Coincidences Don't Happen

Hola mi famila y mis amigos,

First things first: Ismael was baptized on Wednesday.  Working with him has been an amazing experience and his baptism topped it all off.  David Castaneda, a member of our congregation who leaves for his mission to Puerto Rico soon, did the baptism and Ismael came up out of the water with a huge smile on his face, which is odd for him because he's a typical sixteen year old who tries to hide emotion (of course I never did that when I was his age).  All of the youth came to the baptism so Ismael had a ton of support.  On Sunday, he was confirmed and received the Gift of the Holy Ghost (if you have questions about that, go to http://mormon.org/commandments

). 

Last night, Elder Camacho and I met a new family.  Actually, it's the fifth time I've met them, but it's the first time they've invited us in and it was powerful.  Five months ago during my first few weeks, Elder Torres and I knocked on a door and a man and women, each in their early 20s, answered the door.  We talked with them for a few minutes, found out their names were Elizebeth and Javier, and they invited us back the next day.  When we returned at the time of the appointment, no one was home (very normal for us).  We tried coming back for the next few days but no one was ever home so we stopped trying.  A few weeks later with Elder Moczygemba, someone in the parking lot told us to visit them, so we stopped by.  Elizebeth answered, we talked with her, set up an appointment, came back, and no one was home.  Very fun.  Once Elder Camacho and I became companions, the same thing happened a third time when the English missionaries for our area met them and told us to go by.  We met Elizebeth outside, talked with her and their two year old daughter, Asdrid, but when we came back, no one was home. At this point, we had probably been to their home 20ish times (talk about annoying missionaries) and we gave up on them.  But...thankfully Heavenly Father realizes how hard-headed missionaries can be and gave us another chance with them.

Last Sunday, a member of our ward told us that someone she works with needs help and that she wanted the missionaries to stop by and meet with him.  She gave us his name and address and off we went.  When we got nearby, we met Javier outside his apartment and suddenly it dawned on us that the member had sent us to him.  We set up an appointment for the next day but when we went, he wasn't home.  Yay.  But, we decided that there had to be something important with this family if we had been sent to them four different times.

Last night, a couple from an English ward, the Tracy's, came out with us to teach a family who we met last week.  The family wasn't home, but rather than shrugging their shoulders and giving us the typical "call us whenever you need help and thanks for wasting our time" that we get a lot, they asked if there was anyone else we could visit.  We tried to go to another family that lives near Javier and Elizebeth but that family wasn't home either.  So in desperation, we stopped by Javier and Elizebeth. 

They immediately opened the door an let us in.  Within five minutes we were actively talking about the Book of Mormon.  Sister Tracy, who was baptized only five years ago, bore a powerful testimony of the Book of Mormon and then we read with them from 3 Nephi 11, which describes when Jesus Christ came here to the Americas.  We could all feel the Spirit very strongly and Javier and Elizebeth have a huge desire to learn more. 

Basically, all four of these paragraphs describe one thing: coincidences don't happen.  Every little thing had to happen just right for that lesson last night to go well.  If just one thing had happened differently, nothing would have happened.  I repeat what I said a few months ago: Coincidences are God's way of staying anonymous. 

-Elder Colton