a story or two

I have been thinking about this moment a lot in the past few days, but never more than yesterday during General Conference with so many references to The Book of Mormon. I love Conference!

Story: Last week, I was scheduled to work on Wednesday. On Tuesday, Laurel told me I wasn't, twenty seconds later, she said that I was and someone else wasn't. By the end of the day, I was thoroughly confused. Am I working? Am I not? When am I supposed to come in? Before I left, it was decided that I would come into work at 11. That was more than fine with me since that meant I could go to the temple with time enough for baptisms before. Hooray!

I woke up, had breakfast, threw on a skirt, and jumped in the car to be dropped off at the train before Dad headed to work. A few stops in, my phone buzzes with a new voicemail. (side note: I hate when someone calls me and my phone doesn't register the fact until I have a phone message. It is so irritating. I am not attempting to screen phonecalls, I promise. Oh, except for that one guy.) The message was from Laurel, saying that I no longer needed to come in at 11 but could I please come in at 3? This is one of the many things I hate about my job. It is like they think I don't have a life outside of work and because of that, I really can't have a life. When I think of all the friends with whom I have had to cancel plans, or all the things I would love to do but can't, I would be completely content to quit right away.

So there I sit, trying to get a hold of Laurel because I cannot work. There are many things that I have to cancel, but I will not bail on Institute unless I am sick and cannot move. Missing Institute throws my entire week into a downward spiral. There went my temple plans because if she called back while I was in the temple, I won't get it and that would cause a whole number of problems. I decided that I would walk the few blocks to the Gateway and wander, just in case my phone rang. I needed a pair of brown heels, anyway.

To say I was irritated would be an understatement. I walked with my head down, mumbling internally about my situation. Suddenly, I heard a foreign voice calling to me through my disgruntled haze. I looked up and saw a young Asian couple walking towards me. She wanted to know where they could find a place to shop. Funny, I thought, since they were walking away from The Gateway. I pointed them in the right direction and tried to describe how to get there but different cultures were an obvious hindrance. Since I was heading that way too, I mentioned that I could walk with them to make sure that we all ended up at the right place.

Off we went while she translated our conversation to her boyfriend. After she finished, I tried to start friendly conversation to make walking a few blocks a little less awkward. I asked if they were from the area or if they were here on vacation. She told me that they had a long layover. She mentioned that they had seen the temple. I asked if they had been around Temple Square and she said that they had been to the house on the corner. It made me smile that she didn't know the name of it. I asked if they got a lemon drop at the end of the tour. I love those lemon drops but I had forgotten that they might have stopped doing that. Shame.... Still, she looked at me with a puzzled expression and then said that the ladies at the end of the tour had given them something. She looked to her boyfriend and asked, "A Bible?"

I was so excited inside. To clarify, I asked, "They gave you a Bible?" She answered with enough clues that I knew she meant The Book of Mormon. Then, in the next 30 seconds, I bore my testimony and told her that reading it had changed my life. I further encouraged her to read it, but she just smiled and nodded, in a way that I figure she was blowing me off. Maybe not. Maybe she read it when they were back on the plane. Maybe she will decide to change her life. Just maybe.

My mess of a day was completely turned around in those 30 seconds. If Heavenly Father's purpose was to place me walking towards The Gateway at that very moment to meet those very people, I'm okay with that. Thinking about that experience, all I remember is the joy I felt in sharing the Gospel with strangers.