Parabens pai!

Translate that :) Just wanted to give a shout-out to the best Dad in the whole wide world! I love you Dad, have a great day today! This has been quite a week; several ups, several downs. We've had lots of fun though and felt the Lord's love for us and His children the whole way through. If there's one thing I have learned on the mission, it's that God loves each of His children, knows us better than we know ourselves, and cares enough to help us along the path. I am so thankful for that.

We had a neat experience this week where the Lord's hand was made manifest. It was a tender mercy, and certainly not by chance. Saturday evening Elder Munhoz and I were out biking. We were working hard contacting people and looking for new people to teach in our area. Well, things kept getting pushed around and our night was just going crazy. As Brother Acker says, "If you want to give the Lord a good laugh, tell Him your plans." He has better ones coming our way :) But, we still try to plan and by inspiration hopefully get some idea of where we are supposed to be even if we have no idea what is coming or what is supposed to happen.

We were biking down a street at around 7 o'clock, following up with someone we'd met during one of the past weeks. The phone started to ring, and the Elders from an area north of ours called. They said they'd received a special assignment from Pres. Hall to go to the hospital quickly and comfort and assess the needs of a family that was there. A man had just gone through surgery and things weren't looking good for him. The Elders found out the hospital they were at was actually in our area, and so they called us to fulfill the assignment.

We were on our bikes and quite a ways away from the hospital. Well, it "just so happens" that we were about 2 houses away from a member of the bishopric's home. We headed over and asked if his son could take us to the hospital. As he was getting ready his parents walked out of the back of the house dressed in their church clothes. C (the son) told them where he was going to take us, and asked where they were going. "We are going to the hospital." "Oh, the Elders need a ride there. Can you take them?" How convenient.. =] The Lord is great. They were going to see a sister from the ward who was back in the hospital for some complications she was having. We went over with them and were able to give the sister in our ward a blessing.

Shortly after we headed to meet the family that was there from out of town.
We walked in, and there are three people in the waiting room area. One of them was Bro. C from the Viera ward. He was the Young Men's president there, and I got to know him and his family pretty well. There was also another man, and a younger lady. The man looked strangely familiar and had a friendly smile.

We introduced ourselves and started talking with them. Bro. C was a family friend of the man who was having surgery. Larry was his name. Larry's wife introduced herself and mentioned that she was from Bear Lake. As the other gentleman introduced his self, he said he was from Logan, UT. I told him I was born there and lived there for a bit. He looked at me and said, "What was your name? Bennett? Beckett?? John Beckett?" His face lit up as he said this.

Suddenly, it all came together. The man who had went through surgery was L. A. His wife was the woman we met there, and then I knew that the man I was now talking to was Bishop A. I could not believe it! The Lord had lined everything up just right to have a small tender mercy during the trial they were having. We were able to talk with them and give Bishop A's son a blessing. Please keep them in your prayers. I know that Heavenly Father is real and knows each of His children. There are no coincidences! It wasn't by chance that we were the missionaries who came there.

Well, my time is up and I have to go now. Know that I love you all so much! Have a great week! Help Dad have the best birthday ever!
love,
Elder Beckett