A Child's Prayer

Quick update on the wind.. They were so strong one day last week that I could lean on the breeze for a couple of seconds. It was pretty fun!

This week I gained multiple witnesses that Heavenly Father hears our prayers and that He answers them.

Let me tell you about some people Sister Loh and I met this week:
The first young man we met one day while we had a few minutes to street contact the Chinese students at the Uni. I told Sister Loh that I would stop someone as long as they were alone. This is a rare thing, however, because Chinese students tend to travel in pairs or packs.. Pair and pack contacting= ineffective. If one shows disinterest the rest tend to follow. Anyways, we spotted a young man who seemed to be standing alone so we ran to catch up to him before he crossed the street. We casually said hello to him and started talking to him. He told us his name was Loh  and we asked him how to write his name. He ended up showing us the characters for his name on his phone and his number was conveniently there too on the screen. We didn't even have to ask for his number, he just gave it to us! He was like ''oh, you can have my number.'' So great! We invited him to the Chinese Activity we were having on Saturday and he said he would come! The next day we went to call and confirm that he was still going to the activity and we realized we were missing the last two or three digits in his phone number.. Whoops! Sister Loh and I prayed fervently that we would be able to get in contact with him and that he would come to the activity.

The next person we meet this week is an English man named Kirk. Sister Loh and I meet him at the bus station. He was staring at our name tags and both of us felt that we needed to talk to him. We introduced who we were and he ended up telling us how he has been trying to be a good person. What happened next I can only explain by saying that the Spirit was able to talk through me. Out of what seems like no where, I ended up talking about how the gospel of Jesus Christ can help us become better and that we can learn from our mistakes and be forgiven. Again, I have no idea where the thought to say that came from but I guess that is what he needed to hear. We were all going to the same place and we got on the same bus. I ended up being able to sit next to him on the bus and share the scripture in Doctrine and Covenants about forgiveness, introduced the Book of Mormon, gave him the Book of Mormon and then asked if I could say a prayer. He told me that he didn't feel comfortable praying on the bus so I asked if we could get off the bus at his stop (only a stop before ours) and say a prayer with him. He agreed. Before we got off the bus I was able to find out a little bit more about Kirk. He told me that he was a 7 year old son who is half Chinese. I thought to myself, if his son is half Chinese that means he must have a Chinese wife. That then started to explain why he was staring at our name tags. I then asked how long he had been together with his wife and he told me that they were no longer together and he has his son every other week. When it was time to get off the bus, I told Sister Loh that we were getting off. She looked at me with a confused expression so I was like ''we are going to pray with Kirk.'' It was a little awkward because I am pretty sure the whole bus heard haha. When we got off the bus, the flood gates of information opened-- Kirk told us that he used to have a gambling addiction but he gave it up this past April. He told us he wasn't expecting to quit but some how he did. He also told us how he has stopped drinking alcohol too. I just stood there thinking ''Wow! He has been so prepared!'' We invited him to the Chinese activity as well because he expressed how much love he has for the Chinese culture and the Chinese. We prayed that he would be able to make it to the Chinese activity.

Saturday, the Chinese activity came around and the weather was so perfect! The activity took place here in Liverpool at our church building. We have all been praying that the weather would cooperate with us since the activity would mostly take place outside. The day of the activity had some of the best weather I have witnessed so far while being here in England. It was like a beautiful summer's day. All of the Chinese missionaries in the mission and their investigators, the Mission President and his wife, most of the senior couples, and the ward members from here in Liverpool and elsewhere came to the Chinese activity. Right when the activity started, Loh  showed up! Prayer answered! We were so happy to see him! We were also able to get his correct phone number. Not too long after greeting Loh , we got a text from Kirk that he was in front of the church and wanted us to come meet him. What?! Such a miracle. He had been worried that he would feel uncomfortable but we were able to introduce him to the people we knew and a member from a different ward ended up taking him under her wing and kept him great company. Sister Loh and I were not able to stay with him the whole activity so this was a blessing. Some time during the activity I looked over and saw him talking to President Preston, who was also in attendance. It looked like they were having a good conversation and I didn't dare interrupt haha. The Chinese activity was very successful and we had almost 20 investigators come.

As you all know, missionary work is not easy and it can sometimes be discouraging when you are not able to see the fruits of your labor. In other words, sometimes the results of the work are not immediate. I understand that everything happens on the Lord's time but I have been discouraged and started to wonder if I was even making a difference so far on my mission. I went to my Heavenly Father and prayer and let him know how I was feeling. A couple days later, the other Sisters in our flat told me how they had met multiple people I had talked to on the bus. Each one of them reported how friendly I was to them and at least one of them remembered my name. None of them may have been interested in learning more about the gospel but it let me know that my Heavenly Father wanted me to know that I was making a difference in the lives of those I meet every day. He let me know that He loves me and does not want me to feel discouraged. Remember the words to the song a Child's prayer:

Heavenly Father, are you really there?
And do you hear and answer every child's prayer?
Some say that heaven is far away,
but I feel it close around me as I pray.
Heavenly Father, I remember now
something that Jesus told disciples long ago:
''Suffer the children to come to me.''
Father, in prayer I'm coming now to Thee.

Pray, He is there.
Speak, He is listening.
You are His child;
His love now surrounds you.
He hears your prayer;
He loves the children.
Of such is the kingdom, the kingdom of heav'n.

Heavenly Father is there. He does hear your prayers. I know this because He hears and answers mine.

-Sister Jordan