Why God Gives Us Flat Tires and the Rest of the Story

Elder Young and I went to Juana Diaz on Monday to look at opening a new apartment for the Elders. The Elders who serve there had found one and it had been a two month process to find one. For some reason, no one rents in that city.

Well, we were almost to the place when I heard a "pop" and we discovered we had a flat tire! It was a little surprising because the tires were practically new and Elder Young had just had them rotated. Hum??

Well, the good news was that we were close and we met the "dueno". Their place was a great place for missionaries! We set up making the contract and told them that we would be back on Friday. However, the man wanted to help us with our flat tire.

We drive a white Tacoma and the spare tire was very difficult to get off the truck... so the man and Kyle ended up taking the flat tire to a shop. His wife and I waited across the street at a little park. It gave us about 45 minutes to talk. She used to be Catholic, but now she is going to the Evangelist Church with her husband. Well, she had lots of questions about the Mormons and I was definitely helped by God to be able to explain several things to her, many things in which I had never explained in Spanish before. One concept was the unnecessary baptism of infants and little children and I showed her Moroni 8:

12 But little ^achildren are alive in Christ, even from the foundation of the world; if not so, God is a partial God, and also a changeable God, and a ^brespecter to persons; for how many little children have died without baptism!

 13 Wherefore, if little children could not be saved without baptism, these must have gone to an endless hell.

 14 Behold I say unto you, that he that supposeth that little children need baptism is in the gall of bitterness and in the bonds of iniquity; for he hath neither ^afaith, hope, nor charity; wherefore, should he be cut off while in the thought, he must go down to hell.

 15 For awful is the wickedness to suppose that God saveth one child because of baptism, and the other must perish because he hath no baptism.

 16 Wo be unto them that shall pervert the ways of the Lord after this manner, for they shall perish except they repent. Behold, I speak with boldness, having ^aauthority from God; and I fear not what man can do; for ^bperfect ^clove ^dcasteth out all fear.

 17 And I am filled with ^acharity, which is everlasting love; wherefore, all children are alike unto me; wherefore, I love little children with a perfect love; and they are all alike and ^bpartakersof salvation.

 18 For I know that God is not a partial God, neither a changeable being; but he is ^aunchangeable from ^ball eternity to all eternity.

 19 Little ^achildren cannot repent; wherefore, it is awful wickedness to deny the pure mercies of God unto them, for they are all alive in him because of his ^bmercy.

So I truly believe in my heart that this "flat tire" experience was meant to be. Otherwise, we would have never had that long conversation. I am amazed how God orchestrates his work here upon the earth.

And now to give you the rest of the story... with the Dones Family. The Dones family are the ones who had our wedding invitation in their house. One of the missionaries serving here had seen the announcement  at their house and recognized us! He took a picture of it and showed it to us when we came to visit in Caguas. You can imagine how surprised we were when we saw it!

Well, the Dones family invited us over for a Family Home Evening on Monday night. We met the missionaries at their apartment so they could take us over to the house. Sure enough... The minute Kyle saw them, all the memories came flooding back and he was so emotional to be reunited with them again. It had been 30 years! In 1983, they had been freshly baptized when "Elder Young" was transferred to that area and so he had taught them the new member lessons.

God works in special ways to bring people back together. We had a special evening with them and enjoyed feasting upon the spirit. They are a beautiful family!

I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for giving us such precious experiences on the mission. It is more than rewarding, it is life changing! The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saint is true!