Only every other memory



Sister Simmons and Sister Wilko

So, here is the much anticipated story from my crazy night with the sister missionaries in Kutztown!!!

This story begins as all great stories do...with a talkative Hispanic man who gives me chocolate.

This Saturday afternoon I was actually helping translate for our sisters here in Milford (which I've been doing weekly) for a man they are teaching named Paco.

I love Paco.

He is incredibly smart and kind.

He gives me chocolate.

He's very talkative.

Chocolate.

And...chocolate.
ANYWAY-

So, that appointment went over and I was running late to meet up with the Kutztown sisters.

The reason I was going to meet with them was because one of my favorite sisters, Sister Simmons, had been transferred there and I had told her that we should meet up.

(NMT- Non-Mormon Translation)- "Transfers" are when you are sent from one part of the mission to another- the way a mission works is that you are "called" to a certain area- the mission I live in is the Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Mission.

I served my mission in the Illinois, Chicago Mission.

My sister Danielle served in the Canada, Montreal Mission.

My brother Jr served in the Nevada, Las Vegas Mission.

So, all of the missionaries you see on my blog were called here to Philadelphia.

But you don't just serve in the city. (in fact, most sister missionaries never get to serve in the city due to it being more dangerous)

So, you don't know the towns you will be working in until you get there- and then you are usually moved around the mission a few times- anything from twice (like me) to 10 times (like my brother) 

Anyway, so I was going to visit Sister Simmons and meet her new companion, Sister Wilko.

In her new area of Kutztown.

I ended up in a town that was 30 miles from them.

My GPS had taken me to Hellertown, which I thought was probably just another name for their town..or something like that.

But it was actually completely the wrong way.

So, I arrived AT THE WRONG PLACE already 15 minutes late.

I called them and explained I would be like an hour late once I realized that I was in completely the wrong place.

They were very kind and ran to do things while I drove 40 minutes to get to where they REALLY live.

I got there and we headed for what they described as "the world's shadiest red robin".

I put "Red Robin" into my trusty GPS and it took us there...and by "there" I mean Red Robin road.

So, now it's 630.

We were supposed to eat dinner at 5 pm.

I then put in Red Robin Restaurant and it took us to the nearest one.

It just happened to be out of their area.

(You aren't supposed to leave your area on the mission)

And the wait was 30 minutes and it was almost 7 pm and they had to be at a meeting by 8 pm.

We somehow ended up on the highway and I was doing crazy U-turns and we were driving up and down the main street of their area, looking for this alleged shady Red Robin.

We didn't find it, even though they'd seen it many times before.

We ended up at this barbecue place- which was really good. (I got the waffle fries- amazing!)

And, as we were racing through our dinner they spotted, going into the cold stone creamery next door, a less active sister from their ward. (NMT- "less active"=someone who has not been coming out to church).

They had been trying to reach her and hadn't had any luck.

They raced over to talk to her and I packed up all of our stuff.

As we pulled out of the parking lot a few minutes later, we took a left and there was the Red Robin.

It turned out that it was the corporate head quarters- so we couldn't have eaten there- but we found it kind of amazing that we hadn't seen it until this moment.

It is so cool to see the hand of God in our lives- even when it just seems like a crazy night full of mistakes and not at all what we had planned.

It might seem like just an odd coincidence but I honestly believe God put us at that barbecue restaurant 2 hours after our scheduled dinner time for a reason.

For the sisters to get a chance to reach out and talk to this sister from their ward.

I'm not saying that this sister will suddenly become so active and strong- it's actually likely that nothing will change.

But you never know.

I've seen major changes in a life from a seemingly small, inconsequential moment.

Like when Brother Johnson asked me to speak about my mission experience, which led me to read my mission journal, which led to me getting involved with the missionary work in our branch.

And to add to the strange twists in all of this, the sisters are now teaching one of my cousins.

Who has invited me to come up and be there the next time the sisters come to her house.

It was a long, crazy night.

Kutztown is beautiful.

The sister missionaries are inspiring.

And God is guiding our lives.

I see it so clearly when I am blessed to help them in some way.

Lori Ann

 p.s.

The sky on my way to work today.