Gratitude

It's amazing how much we can learn from a person. This past week I had the opportunity to go to Portland, where I served my mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I was able to visit with those that I served and helped come closer to Christ as I was there and after. It was incredible.

The people we work with and surround ourselves with are amazing. My boyfriend's family is also in Portland so we were able to spend the holiday with them. What a great experience it was being there in my mission with some of the people I love.

My gratitude is overflowing after this trip as I have seen and been reminded of the many blessings I have in my life. There is one family in particular that I want to talk about.

This family is wonderful. They've been through many hard struggles in their lives but love the gospel. My companion and I taught them two-and-a-half years ago and the wife was baptized! She overcame her addiction of smoking, started coming to church more, and eventually received a calling after she was baptized. Incredible progress for her! Her husband still struggled with his addiction to smoking and, eventually, she began smoking again. She once again struggled with the same things that had held her back from being baptized before. Soon, the missionaries lost contact.

As I returned to visit Portland, I felt prompted to drop by their house. I had no idea that missionaries were not visiting them anymore but I found out that nobody had been able to get into their house to even say hi. As I knocked on the door, their son answered. He's in his twenties and I had begun teaching him as well when I was there. A moment of excitement and relief overcame me when the door opened.

I was able to talk with their son and with the husband for awhile and found out then that missionaries had not come to visit. These two wonderful people I taught had their CTR rings and were still pushing for the success they wanted: baptism and activity in the Church. Although they are still far from that goal, they are working on it and I am grateful that I had the prompting to stop by. Because of that, I was able to get them reconnected with the missionaries and help them remember the feelings they once had when they met with them.

My gratitude is full and is still filling up because of the miracles and experiences I had just over this past week in Portland.

"The Spirit of gratitude brings true joy and great happiness." -President Dieter F. Uchtdorf