A Broken Oven Miracle!

Hi all!

Boy what a week, and quite the busy weekend!

So, first off: Happy New Year!! I hope everyone's 2019 will be amazing! Make it amazing!

So Monday and Tuesday were non-proselyting days. We didn't have any appointments at that time so Elder Evensen and I went to the chapel and had an ultimate ping pong-off! To save myself from embarrassment I won't share the results. On Tuesday evening we received our transfer calls, and..... Elder Evensen got moved to Moreton  While I was saddened that he was leaving, transfers always bring in new experiences and new lessons to be learned.

My new companion, Elder Heaton, is from Draper Utah. We've hit the ground running and feel like we'll see miracles this transfer. Which brings us to the title...

Several weeks ago I mentioned, as Elder Rice and I were being whitewashed out of Telford, that we were given high pressure from our mission leadership to make the flat "sister worthy". In an attempt to please President McReynolds and the incoming sisters, we went to work. We cleaned as deeply, thoroughly and completely as possible. This lead us to clean everything, including the internal glass of our oven. 

The oven deep clean involved us taking the glass off, cleaning it, and putting the glass back. Unfortunately, as we were putting the glass back on, I turned the screw a quarter-turn too far and utterly shattered the outside glass.

I saw this event as a complete failure.

Now, I've already shared this story before. Why do reiterate it? Well, I recently learned just how God can take our failures and turn them around to a success. At our new-member fireside yesterday, President McReynolds shared the rest of the story:

The sisters moved into the flat, and despite our great efforts to clean and ready the flat, the oven was still broken. However, being the determined sisters that they are, they didn't let this set back keep them from the baking they intended to do. After loading up all the needed ingredients, these sisters walked to the chapel to use the oven there. 

Now, despite the double check by the sisters that they had all the necessary ingredients they soon discovered that they forgot the eggs!

They knew of a member nearby, Sian, of whom they could call and borrow some eggs off of. (Side note: knowing Sian, she would do anything to help the missionaries!) They pulled out the phone, searched up "Sian" and called her up. Sian soon answered the phone, however... it was the wrong Sian! Of the two Sian's in the phone, they mistakenly called the wrong one! This Sian wasn't even a member of the church.

Through the next conversation, Sian agreed to let the missionaries come meet with her. From this, Sian quickly found a testimony of her own and was baptised this last December!

Now, President McReynolds added this: while you can look at these series of events you could pass them off as a long string of coincidences. From the elders breaking the oven glass, to the sisters forgetting the eggs, even though they double-checked that they had them, and also calling the wrong "Sian", you could pass them off as coincidences, but I choose to see them as miracles.

I was completely dumbfounded when I heard the result of our "mistake", but I know that the Lord has a greater plan before us. He is the great orchestrator of our lives. But while playing this great eternal role He has given us our agency to act and decide for ourselves.

I am grateful to be in the Lord's orchestra and add to the great chorus.

I hope you all have a wonderful week! Love you all! 

Elder Burns
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England Manchester Mission
Springwood, Suite G5
Booths Park
Chelford Road
Knutsford
England WA16 8GS
United Kingdom