Following The Spirit

One of my goals is to become better at following the spirit. What I mean by that is paying attention to little feelings or promptings to do something good. I believe those types of feelings are from God, through the Holy Spirit, to accomplish his purposes.

The first week we arrived in Taiwan we were rushing to our first staff meeting. As we crossed the church property I saw someone by himself looking at a fountain. I had a quiet little thought that I should go talk with him. I started to push it away because it would make us late and because I can't speak Chinese and didn't know what I could do besides say, "Hello." But, I decided following the feeling was more important than my excuses, so I changed direction to meet him. When I came up to him I realized he was American and soon found out that he was meeting with missionaries. We kind of connected. but didn't talk long and I didn't see him again while we were in Taipei.

A week later when we were in Taidong, he suddenly appeared at the church building during a ward party. I was so surprised to see him. He explained he was traveling with friends, had climbed up a nearby mountain (that is what it is called here, but if you are from Utah you'd call it a hill), and he had seen the building with cars around it. He thought it looked like a Mormon church and felt drawn to check it out. He came down, found it, and suddenly we meet again. He and his friends stayed for the ward party and we exchanged contact info. In the picture above I've highlighted the building as he would have seen it from the mountain. Not very obvious, especially if you don't know it even exists.

A few days ago he texted me and said he would be in Taidong again and we arranged to meet. During our discussion he brought up how it was kind of strange how we met those two times. He said some people might call it a "sign" but he couldn't connect that to God or Jesus Christ. I said I wasn't sure whether I'd call it a sign or not, but I explained how I felt I should talk to him that first time even though we were late. I told him I thought it was God letting him know He knew him and giving him opportunities to connect with His church. I feel God was giving both of us little prompts through the spirit.

We ended up having a great discussion today about Jesus Christ and repentance. It helped me appreciate what he has studied and how he views the choices in front of him. I hope it was helpful to him too.

God is aware of us! He loves us! He will prompt and guide us to connect with one another, to help others and to make good choices! I believe it is a skill to learn to recognize and follow those feelings and I pray I can get better at it so I can be a better missionary, husband, father, grandfather, and friend.