sunday and we had a lesson with the entire family last night with the second counselor of the Stake Presidency. The children and the father now have a baptismal date for the 2nd of April, we'll be teaching Jenny and her husband who isn't a member of the church soon, and I was besides words at the end of the night last night.

I would just like to bear my testimony that in this Gospel, coincidences don't exist. God has a plan for each one of his children. He loves us all equally, lost or strong, faithful or in doubt; he wants to help and will help us if we let him. I know that God prepares the way and the time for all to have the chance to accept this message. And His plan is without error. If we have the confidence to just open our mouths even if we don't understand the why or how sometimes, that God will carry out miracles.

I love you all and hope you have a great week!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BEAUTIFUL MOTHER LAURA GRAFF. ONE YEAR YOUNGER shes like 27 or something like that by now. GIVE HER A HUG FOR ME.

Elder Graff