When The Phone Rings

Sitting in my living room with the missionaries, we are listening to the missionaries sharing the message of the restoration to my friend Bernie. They had already spoken of dispensations, the ministry of Christ on earth, the great apostasy, and now was leading up to the portion (my favorite) about the restoration of the gospel through the prophet Joseph Smith. You could feel the spirit in the room, far greater than I had expected. I could see a difference in Bernie's eyes and attitude, she was more humble and thought provoked than usual. I believe it was Elder Knight, or some other name, but he began to share the first vision....
"I saw a pillar of light, exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun..."

RIIIINNGG!!! RIIIIINNGG!!!

(that was the phone ringing in case you didn't know)

Elder Knight made the comment, "that always happens when I share the first vision."
I too can relate to Elder Knight, though on my mission it didn't happen all the time (sometimes sadly it was our own cell phone, got to love vibrate) but it sure did happen and sometimes took away from the spirit. In Bernie's case, Elder Knight just started over and continued on.

Today I went to work as I usually do and noticed my boss Maggie had finally come back from Egypt for the holidays. I was so excited to see her, partly because I was worried about her and her family since there were bombings at a Coptic church and knowing she was Coptic I put the two together and was worried. I was so grateful that she was safe. I was about to leave my office, adjacent to hers, but I felt like I needed to knock her door and just talk. And if you knew Maggie, you don't just talk, it's business and brief chats. I knocked nonetheless. She seemed pleased to talk to me about the bombings and the issue placed in her home country.
As time went on you could see her sadness from it, worried that it could cause a civil war given the circumstances. She began to cry a little, you could feel the solitude of the spirit in the room. We continued to speak of the idea to help others better understand. And then the thought crossed my mind to ask her if she knew what our church's opinion was about other religion and tolerance? She said she didn't know and asked what it was. She had a little bit of that tone of voice that sounded similar to those on the door step on my mission that had heard for the first time with excitement about a modern day prophet or about the Book of Mormon saying, "Will you tell me more?"

I was so excited to tell her! But I began to stumble over my words, "Well... the church...other religions....well, we believe in a modern day prophet as you know of and believe to be...." I finally got my train of thought and knew what to say when all of a sudden there was a ...

RIIIINNGG!!! RIIIIINNGG!!!

(that was her phone ringing in case you didn't know)

I was so excited to share with her what seemed she was anxious to learn about (she's been at BYU for 5 years now and I don't think she has ever had the real opportunity or desire to learn about the church) but now she had to answer a long awaited phone call. 

We said goodbye after she had already said hello to the person on the other line. I walked home happy and thinking of what had just happened, even with the phone interrupting it. There was a moment to help connect with another person, to speak of prayer and faith (I mentioned earlier in the conversation that sometimes all we can do is pray).

 Just an hour ago, I received an email from her asking me to pray for her friends four year old daughter that had a seizure Sunday night. Maybe that is who the phone call was from. And now I am trusted by her to help pray with her when earlier religion was hard enough to bring up (after three years of knowing her I found out finally a few months ago that she was Coptic). 

My point with this point is to point out the simpleness of the spirit in life. When we take the time to follow a little prompting, even though circumstances may make it uncomfortable or something stopping a spiritual or gospel learning experience, we still can rejoice for what we have felt and that we followed through with what we wanted. 

Can We Really Make A Difference?

What difference can I make? What difference can you make? Well, I guess that all begins with what and why you are trying to make a difference in. For me I am constantly thinking of what I can do for the Middle East and trying to make a difference sure seems impossible. Sometimes it is so incredibly frustrating that I think why do I even think I can do anything. But then I had my first day of class in Political Science of the Middle East class with Professor Donna Lee Bowen. She started off in her dignified way that she does, probably 5' 2'' in mid 50's and striking confidence, saying,

"Today in the Middle East there is great turmoil all over the place. And after 9/11 I thought what can I do to help my students and the people of the Middle East? I realized there was nothing I could do more than pray. So I'd like to start class with prayer and do the thing I know that works."

It hit right then that I may be just one individual but I pray for that peace. Professor Bowen prayed for our enemies, our loved ones, for understanding of each other, for peace, for protection, and for our service men and women. The next class session, she asked me to pray and then asked me to make sure I included the servicemen and women in the Middle East and their families.

Here is a extremely well educated woman in the politics of the Middle East and she says the only thing she can really do to help solve the problems in the Middle East is through prayer struck me hard. She spoke of peace being possible over there. She spoke of the great calamities that can be overcome and I took from that class period that I have forgotten the possibility through faith and prayer.

I had a dream the other night I was Lawrence of Arabia, a British soldier that helped gained unity with the Arab tribes to help form tribes. He did a great work to help the current problems at the time. But I don't know if I will ever be in situation to help them like he did. So why not pray when you want to make a difference in this world?