Elder Aidan Rich : One of the Great Ones

There are terrible, horrible weeks here in the mission. And there are weeks where everything just falls in place almost by itself. This week just so happened to be one of the great ones. We just saw so many miracles and I am learning to use our spiritual gifts as the Lord´s servant.

Service just never fails us, and I think that is where it all began. Drunk guys always ask us for money and we usually just smile and keep walking so as to not fuel their bad habits. However, Friday we were walking and an older gentleman stopped me and asked me for some money. Instead I asked him if he would like to accompany me to a bakery so we could get him some food. We were already late for an appointment but I just felt like I needed to do it. I bought him a simple meal and he broke down crying and said I was the first person to ever do that for him. Everyone in the bakery watched him cry, hug me, and thank me. It was a cool experience, even though I didn’t do it for praise.

We got to our appointment, which was with Marco and Yolanda, and just started a conversation. Marco then asked if we only had baptisms on the 30th of each month because that was the original date we proposed which they all rejected. We told him that it is just usually on a Saturday. Then Yolanda surprised us by saying, “I will have family here on the 30th so it does not work. So can I move it up a week to the 23rd?” Cluff and I did not even know what to say. So Yolanda is getting dunked the 23rd and her two daughters and son will either be baptized the same day or a little further down the line. AAHHHH!! Finally.

Afterwards, we called Patricia, a 25 year-old in the branch, to check on some stuff for a family home evening. She was crying because she had lost her brother’s cat and he was going to flip. I asked her if she had prayed and she said no because God doesn’t care about something like a cat. I said, “WHAT!! God cares about EVERYTHING that you care about. He LOVES you!” I then read her like 5 scriptures proving my point. Then I said, “I am going to hang up, you are going to get on your knees and pray, and you are going to PRAY. Then you are going to wait 30 seconds to feel the Spirit, then you will find the cat within 5 minutes. See you at church.” Then I hung up the phone. She showed up at church with several friends. They had been with Patricia listening on speakerphone when I said all that and had been part of the search for the cat. They had prayed together and found the cat waiting right outside their room. They now want to hear about the gospel from me.

Elder Holland once said something pretty cool. “This work is urgent. We are the church that dreams dreams and believes in miracles. If we have to call blessings down from heaven, CALL THEM DOWN.”

I testify that with the gospel Joseph Smith restored miracles on earth.

Elder Aidan Rich