When I (Eileen) was being set apart for my mission our stake president said some very memorable things to me. He mentioned that I would be given the healer’s art and that I would feel the love of the Savior towards His missionaries. This past week I have felt of those blessings. We have 180 young missionaries in our mission with 32 senior missionaries. I have been trying to put names with faces when I have an opportunity to meet or get a call from missionaries. When a missionary calls in and I am at my computer, I can pull up their file and look at their picture. I like to do this while I review their medical history and am trying to determine how best to help them.
Last Sunday I noticed a young missionary signing during the hymns in sacrament meeting. I was touched as I observed certain words of the hymn and the accompanying signs in American Sign Language. Two days later this missionary called me and was quite ill. I referred him to the ER. I found myself feeling so concerned about him, as if he was my own son or grandson, even though I had only met him once before. My thoughts turned back to my setting apart. Is this what Christlike love feels like? This missionary had a rough couple of days. I heard this morning that his companion is sick, but I have not yet been able to reach them to find out how they are doing.
Friday, I talked with a missionary who was really struggling emotionally. My heart was really drawn towards this missionary. I was grateful that the Church has procedures in place to help when a missionary is having a difficult time, either physically or emotionally.
A number of Church General Authorities and Officers have spoken in recent years about how sometimes God works through us to bless the lives of others. In the scriptures we read about numerous examples of willing and eager individuals to do God’s will, such as Paul and Nephi. We also have a few examples of those who are less willing or reluctant to do so, like Jonah. This week I (Russell) was taught a lesson on this by a fellow senior missionary and my interaction with two cars.
Since I’ve been here we have a car in the lot (a fenced area within the Facility Management (FM) group’s buildings) that has had a dead battery. Until this last week things have been too busy to deal with it. I had been told that for that particular model, I would have to have it towed to the dealership because jumping the battery from one car to another would negatively affect the other car. While at the lot I ran into a senior missionary, Elder Moses, in FM. He understood my issue and said he could recharge the car without another car being involved, and that he would be happy to do it for me. I was relieved at not having to spend the time and money to have it towed and then go and retrieve it. For me, Elder Moses was a great blessing on a difficult day, a good example of a willing tool in God’s hand.
That night I had difficulty sleeping well. I was concerned about a lot of things regarding the mission cars. Some guys fondly dream of cars, not me. By 4:30 AM, after being awake for two hours, I decided to just get up and go into work. That morning I reconciled all the cars vehicle identification numbers to those in the computer system. More on that in the next story. Once the lot was open I went back down to see about moving a white car that was parked next to the trailers we use for going to and from the airport. During the night I had been concerned about either me or one of the young elders hitting the car with the trailer when we were trying to back the trailer into its parked position. The car had been parked in the same spot since I first arrived and Elder Hegvik had no idea who owned it. I found out it was a Church owned car for the LDS Social Services manager that he only used when going out of town. After speaking to him about moving the car to a better parking spot, he told me where to find the keys and please move it for him. I could not get the car to start. It was a hybrid, like mine, but it would not start for me. Calling the LDS Social Services manager, he was convinced that the battery was not dead and that because it was a hybrid that I just didn’t know how to start it. Frustrated, I concluded that I was just too stupid to start the thing, admitted that to him and he said he would come in from home and move it. Later that day he called to say that indeed the battery was dead and that getting it recharged had taken him several hours because it was a hybrid. He also said that for him it was a blessing that he found out. On Monday he has planned to take two colleagues for a week to Saint Louis for work. Had this not happened, the three of them would have shown up on tomorrow morning only to find that the car had a dead battery. Unlike Elder Moses, who had been glad to help me, I was not so happy about my involvement in the event and found the whole thing frustrating. As I look back on it, my part in the blessing for the LDS Social Services manager was one that I only reluctantly participated in. Shame on me, I need to do better.
On a light note, during my reconciliation of the 96 cars in our mission and the Church Visitor Center (which I manage), I discovered that the new truck we have now had for over a week does not belong to us. The dealership just saw the name of the Church and assumed that all four new vehicles were ours. My predecessor liked the new truck since it had running boards and I was just too new to understand that Chevy King Cab Silverado’s don’t just fall from heaven.
Love to hear about the miracles that are happening in your mission! We have a God of Miracles 💕
ReplyDelete