Who Knew?

A year ago I was in a place called Henrietta, New York serving as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. While I was serving there I was teaching a family of three. I loved teaching them because I felt so comfortable with them. While I was in their area they didn't just get baptized. It took time, while we were teaching them, I would pray for them constantly to come to know the truth for themselves. Over and over again I got the answer, "In time they will, and you will see it." For a long time I was angry because I am a "right now" kind of person.

I ended my mission early because I was sick. I was worried about this family, and what would happen. In January, I received a call from a wonderful young woman, exclaiming that she was going to be baptized... I had never been so happy. Following in her example, later her parents were married and baptized in May!

This summer, I had the opportunity to have this beautiful daughter of God at EFY. Who knew that I would get to work with her again? It was life changing to see what creating a relationship with her Heavenly Father did for her. While I was teaching about the Book of Mormon, I had Sammie share her testimony with the other participants. It was a moment in time I will never forget. A girl so young and new to the church was able to strengthen the testimonies of many.it is amazing what the Lord can do when we are patient. Sammie is an example; she is a daughter of God.

©lare Vaterlaus 2012

Willing To Change

Last week, I was had the opportunity to meet an amazing girl. She was the first participant that I had met that week. At EFY the standards that the participants are asked to follow are set at a higher bar so that they can feel the spirit more. When I met Sammie she had a pink strip of hair that did not fall under the guidelines... I had to ask her to dye it. She had come all alone but she handled it like a champ. Before I asked her to dye it I said a silent prayer and asked Heavenly Father to help me find the easiest way to help Sammie. As I talked to her, you could see that this was a hard thing for her. The only option we had was to dye her hair. As you can see, she has gorgeous hair and did not want to change it. As I watched her make the hard decision, you could see all she wanted to do was to choose the right no matter the outcome. As she uttered "Yes I will dye it," a thought came into my head. As silly as it was, it was inspired by God. Since it was just a strip of pink hair, I thought why not just put a hair wrap in. Before presenting the idea to her I had to get it approved. I know that because she was willing to dye her hair, Heavenly Father provided a different option for her. He just needed to see if she would be willing. I am so proud of Sammie and the example she was to the others at EFY. We became great friends. She is a daughter of God, and she’s hot :]

©lare Vaterlaus

2012