Have you ever given your child a promise that something
good would happen to them if they chose to do something that was hard and then
prayed really hard that something good really would happen? As a child I always imagined that my parents
knew everything and made all the right choices.
Now that I am a parent I understand that parents are on their own
journey; trying to be the best example for their children while finding the
strength to face and overcome their own challenges.
In Saint Petersburg I always looked forward to Tuesdays
because Tuesdays were missionary days. We would make the long journey to the
church which was a 1.5- mile scooter ride to the metro, then 30+ minute metro
ride changing from the red line to the orange line, and another mile on the scooter
to finally get to the church building. Since it was such an effort getting
there and back we generally spent the whole day there. I taught the missionaries Russian grammar
classes while my kids ran around the gym in the church and got their wiggles
out (remember our grumpy neighbor who didn’t want us to make noise while in the
apartment? We did our best but it was
basically impossible with 4 wiggly little people sleeping in one room so this
time each week was important for them as well).
On this particular Tuesday, I had gotten word that there
were some brethren from Salt Lake that would be doing some training with the
missionaries so we changed the lesson time to accommodate their arrival. I also asked Chrissy to stay at home with the
kids so that we wouldn’t disrupt the training but I thought it would be special
to invite the older boys to join me in hopes that they would be able to meet with
the leaders from Salt Lake. David was interested so I told him to wear nice
Sunday clothes just in case we were able to meet the brethren.
That day the water source for our whole building had been
shut off so we did our best to look presentable without running water. We
started off on our scooters through the dirty, wet rainy streets. I always like to leave very early because you
never know what may happen on the way but that day we had gotten a later start
than usual. I had brought David a pair
of gloves knitted by a very dear woman which were completely irreplaceable and very
special to me. When I realized that the gloves
had fallen out of my pocket we retraced our path all the way back to our
apartment building. We didn’t find the
mittens and David became discouraged.
“Mom, we are going to be late, we lost your special gloves and I went through a mud puddle that put mud all
up the side of my pants. Let’s just go
home and forget about it!”
I recognized a great
teaching moment! Life in Russia was
anything but convenient and I understood the frustration that David was feeling
but I also knew that most experiences that are worth anything take effort. I told David that the missionaries were
counting on us and that when we want to give up that’s the moment when we have
to work harder to make things work. He
bravely agreed to keep going despite our setbacks. I was so proud of him and wanted so much for
him to know that his efforts were known by God.
I knew it would be a great day if we could just get to the church
building.
When we got to our metro station David was surprised to find
a metro token on the ground. To really
appreciate what this means you have to know that we are a family of coin
collectors. We collect coins everywhere
we go. We have been known to reach
awkwardly under a dirty bench while people are still sitting on it in order to
retrieve a kopek worth far less than a penny.
To find a coin that actually had value was a bonus. Finding the metro token on the ground that
day to me was pure evidence to David that God was aware of his maturing
testimony and his desire to do good and to preserver despite the setbacks we
had encountered that morning. I told
David to keep the token and never use it so he would always remember that
moment.
After our Russian lesson with the missionaries we decided to
wait near the elevator to see if we could greet Elder Randy L Ridd and Jorg
Klebengat on their way to the conference where the missioanries eagerly waited
for their training. I didn’t want to be
annoying, but I really did want David to be able to shake hands with these
amazing men. When the elevator doors
opened, we quietly approached the group.
President Childs introduced me to Elders Klebengat and Ridd along with
his beautiful wife. I explained to them that David got dressed up and came on
the journey with me to the church in order to meet them.
They were more than kind to David lovingly asking him about
himself and taking time to care for the one.
Elder Ridd asked David about is mission fund and David reported that he
was saving 40% of his earnings toward his mission. Elder Ridd then reached into his coat and
pulled out a card with a dollar coin on it and told him to save it for his
mission! Another coin!
And another
testimony that God loves David! Then Sister Ridd gave David a Russian CTR ring
of his very own. I was able to tell Elder
Klebengat how much we enjoyed his talk
in conference just a few weeks earlier (it was SUCH and inspiration!) He then invited
David to attend the missionary meeting. Fortunately he was dressed
appropriately (I had wiped the mud off of his pants and it wans’t even visable)
so we were able to go and join the missionaries in the chapel. At the beginning of the meeting Elder
Kebengat called David to the front of the meeting and told the missionaries
that David was his special guest! He
asked David questions about what he was doing to prepare for his mission.
Here was my 10-year
old son standing in front of a room full of missionaries as the special guest
of a very special man called of God to do His work and to love His children, every one of them. Although those men had been given the charge
to go to Saint Petersburg to train missionaries, the spirit whispered to them
that there was a future missionary that needed to be strengthened that day as
well. A future missionary and his mom,
who had made a promise that all would be well if he would just do his best and
trust.
