We had two investigators in church this week: Chuck and Rodrigo. What was really amazing about that was Rodrigo. We hadn't been able to see him at all this week because of his work schedule. But, he came to church. On his own. We've seen a lot of growth in him these last few weeks and he says he's going to be baptized it's just a matter of when he feels ready. He's ready now. And that's what we're going to try and show him this week if we can see him.
Last Sunday we had a meeting with our ward mission leader. He asked if we were all filled for dinner this week. Sister McCleery was going to say we were fine but I like to be fed so I told him the truth which was that only three members had signed up to feed us that week. He decided that we should make a home cooked meal for all the older singles in our ward so he gave us $40 and told us to do it Thursday night. We ran with it. We made invitations (see attachment which for some reason is labeled class notes). And then we delivered them to all of the members we were inviting with an extra invitation for them to invite one friend. We might have bit off a little more than we could chew with that one but luckily we had a lot of helpful members.
I made our spaghetti recipe and we doubled the batch. Everybody absolutely loved it, quite a few got seconds and thirds. But at the end of the night we still had enough left over to feed one more family and it was starting to feel like the story of Christ feeding the multitude with 5 loaves and 2 fishes and having baskets of bread left afterward.
So this is what we did with the metaphorical five baskets of bread we still had. We put the leftover spaghetti in a 9X13 disposable pan with a lid that we had purchased that day. And we went to a members home because we felt like they were who needed it. But nobody was home. But I had visited them the night before with Sister Loveridge on companion exchange and the dad had just come back because he thought he had an interview with bishop that night but then he had remembered that it would actually be the night that we were trying to bring spaghetti. It was providence that that had happened because that meant we knew where he was to bring him dinner.
We went to the church with this large dish of spaghetti and waited outside the bishop's office. Cleaning up after dinner had taken a while so we didn't have time to go teach anyone, but Sister McCleery was feeling goofy sitting around waiting for this member to come out of the bishop's office so we could give him spaghetti. We contemplated forgetting about it and heading home. But I said "no, there's a reason we have this spaghetti and there's a reason we came to the church. We don't have to go home for 15 more minutes to be there on time so we'll wait until then."
Well... 15 minutes came and the member was still in the office. We contemplated just forgetting about it again. But again we decided "no, there's a reason why we have this spaghetti, there's a reason why we're here, and there's a reason that we've waited this long." We decided to leave it on a chair, right in front of the office door, with a note. At this point we were feeling really stupid but determined. The note said "Brother [member], we made too much spaghetti tonight and thought you and your family would enjoy it. ❤ The Sister Missionaries"
We went home and we did our nightly planning for the next day as usual. But at the end of planning we got a text from the bishop. He said this member had just taken a very large step in his interview with the bishop that night and it had taken a lot of effort and humility on his part. He had come to the interview right after work and hadn't had anything to eat yet that night. When he saw the spaghetti sitting there, waiting for him, he broke down in tears. The bishop said it was proof to him that the Lord knows our needs and he provides for us.
If we hadn't left him the spaghetti, no one but us would've been the wiser it was just a small thing after all. But because we were willing to follow those promptings from the Lord, we were able be the Lord's intruments in answering prayer in somebody else's life. I think a lot of times that's what the spirit is directing us and helping us to do: answer prayers. Isn't that a blessing? I'd like to be the Lord's hands more often and I think he'd like to allow us to be his hands more often as well. What a bunch of ridiculous promptings to follow all over a plate of spaghetti. But now the Lord knows we're willing to follow him. What will be your plate of spaghetti this week? Will you be willing to follow the promptings that come with it?
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