She Came! We taught!

Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God.        . . . And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the kingdom of my Father . . . D&C 18:10&16

We have been working to find a translator to teach the lady with the beautiful smile whom we literally chased down the street about a month ago so we could give her our message. She is from Angola and speaks Portuguese. At that time, she managed to understand just enough with our pointing heavenward and saying, "God loves you," to give us her phone number. 

Last Sunday, a ward member gave us the name of a less active member in the ward who speaks Portuguese. We rang him and he agreed to ring the lady, set up the teaching appointment, and to interpret for us as we taught. We went to his home on Thursday and he set up a meeting with the lady for Friday. We had to meet at the church building because there was no home to teach in (she lives with a bunch of people and is not free to offer their home). She said she'd meet us at the bus stop.

Missionaries can only transport members when they are going to a teaching appointment with them. Since our interpreter had no car, we picked him up at home, his two darling boys at school (he is a single parent), and got a key for the church. We also found a young woman in the ward who was willing to babysit the boys at the church while we taught. 

We went to the pound store and got a bunch of toys for the boys and loaded up lots of goodies.  A member dropped off his daughter to watch the boys.  Elder Blain had left me at the bus stop to wait for the lady and walk with her back to the church.

Waiting there, almost holding my breath, a thought popped into my mind about Heavenly Father waiting for us, and I suddenly realized that the love I was feeling for this stranger was not my own. It was overwhelming to recognize that I was only comprehending a small part of the great love He has for us. I could feel His great desire to have His children on Earth found and returned back to their heavenly home someday. He is anxiously watching over us and He sees our efforts to find people to teach about His Plan of Happiness. He anguishes over those who reject the opportunity to learn of Him. He wants to be able to run to us with open arms and shout with joy that we have returned to Him.

While in this reflection, I became increasingly anxious that we were being stood up. My faith wavered and I felt that the lady wouldn't show. Such terrible disappointment washed over me, thinking she would reject the most precious gift she could obtain--then, she showed! I saw her and waved above the crowd. Wanting to jump up and down, I rushed forward and gave her a big hug. She was still wearing a beautiful smile.

As we walked up the hill towards the church, I saw Elder Blain, the volunteer interpreter, his two boys, and the babysitter coming down the hill towards us. It was a grand reunion and small celebration to have this special soul to teach. Through the interpreter, we conversed as we walked to the building where we would teach her the first lesson: The Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Oh, glorious day and happy hearts!