Sunday, August 20, 2017

Tender Mercies

From Paul and Jolene Hobson
Teaching in New York, USA

May 27 ~ We had the most wonderful Saturday adventure today!  We went to Cananadaigua to check out the sites that we are in charge of for our group activity.  We decided to go to Simply Crepes for lunch before looking at the sites.  I was guiding Paul on how to get there and told him to turn right on the next street.

For some reason, he missed the turn and turned down the next road instead.  He spotted a woman sitting on a planter box on the side of the street who was just sobbing. We went around the block and stopped to where she was sitting.  I got out and asked if she was OK.  She said she was fine and didn’t need any help.  I saw that she had several bags of groceries all around her.  It was evident that she had been carrying all of these bags by herself and so I asked if I could help her carry them.  She, again, said no, that she was fine, and just lived a little ways away.  I again insisted that she let us help her and she just started crying again and said that she had just stopped and didn’t know what to do.  She said that she was praying to God for help when we stopped.  I told her that Heavenly Father loved her so much that he was answering her prayers by having us stop to help her.

She started opening up to us and said that her 16 year old son had been murdered last year in Rochester, that she was going through a divorce, and had come to live with her daughter who was attending college there.  They didn’t have a car and so she had walked to get their groceries.  I finally talked her into loading her groceries in our truck and letting us take her home.  (She actually lived quite a ways away.)  On the way home, she said that she didn’t have a church family to help her there.

We could tell that she was a religious person.  She had such a wonderful, humble spirit about her.  We told her that we would send someone to invite her to church where they could help her and be her friend.  She said that she would be open to that plan.  Paul gave her a little bit of money and she just kept crying in disbelief.  She said that she couldn’t wait to tell her daughter about God answering her prayer in such a direct way.  We dropped her and her groceries off at her apartment and got her name, number and address and told her that we would keep in touch.

The next day I sent her a message to see if she was feeling better.  I told her of our Heavenly Father’s love for her.  She answered back and was so grateful for the tender mercies of the Lord in her behalf.
tender mercies

 The next day, I called the Rochester Mission Office and asked if they would send the missionaries there.  After a week or so went by, we contacted the missionaries and asked if anything ever came of their visit with her.  Their reply brought us to tears:  “Thank you for the referral.  Danielle is one of the most prepared people we have ever seen.  She is on a baptism date for July, came to scripture study this week and will be at church tomorrow.  We have no doubt that the Lord guided you in finding her that day.”

We know that our Heavenly Father knows each of us, as His children, and that He is always there to answer our sincere prayers.  I talked with her again last night.  She told me how excited she was to learn about the restored gospel.  I told her that we were so happy for her and asked if we could take her to The Sacred Grove.  She was excited to go and so we will be taking her next Saturday.  It will be fun to see her again!