Mini Miracles

Office work doesn't provide the spiritual experiences that one has proselyting full time. We have, however, had many tender mercies that we receive as we serve the elders in the field. They happen on a regular basis. I experienced several getting through transfers a couple of weeks ago. We will start sharing some of those with you. I know each of you experience the same kind of mini miracles as you ask for guidance from Heavenly Father. Often we receive direction or assistance and fail to recognize it as such, just thinking it is luck or coincidence. Not so!
Dad has a couple to share.

Mini Miracles 1

Recently, I began to realize that the Lord is blessing Mom and me in so many ways that it is stunning. I really felt unworthy to just let these Mini Miracles come and go without making some kind of record of them for me to remember, and more importantly, for my family to remember.

These are not miracles of the magnitude of the parting of the Red Sea or The First Vision of Joseph Smith, they are little things that are actual miracles that help to reinforce my testimony that the Lord is watching out for His missionaries and that if we are willing to sacrifice for His Church, He will bless us.

So, Miracle One relates to the Gift of the Holy Ghost. We have attended the Arima Branch for two weeks now and I have begun to notice something different about myself. As our various class teachers - Sunday School and Priesthood - have been teaching their lessons, I have had a problem controlling myself. By that I mean my mind has been so full of thoughts and ideas that it is all I can do to keep myself from just standing up and taking over as the teacher! I have even asked Mom to nudge me if I say too much… so far no nudges.

This has been one of the most powerful manifestations of the Gift of the Holy Ghost I have ever felt. My mind has been filled with “pure intelligence” and the feeling is both exhilarating and humbling. For example, today we were discussing “talents” and how some servants were given many and some were given few. It occurred to me (and I know most of you are going to say, “I knew that already.”) that “talents” are more than just the gifts of the Spirit like musical talents, or athletic talents, or artistic talents. In the scriptures when the Savior in referring to talents He is actually talking about money. Of course, in His genius, there are many levels of meaning in all He teaches. It occurred to me that the Savior was talking about all of the gifts he gives us. I explained this “epiphany” to the class by saying, “Have you ever considered that some of your most precious talents are your spouse, or the Scriptures, or your membership in this Church?” I could see the Spirit working on many of those in the class as they considered the many blessings (or talents) the Lord has given them. At that moment, the direction of the class discussion changed to a more spiritual and meaningful level as the Holy Ghost bore witness of these important truths. It was a sweet and precious experience that I will always remember. The Red Sea didn’t part but it was still a precious miracle.

Mini Miracle 2

Mini Miracle 2 by some will be called simply a collection of coincidences that are not really miracles, but I’ll let you be the judge of that.

In the past few days, two things have happened that have made my life safer and in some ways easier. Elder Coleman (another senior missionary) is required to travel to the Phone Company each month to pay the phone bill of all the Elders, the Mission Home and Office. He goes with a very large check so he needs to have another Elder travel with him. When we arrived at the Phone Office, the traffic was a very huge snarl. Cars were double parked, horns were blaring, people were angry. It was not a pretty sight. As we pulled up to the front of the building, a car pulled out of the most prime parking space on the block. He pulled out and we pulled in… a mini miracle. When we left the building after paying the bill, the street was momentarily clear as I backed out… a mini miracle. I know you can’t really appreciate the magnitude of these two minis unless you understood the driving insanity here in Trinidad. Trust me, they were two mini miracles (similar to the Red Sea parting)

On another day, as we were trying to make sure our records of baptisms and Priesthood ordinations were accurate, I came across a problem entry that did not seem right. Remember, we baptize hundreds every month so the volume of paper is great. However, I grabbed a folder of baptisms for the month in question, opened it up and lifted about half of the large stack and there was the record I needed. I made the correction and now that brother is as he should be on the records of the Church. You may say that it was just a coincidence, and I might agree if it hadn’t been for the fact that within an hour the same thing happened again. I needed a record, I pulled a folder, thumbed down a few hundred sheets of papers and came to the exact sheet I needed.

Is the Lord concerned about every detail of our lives and the lives of all of his children? I don’t understand it, but I know it’s true that He is.