Outpouring of the Spirit

               

This was supposed to be a recovery week. It seemed more like a circus. At least I felt like I was in a three ring circus, twisting, turning, and tumbling around. Before my feet touched the ground it was Saturday and we were riding on a train to Seoul to attend the temple. It is never easy to be up and on an early train, but there is so much peace and joy inside the temple that I am never tempted to make an excuse not to go. This visit did not disappoint. We were confronted with an important decision with no clear answer. We had arrived at a decision when we went to the temple and that answer was clearly confirmed as we listened to the sweet whisperings of the Spirit that seem to speak more clearly away from the noise of the world.

  

              While Wayne attended District meetings, I hung out with the other senior missionaries. We all ate lunch at this restaurant and then we took pictures of cool front doors and beautiful building materials. We decided this entry way was our favorite as we walk through back alleys that are much more characteristic of South Korea than the busy, wide main thoroughfares lined with box stores and high-rise buildings.

               Then Sunday dawned and we had a chance to fast and share testimonies with our friends at church. We felt an outpouring of the Spirit in both meetings where testimonies of faith and gratitude were shared by Koreans,  Africans, Filipino, and soldiers. We are all God’s children and he pours out his Spirit and love on all who seek him in faith.

       

         Our African friend who is preparing his papers to serve a mission was given the Melchizedek Priesthood today.  He shared his gratitude for the many blessings he has received as he does his best to keep the commandments, pray, and trust in the Lord’s timing for him. He took another African with him to the temple yesterday where they did baptisms for the dead. The other man is well over six feet tall so I asked him about his experience. He said  with his big broad smile that he stood at the very front of the font and bent his knees when they immersed him so his full body would fit under the water. He is eager to have the opportunity to make further covenants with the Lord in the temple and humbly waits the timing of the Lord. They amaze me at their gratitude for everything they do have even though they are refugees from their homeland seeking to provide food and shelter for the family from whom they are separated.   

           Our soldiers were almost all on duty today with the exception of three officers, but our chapel filled with other soldiers and a DOD contractor here on temporary duty. One of the soldiers shared his journey from a 19-year-old who had figured out that God was just a myth like Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny to a young man who knew there was a God who heard his lame prayer and desperate plea for help. He said that everyone needs that defining moment when they know God is real. He experienced some scoffing from an officer who wanted “proof” there was a God. He said that he had his own proof in that quiet moment in the February cold of Alaska; and he wanted to tell the officer that he, too, could have proof.

                God is our loving Father. He has given us this opportunity to learn and grow and to choose faith. He beacons and invites and patiently waits for us to seek hope through faith. How grateful we are for the Gift of the Holy Ghost to comfort, teach, and guide us.