diet coke miracle

may 31st was a day that God taught me very valuable lessons that I will never forget.

since I opened my call my emotions went from unreal levels of excitement to pure terror. I don't know why, but after about a week of excitement I began to realize how huge of a commitment a mission is and how different Guatemala is than what I'm used to and Satan began to set many doubts in my mind, and boy oh boy was I letting them get to me. Some nights I'd lay in bed wide awake just thinking to myself,

"What did I just get myself into? Am I really going to be able to do this? Do I even want to do this anymore?"

one morning I went to work and as soon as I got there I felt so nauseous and dizzy and I was absolutely miserable and wanted nothing more than to go home and fall into a mini coma. So I called all the other girls I work with to see if anyone of them could come into work and cover for me. no one could. I said a quick prayer to Heavenly Father that someone would call me back telling me plans had changed so I'd be able to go home and not have to work this 9 hour shift. No one called back.

lesson one: He doesn't always answer your prayers in the way you want Him to. He answers your prayers with what is BEST for you.

As the day went on I figured I might as well suck it up and be as friendly as I possibly could--no one likes a grouchy store manager. So I began chatting with all the customers that came in, asking them about their lives, their kids, what brought them to Midway and things like that.

During a slow part of the day where no one was in the store, the sweetest and kindest lady walked in that reminded me of my aunts Debra and Dianne, and so I liked her right away and asked her if she needed help finding anything and she said she was just looking around and she replied in a very thick accent and I said,

"You have a very cool accent. May I ask where you're from?"

She replied,

"I'm from Brazil."

and the conversation just took off from that point

"oh my friend just got home from an LDS mission in Brazil. He absolutely loved it there."

"I'm LDS too!"

"Very cool! I just got my mission call to Guatemala!"

"Are you serious right now? In 1980 I had a mission call to Guatemala! But they were in the middle of civil war so President Kimball reassigned me to Paraguay. You know Spanish?"

"A little bit. My grandma is from Puerto Rico, so I grew up with her speaking a little bit to me and I took it in high school and college, but I'm not very good at it!"

"I was a convert to the church only a year. I never took seminary or institute. None. But I knew I wanted to share the Lord's gospel. My family did not accept the gospel--my dad said to me, 'you joined this church without my permission and you can't come crying to me. You're on your own and this is your problem now.' If I cried I got spanked. I was so scared. I was deathly afraid."

"That's me right now! I'm terrified."

"Yes, I know. I know how you feel. But I went and I cried every night in the MTC. Once I got out there everyone would mock me because of my Portuguese. People say Spanish and Portuguese are the same. They are not. I had a hard time speaking Spanish and I would get mocked because they said my Portuguese was just bad spoken Spanish. I began to hate the people. I hated the country. I hated everything. Then one night I got down on my knees and said, 'Heavenly Father, I hate the people. I hate the country. Please just help me be able to learn to speak Spanish as perfect as I possibly can. Even if it means forgetting my own language.' And after that I could speak Spanish perfectly. And I did forget Portuguese. No one would believe I was from Brazil. Missionaries from Brazil would come over to renew their visas and they'd find out I was Brazilian and they'd talk to me and I'd have to reply in Spanish because I couldn't in Portuguese. And when I went home I couldn't speak to my family. But, right after I got released I could speak Portuguese just fine."

"That is amazing. I cannot tell you how warm and full my heart is right now. I needed to hear that."

"It was a miracle. And miracles do happen and they will happen to you on your mission."

(I got very choked up after she said that.) "Oh my goodness, I'm going to cry!"

"I know, me too. Come hug me."

She gave me a huge hug and then stood there for awhile and just held my hands in hers and said,

"I know your Heavenly Father will help you. Humble yourself and He will take care of you. You'll catch onto Spanish so quickly. You will never, NEVER regret this decision. I know that there are people in Guatemala right now waiting for you to arrive and teach them. Give it 6 months and after that 6 months you will feel like you can do anything. Just give it that 6 months."

"Thank you so much for saying that. I cannot tell you how badly I needed to hear that today. Thank you for coming in the store today."

"I wasn't even planning on coming in today. I told my husband we should go to Park City today and then I wanted a diet coke and he turned down this road and when we passed your store I felt that I should go in there and so I did."

"Well, I know you stopped for me."

We said our goodbyes and it is very likely I will never see her again in this life. It is truly amazing how our Heavenly Father can bring two complete strangers together and have this amazing spiritual experience.

Lesson Two: The Lord prepares a way. Always.

Following promptings from the Holy Ghost and simply opening your mouth can truly bring miracles into your life and the lives of others. That sweet woman could have easily brushed off that prompting by saying, 'oh I'll go in another day. I'm too busy today.' Little did she know that I was struggling and her words and kindness and love for the gospel would bring me much needed peace.

I don't even know this woman's name, but I will never forget her kind words and warm hug and the peace it brought to me. I am excited to be able to find her in the next life and thank her once again for spending those ten minutes talking with me. She really has helped change my life.

Lesson Three: NEVER, NEVER, NEVER ignore a prompting. Even if you think it's just you--if it invites you to do something good and wholesome. Do it. It may not be for you, but there may be someone who desperately needs you.

I wasn't supposed to work the double shift. But I did. I got sick--no one could cover so me. So I stayed. She came in right after a huge wave of customers left and not one person came into the store until after she had gone. The Lord's timing is very special and He has shown me this multiple times throughout my life.

Lesson Four: Timing is everything.

And last, but certainly not least,

Lesson Five: The Lord never forgets us and our needs. Tender mercies are all around us and for that I am truly grateful.