"I just heard a voice that said, 'Go. Now!'" (August 24, 2015)

It's the Luke Sister, calling in from Ishinomaki, reporting safe once again. Stats include four missed trains, two botched transfers in remote train stations, two splits, one district meeting, a thoroughly failed FHE, three sons offered in marriages, two earthquakes, and one straight-out-of-the-Ensign moment. Classification for the week: Pretty average.

Today I would like to share the Ensign moment.

After an unsuccessful hospital visit, we went out to our bikes, where we discussed our next course of action, made a phone call, and crash-coursed Sister M on how to get to the next location (because I'm a good trainer and I make her lead, bless her). Clipped on our tacky white helmets, ready to rock when I heard a voice. It said, "Can I have a moment?"

I turned my head, and there was a woman walking down to the bike area, so I stopped and turned around, walking toward her. Something inside of me said, oh, there she is. But not she, the one we came to visit, just her, so I parked my bike.

"Are you the sister missionaries?"

"Yes, we are."

She began to tear up and said, "I haven't been to church in so long," before her voice broke off, so I gave her a hug. "Are you a member?" I asked, and she nodded.

Sister K has been at the hospital visiting her father after over two decades of inactivity in the church. She was baptized by a set of sister missionaries, but Ishinomaki closed to sisters shortly afterwards and she simply fell away. She attended English Conversation Class in other locations acting as though she wasn't a member, and she missed the atmosphere that sister missionaries bring. She has been standing at the window looking out when she noticed two girls in skirts putting on matching helmets--she said, "I heard a voice that said, Go. Now! And I ran. You're not supposed to run in the hospital, but I did, I just couldn't get the elevator to go fast enough, but I'm so glad I did."

Very rarely have I ever felt the love of the Lord as strongly as I did when she told us her story. I truly felt that my sister who had been lost was safe again, that we could take her into the warmth of the fold once more because she chose that moment to act. We were able to share a few scriptures from the Book of Mormon with her, offer a prayer together, sing a hymn. We are looking forward to meeting with her this week and I am so, so, so grateful that the Lord has trusted us enough to put us in the right place at the right time, and to send a prompting strong enough to send our sister running, against all rules and logic, to literally stop us in our tracks.

If there is anything I want to tell each of you, it is that God knows you. He loves you, He loves each one of us as individually and personally as if there was only one. Life can get crazy and a little rough sometimes, but in the end, we always have a place that we can be safe from the storm, and that's in the deep and abiding love of our Lord and Savior.

Until next week:)

Pictures: One time we were biking and the creek thing was storybook beautiful. And then, we kept biking and the lily things turned into storybook HUGE. The picture doesn't even do it justice, those were enormous.

Random creek that was prettying

Same creek with HUGE lily things!

Bonus photos:

In the rain, the pavement shines like silver...

同僚's first どら焼き

Notes:

同僚 = どうりょう = companion

どら焼き = dorayaki = essentially a pancake stuffed with sweet bean filling


Mission Leaders' Conference, August 5, 2015

Lisa teaching at Zone Training Meeting, August 7, 2015

Sendai South Zone, August 13, 2015