Hello Everyone,
For this weeks email, I´d really like to tell the story of an incredible experience that I had over the past 2 weeks.
It was the fourth of July, and we were nearing the end of the day, we had to be in our apartments at 7pm as a rule from the mission. We had about 30 minutes left, and we had accomplished all of the work that we had planned to get done, and were left thinking about how we could use the last 30 minutes of the day.
For some reason, the first thing that came to my mind was to go for a drive a little ways out of town, because our area extends all the way over to the mountains, we just never really go over there. So we start to drive west out of Yakima, and we go for about 15 minutes, not knowing where we are going, just simply taking random turns and seeing where the road takes us. So we drive for 15 minutes and we picked a spot to stop and turn around. We stopped at a fork in the road, and in between both roads was a house. Two men were getting in their car right outside and getting ready to leave, and as they were pulling out, they stopped next to us, and started to talk to us.
The guy in the passenger seat mentioned his name was Rod, and that he had been a member of the church, but was excommunicated years ago. Rod is 70 years old and says he isnt proud of lots of the decisions he has made in his life, but that recently has been feeling a push to return to church , be rebaptized, and have his priesthood restored. He said that seing us out by his house was his sign to give everything to God and rededicate his life again. We set up a time to come back a week later, and when the day came, we had some doubts and some fears cross our mind about going, but we went anyways not knowing exactly what would happen.
When we got there, Rod greeted us outside with the biggest, brightest smile I’ve seen, and he said that he had studied the book of mormon in preparation for us coming! We went inside and proceeded to have the most spiritual lesson with him. We read in Moroni 6, which is a really good chapter about baptism, repentance, and being part of the fold of God. Afterwards he mentioned to us that the last thing he needed to leave behind was his habit of smoking marijuana, and before we could say much about it, he gathered ALL of his drugs together, threw them in a bag, tied it up and said ¨Get this away from me I don’t want anything to do with it anymore.
The spirit in him after that lesson, and that moment that he decided to leave all bad habits behind, and follow God with true purpose of heart, is something that I will never forget. Rod Is currently working with members of his ward to stay nourished and active in the gospel, and to soon be rebaptized and reordained to his priesthood office. The odds that we ended up there after deciding to go on a random drive, take random turns, and choose to specifically stop in that spot at that moment, JUST as they were leaving the house, is hard to see as a coincidence.
I know that God accomplishes his work through imperfect people. I know that this church is true, not because of big moments like that, although they help grow my faith as well, but because of the spirit that I feel each day as I pray, study, go to church and take the sacrament, and serve God and others.
I love you all so much! Have a good week!
Sincerely, Elder Moulton 👻
