An Experience to Share

No pictures for this post, but hopefully you'll forgive me.

A little background:
Today, was my first Sunday at the Aspen Branch this year. I was super nervous about going and a bit worried as I always am about my first Sundays in a new ward/branch.

This would be my third year attending the branch and every year I seem to make myself invisible and unmemorable. I show up, attend my classes and then leave. Most people are kind and smile the first Sunday but usually never talk to me and then forget about me completely throughout the rest of the summer.

Each year I struggle a bit with this as I am all alone out here and would love to get to know the members and be a part of the branch.

Well this year, I have been on my knees asking the Lord to help me to be more outgoing, to have the courage to talk to the members and not wait for them to talk to me (as I'm usually VERY reserved and intimidated when around new people and not outgoing at all). So this year I have been praying for courage and for the Lord to guide me to meet some of the members.

Story:
So today, as I got ready for church, I kept a prayer in my heart and hoped that I would have the courage when the time came to meet some of the members. I went to church, sat down and .....waited. I was surprised when the first counselor said "Your back!" when he first saw me, as I really did honestly think that no one would remember me. So that made me feel good - but no one else talked to me (even though I was 10 minutes early) and I started to feel a bit discouraged again. Then right before sacrament started a gentleman sat down a few seats from me (we were the only two on our little row). I smiled, he smiled back and that was about it as the service was about to start.

After Sacrament meeting, I said a little prayer in my heart, asked the Lord to bless me with courage and to not make a fool out of my self and turned to my only bench companion and looked at him. He was an older man -5o's ...and not someone I recognized from my previous years. He too was sitting by himself, looking around and so, with a leap of faith, I said "Hi, are you a visitor or are you a member of the branch? (as there is always high "visitor" traffic in the branch).

He replied back that he was a visitor and after a short conversation, I came to find out that he was investigating the church and it was his first time to the little branch. He had only attended church once before (last week) with a friend (the one who introduced him to the Gospel) in Preston, Idaho and lived in a neighbor city to Aspen. He didn't know anyone and was really hoping to get to know some of the people. I then asked him if he had met with the missionaries yet. His reply was no but that his friend had been encouraging him for sometime to call them up and meet with them.

The greatest blessing was that the missionaries were our speakers this Sunday. This is the first time in the past three years that I have seen Missionaries in Aspen. It sounded like they were now assigned to the branch which I am super excited about. After talking to Tom for a few more minutes, I asked him if he'd like for me to get the missionaries and introduce him to them. He agreed and within minutes, he was talking the missionaries and setting up his first appointment.

I got to thinking about my entire day....Tom, my fears and all the wonderful things that happened. I got to thinking about the many blessings that I've had since arriving in Aspen. I've had the opportunity to tell a co-worker of mine about the gospel and about what "Mormons" believe - which was a wonderful experience. I've had the opportunity to help an investigator meet the missionaries and make him feel as welcome as I had wanted someone to do for me. And I got over my fears of being invisible and to reach outside of my selfish life to help another.

Though far away from my husband, friends and comforts of life, what a wonderful blessing this past week has been here. I wonder if I hadn't been there today, if I hadn't had the courage to talk to this stranger, would he have left after sacrament? Would he have had the opportunity to meet with this missionaries? Would he have wanted to come back knowing that no one reached out to him?

Do I feel like any of this was because of me? Not at all. I feel that it is all because of the Lord. He has a plan for each of us. He knows of my strengths and weaknesses and he has helped me to get past a fear, to forge through my weakness and to allow my strengths to come through, to help bring his plan and his gospel to those seeking guidance. How grateful I am that I could be there, a part of this and how extremely grateful I am to not only have been a part of a testimony building experience but to have walked away today with a new friend at Church.

Heavenly Father does answer our prayers. He will give us missionary opportunities if we will seek them out and be worthy of them when the time comes. If the rest of my summer is even half as good as this first week has been, I'll be ok. I'll walk away with a stronger testimony and a stronger appreciation for those who are far from me and *hopefully* a few new friends.

I just wanted to share such a wonderful experience with those who too have the same fears as me when attending a new branch/ward for the first time. The Lord does answer our prayers and he will guide us to those in whom he feels we need to know. What better way to end my frist week in Aspen then with a little bit of everything I had been hoping for!