Missionary Work

I believe one of the reasons I have been sent to North Carolina was to do a little missionary work. I have had some amazing opportunities to share the gospel here. I don't know of anyone who has been baptized by talking about the gospel or giving a Book of Mormon away, but I imagine that someday probably in Heaven, I will have someone or someones approach me because I had shared my testimony with them. It seems the last several weeks I have had many opportunities that I have taken full advantage of to share the gospel. All of these experiences have been at work, except one was with my neighbor. There was a few Saturdays ago when I walked into work where there was over a 5 hour wait. My first patient was a 70 something year old man who had done some damage to his finger with a saw. Not the easiest thing to fix. In fact I always seem to whisper a quiet prayer to Heavenly Father for help when I am sewing up such things, as I did that night. In my conversation with this man somehow, someway, we got on the topic of family history and genealogy and the fact that I was a member of the church. I have been on a big genealogy kick. He was aware of the genealogy library and we talked about why genealogy was so important to our church. That same night I spoke with a co worker about how we will only know the Savior when he comes by learning of Him before He comes. And also that night I talked briefly to the doc I was working with about the fact that I went to church every Sunday no matter how tired I am.

The next week I had a lady pastor who broke her foot. She told me how she was worried that she wouldn't be able to preach that week. I said, well now you believe in prayer don't you. She said yes. I said, well then you believe in miracles then don't you. And again she said yes. She told me what she was going to be preaching about that week and I told her that I was teaching on Scripture Study. She asked me to share an idea with my congregation, which I did. It was to read the scriptures out loud. She said you will get more out of them if you do. I loved this idea.

That same night I had another finger to spend time on. The lady was from Somolia. She told me her story of how when she was 12 they escaped to freedom. She then asked me what my story was. I told her that I went to school in Utah. She told me she was going to SLC for the first time for a wedding in a few weeks. She knew nothing about the church so I got the opportunity to share a little about it and told her she couldn't go to SLC without going to Temple Square. I told her about how I would go there to study when I was in school and the peace that I always felt when I was there and the peace she would feel when she went there.

This past summer when my nephew Karston was born very early, I got the call right as I walked into work. It was totally unexpected. My nurse sensing that something was wrong asked me if we could pray. So right there in the middle of the ER she said the most beautiful prayer. It was one of the neatest experiences and one I will never forget.

In early November I was working with a nurse. Somehow we started talking about the BOM. I told her that I would bring her one the next day. I knew I didn't have one at home, because I had given it along with a copy of an Ensign on Christ to another co-worker. I called my neighbor who had to search for one, but who found one at her home. I came home that night, wrote my testimony in the front of it and highlighted some of my favorite scriptures. The next day I went to work with the BOM, however she only worked a few hours that day and I missed her and was unable to give it to her. I have had that BOM in my trunk since. Friday when I was working with her she asked me where her BOM was. I told her it was in my car. All day she kept asking me for it. I was so happy to be able to give it to someone who wanted to read it. So we shall see what will come of it. I am grateful that I live my life in a way that I can boldly declare my testimony and share the gospel with those who can see the light that I carry with me. Missionary opportunities are all around us if we just look for them.