Earlier this week as I was gloriously slaving away in the garden with mom I received a phone call from a girl in the ward. She asked me if I was planning on attending FHE the following monday, I replied "yes, of course" and she said "good, you will be giving the spiritual thought" and at that point I had no choise but to accept. I have given a millin spiritual thoughts in my time, but the thought of doing it in front of hundreds of people in a singles ward is a bit nerve racking. Nonetheless I have had that on my mind ever since wondering what I should share with the ward. I really wanted to share something that would mean something to them, not just a nother spiritual thought to keep in the back of your mind but one that would effect them and they would change because of it. Recently I was sitting in my room and I spotted my little red "lie book" from across the room. Now, let me explain exactly what this little lie book is. It is basically a year book for my mission. Everytime I transferred I would have missionaries and members and investigators that I had grown close to sign this book. There are jokes, pictures, and some serious stuff as well. It is one of my most valued posessions because it has so many memories and so many wonderful times associated with it. As I glanced through it I saw one in particular that I had not read in a while and I had somewhat forgotten about it. It was from a man named Piotr( the man in the above image getting baptized) and was titled "Nasze Spotkanie" translation, "our meeting." When I was a young missionary in my second transfer in Poland I was with an elder by the name of Elder Keister, who was also very young. Together we spoke enough polish to get the job done half decent and even managed tog et a few people taught. One day as we walked down the dirty streets of sosnowiec, we contacted a man (piotr) and he was a young man probably 24 or 25 and was athletic looking. He was coming from the park where he had been playing basketball, so we had an instant connection. He was very interested in talking to us and rather than meeting later he wanted to meet right then. Of course we were not opposed to this,so we walked a short distance and sat down. My first sign should have been where he took us to sit, it was an outdoor cathedral where they do mass a few times a day. There was no mass at the moment but there were a few peoplein the seats praying. We began teaching him and answering his questions, very typical. He quickly showed us just how devout he was to the catholic church. He would stop us mid-sentence and begin praying and shouting to mary or some other catholic saint. He even got on his knees out of nowhere and began praying to mary after hearing a bell go off, apparently she was there with us. He was very stubbarn in his ways and beliefs and was very happy with his life. We finished our meeting with testimony and we parted ways. We never saw him again, afterall the meeting had not gone well at all in my opinion. I was transferred to a new city a few months later as well as Elder Keister. Exactly a year and a half later I was transferred to a city named Katowice, which is 20 minutes from sosnowiec. I was to end my mission in this city. I spent 4 awesome months there in the same branch I had first been in when I got to poland. It was wonderful! On my second to last sunday in poland, I was in sacrament meeting waiting for it to begin when I saw Elder Buras walk in with a man and sit down. I faintly recongnized the man but did not think anything of it. After sacrament meeting I got up to greet everyone and walked over to the door and as I walked past Elder Buras, the man he was with grabbed my arm and said "Taylor! How are you??" and it took me about 3 seconds to remember who this man was, it was Piotr! It was a great reunion, we hugged and talked and got caught up and then I asked him the golden question, "what are you doing here?" and he then told me his story. After our meeting he had continued living his life as he had always lived it. He had always remembered our meeting, but nothing more than that. Things in his life began to spiral downwards and he was really being tried. He went to the only place that he knew of, his church. The preist was rude to him and had no answers that helped Piotr fell comfort. He felt let down by the only thing he had been dedicated to his whole life. He began to question the catholic church and eventually stopped attending. One day he knelt in prayer and asked his Father in Heaven to help him find the truth, to lead him to something or someone who could comfort him and help him find peace. As he left his apartment he walked out onto the street and began walking. He soon saw those familiar white shirts in the town square, with a white board talking with everyone. They saw him and asked him if he wanted to come write his name on teh board, so he did. He then stood there and talked with them and got set up to meet with them later that week. He met with the missionaries for a short period of time and he felt the spirit testify to his heart that this was an answer to his prayer, this was where his peace was to be found. When I saw him at church that day, I knew i recognized him but he looked different. He had the light, the light that only comes from this gospel. I knew immediately when I looked into his eyes that he was the same Piotr, but he was so different on the inside. He was going to be baptized a few days after I left poland for home. He asked me to perform the baptism, I would have stayed an extra year in Poland to perform that baptism if they wouuld have let me. Is it more rewarding to plant the seed, or to reep it? I have always thought that it was more rewarding to reep it, and see the success and blessings. After that, I am a firm believer that it is equally important and rewarding to plant the seeds as it is to reep them. I was lucky, I got to plant the seed and then watch the seed be reeped. I wonder if I have planted any seeds since returning home from my mission. Have I done any good for anyone? Has my influence, pressence, example or words effected anyone as much as they did Piotr? I hope that I never take for granted this Gospel. What a priceless pearl we have. If I had to search my whole life to find this gospel, and then go through the hardships associated with conversion, would I love it any more than I do now? I know that this is the message I want to share with the ward tomorrow. I am so grateful that the Lord can teach the teacher and the students at the same time. I know the Lord can and will lead us to these little tender mercies if we will but listen and obey. I know the power of writing these kind of experiences down. I have read that story and his testimony a dozen times and it teaches me and humbles me each and every time. What a life changing lesson would have been lost had I not written it down. I will not take the Gospel of Jesus Christ for granted. I want so badly to treat the gospel in my life as new converts do, with such reverrence. The way they cradle the Book of Mormon in their arms when they walk, as if it is a fragile vase, the way they carry the Book of Mormon with them everywhere they go, the way they are giddy like a little child just from being in the chapel. This is what the Lord had in mind when he commanded us all to be as a little child. I think that a shorter version of that will be a wonderful spiritual thought tomorrow. Ya gotta love FHE right?!?!
