Instruments in the Lord's Hands

Hi everyone! Happy Memorial Day! Neat moment of the week: We knocked on someone's door and it turned out that he only spoke Spanish. We could have easily just said sorry and kept going, but for some reason I felt prompted to attempt to speak to him in Spanish. Though it was really jumbled and probably mixed with lots of Portuguese, we were able to communicate and he accepted to have Spanish-speaking missionaries come by! I know that the Lord blessed me because after the fact I realized that I completely understood what he was saying...wow!

This week, we have seen some pretty miraculous things happen! Things that prove to me that the Lord will guide our path as long as we are willing to take a few steps into the dark. On Tuesday, we noticed a name and address in Sister Slade's planner who we had no idea who she was or how it got there. We decided that we needed to stop by and see if we could get to know her. We went to the address only to find that no one was home. We decided to knock on one of the neighbor's doors before we left. To our surprise, a kind old woman opened up to us, said hello and let us right in. We had no idea who she was, but she seemed to know us. Come to find out, she was actually the woman who we were looking for! She had just moved to the apartment next door. We had a good talk and found out that she had looked into the church previously and even came to church a few times. Though she wasn't interested right then, I know that God wanted us to see her yesterday and He made it possible for us to find her. After that, we headed off to our next appointment. She wasn't home, so we decided to go knock on the neighbor's doors in the apartments upstairs. The very first door we knocked on ended up being someone we had met before! We had talked with her at a bus stop almost 2 months ago but weren't able to meet with her because she was in between housing at that point in time. Apparently, she had just moved into that apartment, which we had absolutely no clue about! It was amazing to see that. I just had this overwhelming feeling that God loves her so much that He was willing to give her multiple opportunities to learn more about His gospel.

Also, for the past 2 months we have been trying and trying to get to know one of our neighbors. We would see her in passing often, but never had the chance to get to know her. For some reason, we really felt like we needed to reach out to her and bring her some cookies. We went over several times, never getting an answer at the door. Finally, one day we saw her sitting in her car when we came home from getting some groceries. Although it felt a bit awkward, we decided to go back outside and talk to her. We told her how we felt like we needed to get to know her better and asked if we could come by in a few days and bring her some cookies. She said, "Of course!" and we set up a time to come over. We weren't sure what she thought of it, but were excited to get to know her. We went over...and she didn't answer the door. A little disheartened, we decided to just leave a note. As we were writing, she drove right up and was so apologetic! Apparently she had been looking forward to it all day, but was running late from work. She welcomed us in and we just sat and got to know one another. I was surprised at how quickly the conversation turned to topics of faith, prayer, and struggles she is having with her faith. We were able to share with her our beliefs and testimonies of God's love and how He is willing and ready to hear and answer our prayers. She told us how it was weird that she felt so comfortable with us and sharing personal experiences, but that she was so grateful we came over to talk with her. I just had this great feeling of love and concern for someone who I had barely known 10 minutes before. This experience showed me how important it is to reach out to those around us and love our neighbors as God does, even if it is out of the way and a bit uncomfortable at first. You never know when someone is in need spiritually or otherwise and how much a little bit of love and concern can really make someone's day better. :)

I am grateful for the opportunity that I have to serve. Though I don't always understand the Lord's will, I know that if I trust in it, He will provide a way. It is so important to just have faith and believe that everything that happens in your life is for your good in the end. Wonderful quote I heard this week: "You haven't failed until you quit trying." - Gordon B. Hinckley. All that God expects of us is that we keep moving forward and keep trying to be a little better each day. I've been thinking about that a lot lately and I'm curious to hear anyone else's experiences with following God's will even when it was challenging! Send me some stories, I'd love to hear!

Love you all, 

Sister Dieter