A Small Invitation

This week ended quickly as we had a Zone Conference with the Mission President and all of Coatzacoalcos as well as Stake Conference right afterward. So, really the week just got a little shorter. It was odd to hear the Mission President speak in Stake Conference about Marriage. I guess the rumors that when you finish your mission all you hear is about is marriage have proven true. But, it would have been nice to ride out a few more weeks to finish first.

We have been looking for new investigators as always. I will share the story of just one. We often contact the taxi drivers as they transport us across Allende. They are among the friendliest and quickest to give their address seeing as they are never home to tell us no either. But, we do the best we can. One day we went at the appointed time to look for one taxi driver we had met, but no one seemed to know him. Oops. So, we kept asking. The good news is that taxi drivers know the city as well and so they are precise with giving directions. So, we knew we were in the right spot, but he was clearly not there. So, we asked and asked and one man even ran inside his house. I turned to Elder Hernandez a bit perplexed and wondered if we should just leave. We decided to stay and wait for him to appear again in his doorway on the second story of his apartment complex. He came out with his light bill. "I was just checking to see what number my house was to help you, I'm new here and I don't know anyone." Wow, what a helpful person we thought. And he just moved here, what a better opportunity to invite him to get to know the church and the members. So, we passed into his apartment where he lives with a few other friends (all grown men that work in projects in the oil refineries here nearby).

We began explaining the Book of Mormon and a few other things to him and eventually invited him to the Stake Conference in Coatza two days later. He said he'd like that and even promised himself he would go before we could even commit him. It was not very likely he would show up since he hardly knew Allende, less so was he going to know his way around a bigger city like Coatza. Nonetheless, we got him all the information he would need to arrive as we would still be in Coatza ourselves and therefore unable to pass by for him. And so we waited, greeting every single person that entered, waiting for him as we had promised. We greeted every single person, and the meeting started. So, we had to go inside to be with the members and converts from our ward that had arrived. About 15 minutes into the program a bishop of another ward helped a man towards the front of the chapel. That was our contact! He showed up! Upon speaking with [him] afterward he told us that because of his job and a little bit of disinterest, he had never entered inside of any church before. He said he showed up to the church and just felt terrible. He had a huge weight on his shoulders. But when he listened to the messages and was sitting in the church he felt a great relief (maybe because his wife died a while back).

The Lord puts people in front of us each day that we can bless by simply sharing something simple or a small invitation. How many more people would be blessed in the world if each of us shared the gospel with one person each day? It is my prayer that we can always look for these opportunities in our own lives to be instruments in our Savior's hands.

Elder Andrews

Notes:

The Mission President is the leader of the missionaries within the mission boundaries.
Stake Conference is a semi-annual meeting of multiple congregations (Wards and sometimes Branches) that constitute a larger organizational unit called a "Stake."