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| Hermana Miller & her fellow Grand Island missionaries (Spanish & English) |
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| Hermanas Buhler & Miller, & Sisters Crist & Allen at the Pioneer Day Celebration 7/26/2014 DON'T MISS THE VIDEO LINK AT THE END OF THIS POST!!! |
7/28/2014
I
must have the most unorthodox mission in the whole world. I feel like every
week something new comes up that I NEVER would have expected, especially during
a mission! (Like translating an OBGYN appointment. Yes, I did that this week.
Anything to help our brothers and sisters, right?) But the strangest/best thing
that may have happened in my entire mission happened yesterday.
I
got to speak "SpItalian" with Romanians. In the middle of my Spanish
speaking mission in the middle of Nebraska. Yes, you heard that right. Heavenly
Father must have a great sense of humor, I swear. He is amazing. Saturday night we ran
to Walmart to pick up some snacks and coloring things for the daughters of some
investigators who were supposed to come to church. As we were walking out, Hermana Buhler saw
this woman and her 10 year old daughter standing near the door with a sign,
asking for money. We went up to them and
gave them our bottles of water and a big box of fruit snacks and started
talking to them. I realized as we were speaking Spanish to them that they were
responding in a mix of Spanish and Italian. (I am so grateful I studied Italian at BYU! It
allowed me to get their phone number and everything, which they didn't know how
to say in Spanish.) I asked them where
they were from, turns out they are basically gypsies from Romania! They came
over to Arizona 6 months ago, were traveling to Illinois to find work (there
was none,) so they decided to go back and got stranded! The mother's name was
Letizia and the daughter was Silvia. We talked to them for a bit and invited
them to Church.
Fast
forward to Sacrament Meeting. I hear the door open up in the chapel and I
turn around and see Silvia's beautiful face poking in. I grab Hermana Buhler
and we dash out to go see them. They brought the husband/father, Marion! (But
he asked us to call him Mario, because we are "amici.") They
came into sacrament and even sang all the hymns! The main talk was all about the Book of
Mormon, and Mario was really interested so we gave him one and a copy of the
Restoration pamphlet! The final hymn was
"Oh Esta Todo Bien," (which is "All is Well" in English,)
and I looked over and Mario and Letizia and they were both teary. Mario kissed Silvia's forehead and told her
"See? Everything will be
okay." I know they felt the Spirit. It made me tear up, too.
After
the service, we met with a Bishop from the English ward (because our Branch
President is on vacation,) and started talking about how to help them and their
situation. They are such amazing people and it was a very tender experience to
see how much the Lord cares about His children and wants to help them. There
were so many tender mercies. Those investigators did not come, so we gave
scared little Silvia two notebooks to color in, crayons, and some fruit snacks.
Hermana Buhler drew a picture of her and
she was so happy that she wrote our names down and put hearts all over them! I was able to help her feel more comfortable
by speaking the little Italian I remember to her. She was tickled pink and loved it. We
were able to get them a hotel room for the night (we walked in to check it out
with them and they almost cried just to have somewhere to shower! They have been sleeping in their car!) Then we got them a bunch of food and a giant
gift card that had enough on it to get them gas and food all the way home. When we handed Mario the gift card and told
him how much was on it, he almost picked Hermana Buhler and I up in a big hug
and just said "Grazie grazie grazie!!!!) And he kissed the Bishop's hands!
Letizia hugged us and kept saying "God bless you!" and Silvia nearly
tackled me with a giant hug. I told
them "Vi voglio bene!" And they responded so sincerely and with so
much love. It was amazing. They are going to keep in contact with us,
invited us out to see them after the mission, and they accepted to have the missionaries in
Arizona teach them and they want to go to the Spanish ward out there. Amazing.
As
they were pulling out of the parking lot, I remembered that mom had sent me a
bunch of restaurant gift cards so I stopped them and gave them to them. Letizia told me that Silvia said that she
loves me, just like we were sisters. I
cried. Heavenly Father loves them so
much. They are so special and deserve the world. God sure goes through a lot to
help His children. He has been planning
this perfectly longer than I can even think about.
I
know He is aware of each one of us and our trials, and has solutions just as
perfectly orchestrated to rescue us in our times of need. He loves us
perfectly. Don't forget that.
Love,
Hermana
Miller
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