Rainy Road Trip

Sister Crosby and I witnessed a miracle this morning and it strengthened my testimony that Heavenly Father is so aware of his children and that he works miracles in our lives through our faith. We have been trying to return to visit a friend we met for two or three weeks now. Well, this morning was going to be the day. I just knew it! So we walked up all the stairs and knocked on the door. We waited and waited. We knocked one more time and waited. Nothing. At the bottom of the stairs, slightly dejected, we prayed and asked Heavenly Father to guide us to where he needed us and we planned to head out down another street. Then we felt like we should knock on the neighbor's door. We'd already knocked there before, but we decided to do it anyway. Back up the stairs we went! Twenty second pause at the top of the staircase so we could catch our breath, then we knocked. Waited. Nothing. 2nd knock. Nothing. Why did we feel like we should go back up the stairs? Down the stairs and out of the building, then we thought that we should leave a note. So we sat down on the porch and began to write. And thirty seconds later a car drove up with our friend in it.  We were FINALLY able to set up a time to meet! Heavenly Father is so aware and he WANTS to guide us. Sometimes we don't fully understand his guidance. I didn't understand why we should knock on the neighbor's door. Especially when no one answered. But because we followed those promptings, we were in the right place at the right time. I believe that our faith in Jesus Christ has power and allows God to lead us to be his hands. 

Getting ourselves to Nova Gorica on Saturday was quite the challenge! It really shouldn't have been too difficult - it's just a two hour drive from Celje, but it was hard because we share a car. The Porters left the country two weeks ago, and the Monsons are moving up here from Ljubljana. But they're not moving up here yet, because they still have things to be doing down there. So...no car in Celje for a while haha. We were planning to take the train to Ljubljana Saturday morning and then grab the car and go onward, BUT the train schedule terribly tricky and we didn't read it correctly. SO the Monsons drove up Saturday morning, then we all drove back to Ljubljana together. Then Sister Crosby and I took the car on to Nova Gorica through the crayziest rain I have driven through in quite a while. I have experienced insane rain since coming here, but never while I was behind the wheel of a car! Only when I was walking through town, still half an hour from home typically :) But we made it there and Andrejka was so kind.  We got to share and answer questions, and she showed us all around Gorica, new and old.

Last week we were out contacting through the center of Celje. It was cold, rainy, and dark and there was basically no one outside, so everytime we saw a person we made a beeline straight for them, but to no avail. We'd been praying that day for opportunities to serve in small ways, but I didn't feel like I'd found very many. Maybe my eyes were closed all day or something. Anyway, We started beelining for a woman who was walking away from us about forty feet ahead. Just as we came within ten feet, she crossed the road. Škoda! But when we took our focus off of her, we realized that there was another woman about thirty feet ahead with no umbrella. We started after her, rounded the corner, and once we were within yelling distance, I decided to yell and ask if she needed an umbrella. She kind of turned her head, saw us, and kept going. I thought "great. She knows we're the missionaries and doesn't want to talk." But then I thought "what the heck, let's just chase her." So we did. And then we asked if she needed an umbrella. Turns out she's from Spain, didn't understand Slovene, didn't know we were missionaries, and really loved the idea of an umbrella! Heavenly Father will give us opportunities to serve if ask!I'm not going to talk about the people who told me I've "found the wrong Jesus." That's a story for another time :)I testify that Jesus Christ lives and loves us! I'm so grateful for a loving Father in heaven who knows us and cares for us. Turn to him every day, in rain and in sunshine!

Love Steph