A Special Missionary Experience

This is the email that we received from Elder Rushforth this week. It talks about a very special experience that he had and I knew he wanted me to share it because he sent it to me twice...the second time he had gone through and fixed some of the spelling. :) Get your tissues out because I don't know how you can NOT cry at this tender missionary experience.

"We have been having a wonderful time and I probably had one of the best experiences of my mission this past week, although I have had lots of cool things happen on my mission. When my companion Elder Schneider and I were out on exchanges with the High Priest group leader we were teaching a lesson to some investigators outside and a young lady walks out of her apartment and goes and sits on the hood of her car and begins smoking. As we taught I looked back at her and noticed her look over a few times and after we had a prayer with the two we were teaching we were walking back to our car and I asked how she was, although I could already tell she was gloomy and sad. At that point it is all I said we got in the car and left and I felt a longing to go back but it was too late and we went home for the night and decided we would stop by the next day, Sunday, after church. We went and knocked on her door and when she opened up I think she was shocked to see us their but we talked to her briefly then asked if she ever considered what the purpose of life is? she told us she had no remote idea what her purpose could be. We began teaching on the door step and talked about how she is a child of God and He knows and loves her. When we got to the first vision and gave her a picture of it as we talked of Josephs experience she started to cry and didn't stop from then to the end. It was probably the most spiritual lesson I have taught. We gave her a book of Mormon and taught her about prayer and how we pray then asked her to pray to God for the strength and peace she desired. The hymn "Prayer is the souls sincere desire" is the only way to explain her prayer. She wants to know her purpose and feel God love for her and know that she is a daughter of God. I truly believe that she will be baptized if she keeps reading and praying to know the truth. We will find out more tomorrow when the other elders go and teach her since she is twenty and so she is YSA age, but I don't care. I am grateful for the opportunity that we had to teach and meet her and to feel of her spirit. My favorite part was the smile that we got from her as we left!! a complete 180 degrees. I know that it was God that placed her in our paths and I know that my desire to share the gospel and the ability of knowing the promptings of the spirit has increased ten times on my mission. I want people to be happy and I know that the gospel can do that because we know WHO WE ARE!! CHILDREN OF A LOVING HEAVENLY FATHER!!!!! and may we never forget that because HE will NEVER forget us.

How great is my calling

Love,

Elder Rushforth

p.s. Who would have ever thought I could go up to complete strangers and want to talk to them and get to know them!! It is probably because I loved talking to people and was very social before my mission!! NOT!!! blessings of serving:). "