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| Elder mansaray and I were back together for one day |
One
question that get asked by missionaries is, how can I tell if the
spirit is leading me or if it is just my own thoughts. Every missionary
has thought that at one point or another. I have pondered a lot this
week about that and this my thoughts. Elder Bednar basically says,
don’t worry about it, if you are living the commandments and keeping
your covenants, you will be led by the Holy Ghost. Elder Bednar then
told of an experience he had when he was a missionary during the 70’s in
Germany. One day he and his companion were asked to help Elder Boyd K.
Packer and his wife while they traveling by assignment across Germany.
While putting them on a train he felt impressed to give Elder Packer a
20 Pound Mark. Elder Bednar thought nothing of this, and even forgot
about the event until many years later when he learned that what he was
doing was following a prompting. Elder Packer’s account shared on March
12, 2002 at a BUY-I devotional. I would like to share it with you so
here is an excerpt from that talk:“After
we had finished setting apart and completing that organization in
Germany, we were assigned to go to Berlin to a stake conference. We
needed to get from Berchtesgaden high in the Alps down to Munich to the
airport.Captain
Bernie Fisher, a member of the Church who was a Congressional Medal of
Honor winner in the Vietnam War, drove us down. He was stationed there.
He drove us, my wife and myself and his family, down to Munich.When
we got to Munich it was foggy, and we got lost. We could not find the
airport. We could not find anyone who spoke English. Finally, there was a
policeman. Brother Fisher's boy, who I think was about a third grader,
had learned enough German to ask him where the airport was. So the
scripture was fulfilled that a little child should lead them.We got to the airport in ample time for our plane, which as I recall left at about 10:00 in
the morning, but it was fogged in. We sat there listening to the
announcements for nearly 12 hours. They kept saying they thought the fog
would clear. It did not clear.That night near 10:00,
two missionary elders came to the airport. We knew then that the planes
would not fly. They told us there was a train leaving Munich for Berlin at midnight.
They took us to the mission home. My wife rummaged through the kitchen,
found some canned soup, and made us a quick supper. The elders took us
to the train station, bought our tickets, and saw us aboard the train
which would take from about midnight until about 10:00 the next morning to arrive in Berlin.As
the train was pulling out, one young elder said, "Do you have any
German money?" I shook my head, no. He said, "You better have some,"
and, running alongside, pulled from his pocket a twenty-mark note. He
handed that to me.At
that time the Iron Curtain was very "iron." The train stopped at Hof on
the border between West Germany and East Germany, and they changed
crews. All of the West German crew members got off the train, and the
East German Communist crew got on the train. Then it set out across East
Germany toward Berlin.They
had just begun to issue five-year passports. I had a new passport--a
five-year passport. We went to have my wife's passport renewed. They
sent it back saying that the three-year passports were honored as a
five-year passport, that she still had more than two years left on her
passport.About two o'clock in
the morning, a conductor, a military-type soldier, came and asked for
our tickets, and then, noting that we were not German, he asked for our
passports. I always hate to give up my passport. I do not like to give
up my passport, especially in unfriendly places. But he took them. I
almost never dislike anybody, but I made an exception for him! He was a
surly, burly, ugly man.We
spoke no German. In the car, the compartment, there were six of us--my
wife and a German sitting to the side of her and then almost knee to
knee in a bench facing us were three other Germans. We had all been
conversing a little. When he came in, all was silent.The conversation took place, and I knew what he was saying. He was denying her passport. He said, "Drei Jahren!"And I said, "Five Jarhen!"He
went away and came back two or three times. Finally, not knowing what
to do, I had a bit of inspiration and produced that twenty-mark note. He
looked at it, he took the note, and handed us our passports.The
next morning when we arrived in Berlin, a member of the Church, who was
the head of the Central Intelligence Agency for the United States in
Berlin, met us at the train. I rather lightly told him of our
experience. He was very sober, very suddenly. I said, "What's the
matter?"He
said, "I don't know how to explain your getting here. East Germany
right now is the one country in the world that refuses to honor the
three-year passport. To them, your wife's passport was not valid."I said, "Well, what could they have done?"He answered, "Put you off the train."I said, "They wouldn't put us off the train, would they?"He said, "Not us, her!"I could see myself having someone try to put my wife off the train at about two o'clock in the morning somewhere in East Germany. I am not sure I would know what to do. I am glad that passed.I
did not learn until afterwards how dangerous it was and what the
circumstances were, particularly for my wife. I care a good deal more
about her than I do for me. That intelligence officer convinced us that
we had been in very serious danger. Those whose passports they would not
accept were arrested and detained.All
of this comes to this point: the elder who handed me the twenty-mark
note was David A. Bednar, a young elder serving in the then-South German
Mission, who sits here on the stand as president of BYU-Idaho.So,
why was it that this young elder from San Leandro, California, handed
me the twenty-mark note? If you understand that and understand what life
is about, you will understand really all you need to know about life as
members of the Church. You will understand how our lives are really not
our own. They are governed--if we will and if we live as we should
live--then we will be taken care of.I
do not think he knew the consequences of what he was doing. That
twenty-mark note was worth six dollars, and six dollars to an elder is
quite a bit! Perhaps he hoped to get it back from the mission president.
But at any rate, it happened.As you go through life, you will find that these things happen when you are living as you ought to live.”
I
love this story because it just show to me how powerful your thoughts
can be and that is truly how God gives us revelation. If you ever find
yourself asking, “is that my thought or is that the spirit, please
assume that you are being guided by the spirit.” “Verily
I say unto you, lift up your voices unto this people; speak the
thoughts that I shall put into your hearts, and you shall not be
confounded before men; For it shall be given you in the very hour, yea,
in the very moment, what ye shall say.” (D&C 100:5-6).
I
can say with confidence that if you continue to keep the commandments
and live your covenants you have the right to be led by the spirit. I
pray that everyone will learn this principal and act. You will find
yourself being lead more and more by the spirit because God will trust
you to act. #justdoit
Elder Winterbottom & Elder Fowles
Serving in Killeen
The Lord's Vineyard
Happy birthday mom!!!!!
Sorry I didn't get you anything. I'm trying to get things situated
here. When I get back home I will make sure we do something for your
birthday.
Is there anything you want me to bring home? I'm going to start
packing this week that way next week is so stressful. Start making a
lair cause I think of leaving stuff behind that I don't need.
