Week 67: Divine Intervention (October 14, 2019)

"Patience means active waiting and enduring. It means staying with something and doing all that we can—working, hoping, and exercising faith; bearing hardship with fortitude, even when the desires of our hearts are delayed. Patience is not simply enduring; it is enduring well!” -Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Has a goal for your life ever been to make it to Butte? We call Butte the armpit of our mission... And yet, our goal was to make it to Butte this week. So I guess that kind of sums up how this week has gone for us. We spent about 4 hours total in our own area this week, and went from the Idaho border to the canadian border all inbetween. I learned a lot of patience, and I am gonna tell you how it made me feel like a grilled cheese sandwich... In a second. 

Another winter storm hit us this week, while we were in Dillon, MT (close to Idaho Falls); where we got a few feet of snow and a severe freeze. We got just above zero in the early hours, and never got above freezing. We had an important meeting the next day back in Helena, and our plan had been to head out that afternoon after the two exchanges we had, had the previous days. Well... Change of plans. While out with some sisters, a member informed us that they were probably going to close the freeway in the next few hours, and that some passes had already been closed. Planning to bring the other sisters with us for our meeting the next day, we panicked and had them all pack up as quickly as they could.... And off we went. Our regular two hour drive back to Helena, turned into a five hour treck on back roads and with white knuckled grips. 

And I said vocally, "As long as we make it to Butte, we will be ok." Probably the only time you will hear me utter those words, so let that sink in. 

We made it, and the next day had our zone conference. The following day, we got an emergency call from the sisters serving up in Shelby, near Lethbridge, CA. So we packed up our things and took off that evening. And then we let the waiting game begin. We spent three days and three nights there, each day thinking we would be heading back to Helena. After a lot of phone calls and meetings, and lots of tears from the companionship, we headed back to our area at six this morning. 

I was trying to sum up my feelings about this week, when I read an article from 2016 about grilled cheese sandwiches. The author of the article talked about how the majority of the time, we impatiently, and often ignorantly, will turn up the heat of the stove when cooking our sandwich thinking it will "be done faster". But of course, when we do not wait patiently on medium heat, we often come out with half melted cheese and burnt toast. We cannot turn the heat on high, and expect to achieve the same result as we would have on a medium heat setting. He went on to say, 

"The Lord has said, “Continue in patience until ye are perfected” (D&C 67:13). He’s talking here about the kind of perfection that goes well beyond making perfect grilled cheese sandwiches; He wants us to become more like Him. Jesus Christ is the foremost example of patience. And part of following His example means enlarging our perspective, looking beyond the things of the moment, and seeing the greater reward that comes from self-discipline, faith, obedience, steady and consistent effort, long-suffering, and love—in other words, having patience."

This week, I realized a lot about how to be patient... In different aspects. And we laughed a lot. Icicles fell on our car, we ran out of clean clothes and food in Shelby, and one of our air mattresses popped. And yet, day in and day out, He provided for us. He enlarged my perspective and helped me see that I needed to wait on medium heat; wait to get to a destination faster than we wanted, and wait for a thought out decision from our leaders. And that we needed to wait, having joy regardless. 

Sometimes God asks us to wait, so that we can learn He's got us - even in the strangest, and longest of days and moments. 

We spent a lot of time ministering and driving, and getting things done. But in the four hours we were blessed to spend in Helena, we had a lesson with a returning member namer John; where we read about the Prophet Joseph Smith. After reading his account of the First Vision, I asked John if he knew that Joseph Smith was a prophet. He looked at me and said, "You know I would say I believed it... But after reading this, I think I know that he is." 

And later in that gap, we got to teach the amazing Sara about temples. And tears were shed. 

These are the moments we live for. 

So sometimes, we have to realize we are trying to cook our grilled cheese on high heat. The author wrote,

"The miracle of medium heat may give you a perfect grilled cheese sandwich, hamburger patties that don’t look like hockey pucks with a pink center, hash browns instead of hash blacks, and rice that’s soft and fluffy instead of hard and chewy. But patience will have its “perfect work” (James 1:4) in your life, helping you press forward to become more like Jesus Christ, bringing the influence of the Holy Spirit, and ultimately helping lead you to eternal life."

The Lord knew we needed to be in Dillon when we were, when that storm hit, so I could drive those siters back to Helena in scary weather conditions; that I would be able to be calm and drive safely. He knew we would need to help bring peace and comfort to the sisters in Shelby for those three days. 

His hand was in it all. 

I hope you can learn to laugh in the slow moments of your weeks. I hope you can learn to enjoy the slow, and work through your own spiritual blizzards. And I hope we can all continue to learn how to "turn down the heat" on our personal ovens. 

And hey, you'll get an amazing sandwich because of it. 

The Savior lives, and He cares about the blizzards, the "important" meetings, our dirty laundry, and all other sticky things inbetween. 

Love you all. 

Sister Walstad