"What Are You Doing?"

My companionship, quite frankly, sounds like the start of a joke.
"A branch president, a district leader, and a zone leader are driving on the freeway..."

Without getting into too much of the details, this last week, Elder Wahl and I were joined with Elder Crossley, who has been serving in the North of Cyprus, and now we are in a trio.

I always thought the craziest thing to happen was going home. Though that is something that certainly is something, I never thought what would happen on the mission would come close to the craziness of what that was.

Needless to say, we stay busy. I really tried to take some extra time to write a weekly email today, but the window of time I thought I would be able to was taken up by other matters. I would apologize, but honestly, people are more important than emails.

So, with the lack of time, I've felt it important to share one story out of all the bullet points I've kept throughout the week. Besides that, my report on the last week is this:

We are staying busy. This last week felt like a month. Wednesday felt like an entire week of itself. That is the end of my report.

But I wanted to highlight this.

Most often, we plan lessons for the evenings since that is usually when people are off work. We had about 5 lessons scheduled in a 4 hour block all the way till 9pm.

Now, right before this endeavor began, I got a call that a member needed our help with something. So I counseled with my companions about when we would come by and meet so we could serve her. Out of concern for the lessons, I suggest that we could come tomorrow. With a plan to stop by after she finished her shift, it was settled. I thought of canceling the lessons we had planned for the evening to help her, but it didn't feel right.

So we went to each lesson, and the spirit was very strong. Expecially as we taught our friend Christian. The spirit comfirmed to me that we did the right thing to attend the lessons.

We went next door, to our next lesson, and discovered our friend was not home. So we finished 30 minutes earlier than planned.

"Let's go get McDonalds tonight," I suggested to Elder Crossley and Wahl. It was a long day after all, and I was sure none of us felt like cooking that night anyways. The location wasn't far anyways.

I remember turning to the self check machine and suddenly, clarity hit me like a brick wall. I couldn't hear the noisy room. The feeling was so strong it might as well have been words.

"What are you doing?"

An image of the member came into my mind. How could I be here, taking a risk of been late home to get dinner instead of helping a daughter of God? Indeed, what was I doing? Despite us not going that didn't make a lot of sense, the spirit made itself very clear.

I had a place to be.

I finished ordering my food, and walked to the nearest chair and began to pray for guidance. With that given guidance, we finished ordering our food and drove to the members house, unannounced, unsure if we even could help.

My companions were asking me logistics and I couldn't give them straight answers.

"I don't know, I'm guiding by the spirit right now," I said as we began the navigation. I didn't know how it was going to work, but I knew God wouldn't have made it so clear if it wouldn't be possible. I knew there would be a way.

And indeed, there was. In fact, what could have been one of the craziest nights ever, went more smoothly than I could have imagined.

They were moments I sat there and thought, "There is no way, the chances of this working so perfectly was so slim."

My short, but sincere message is this. Listen to the spirit. Don't wait for the fog to clear in front of you. That day may never come. But with one step in front of the other, get walking. The entire path doesn't need to be clear at the start.

It could be because I've left a lot of context out, but this simple, yet profound moment has strengthed my testimony that God is so vigilant.

He cares for you. He loves you. You might feel invisible in your trials. Even maybe alienated by those around you.

You're not.

I witness to you, in the name of Jesus Christ, and as witness as an instrument in his hands, God sees you. And he desperately cares about you.

Are you looking for Him?

I love you all, and I hope you the best of weeks.

It's getting hot down here! I hope it's warming up where you are!

Elder Dylan John Hansen