General Conference was AMAZING.
I will return to that subject in a min after I explain why we are writing on Wed instead of Mon.
We had our Pday changed to Wed this week. We got to go to the Temple today! It was just awesome. I cant wait to go back in 6 months and experience the Temple again. I don't know if it is the same everywhere and I'm not even sure how to explain it, but in the LA Temple, the temple Endowment session has been bettered (I know that isn't super descriptive...but it's all I got for ya). I would imagine that if it isn't already the same everywhere that very soon it will be coming to a Temple near you.
Anyway, with that being said I will now return to the Topic of General Conference and an awesome experience I had this weekend.
In the Sunday morning session of conference, I received a call from one of our Top priority investigators. He has a baptismal date for two weeks from now(it is the husband of our amazing recent convert). As soon as I saw the name on the screen, I knew that he would be calling to tell me that he wasn't going to come. But even knowing that, I had the feeling that I still needed to answer and talk with him rather than simply waiting till after conference to speak with him. So, I did the almost unthinkable and stepped out into the Hallway. As expected, he truly was calling me to tell me that he wasn't going to be able to come to conference due to some "things" that had come up. I was so sad to hear him making this choice for I knew that he had decided to have these things come up. He just felt that since it would be on the Internet, that he would be able to watch it on any day and that it was a Sunday off of church type of deal. And what was even sadder to me was that he was going to be bringing his family along with him (even our recent convert who had tried to tell him that they were going to conference).
I realized in that moment that we must have not made a big enough deal of General Conference with this family in our visits with them. I knew that if they understood better that he would not be choosing to do something else in place of conference...that is just the type of person he is. When he knows whats right, he does it. I was so disappointed with myself when I made this realization(that I had not made a big enough deal of General conference). And so I began to do my best to help him understand in that moment how truly IMPORTANT General Conference Sunday is. And I did so with a prayer in my heart that I would be able to help him understand even in those few moments on the phone. It was a conversation guided by the spirit. I know that. By the end of that conversation on the phone during the first talk of the Sunday morning session of conference, I knew that he now understood. But even with that understanding, he decided that he would just attend the next General Conference (the one that is coming 6 months from now) and continue on with his plans for Sunday due to the fact he didn't fully understand when he made the plans. This brought me great sorrow for I knew that he was not living up to his potential that I have seen him fulfill so many times before.
Right before hanging up the phone, this man, who I knew was feeling uncomfortable about his headed course, said , "No se preocupe Elder, cuando viene a mi casa otra ves, me puede reganar" (not sure if I spelled that correctly). He is a good natured guy and I'm sure was just trying to make a joke to help himself feel a little better about his actions, but regardless, this comment concerned me. It caused me to feel like the only thing he was worried about was what the missionary thought rather than what God, his Heavenly Father thought. I explained my concern to him and we then ended the conversation.
Hanging up the phone was so sad for me. I felt defeated. But in that moment I turned to the Lord in Prayer (this is something I'm learning to do more quickly on my mission...to counsel with the Lord) and asked for his help. Specifically I asked for him to send the gift of Godly Sorrow or guilt to this man over the next several minutes sufficient enough to motivate him to change his plans. I wanted to make sure he felt accountable to the Lord and not one of the Lord's missionaries. And then, with nothing left to do, I returned to watch the rest of the Sunday morning session of General Conference.
That prayer went seemingly unanswered. They never showed up to conference like I had hopefully imagined they would. I imagined that would come walking into the afternoon session a little late, wave excitedly, sit down with us say something like, "Surprise!" But it never happened. And in fact, during the last session of conference, I felt even more sad that they had chosen not to come because I felt like the session had been written for this family specifically. I felt so sad to see that so many of their doubts, concerns and needs could have been addressed by simply attending this marvelous last session of conference.
On Tuesday when Elder Page and I went to see this family, we learned that a miracle had happened. In the place of continuing on with their plans which would be violating the Sabbath day, they (or maybe better said... He, with encouragement from his wife) chose to change their plans in order to both keep the Sabbath day holy and enjoy General Conference from their home.
It brought tears to my eyes to listen to this couple teaching me everything that they had learned from that final session of the Lord's General Conference through the mouth of his Prophet and Apostles. Every message that I felt had been "missed out on" due to not coming, was a message that had entered deeply into their hearts and brought about mighty changes.
The Lord does indeed work Miracles when we ask for them. He doesn't always perform them how we imagine or hope for them to be performed, but he surely does perform them in his way. And his way is always best. I learned countless lessons in this experience.
Heavenly Father Loves his children. His Church is True. And I am blessed to be a missionary in his Church.
Elder Ostler
