I have the most wonderful story to share.  It was told today in Relief Society by the sister teaching the class.  It touched my heart!  It confirms that Heavenly Father directs and guides us IF we will listen.

A senior couple decided that they would like to go on a mission and so they submitted their papers.  When the call came they were shocked and saddened to see that it was a call to Siberia.  They did not want to go because of the cold and other health concerns.  They turned the call down.  They waited one year, as required, and submitted papers again.  They looked forward to serving, but when the call came a second time, it was again to Siberia.  It was hard to believe that this would happen a second time.  Again, they turned the call down for the same reasons.  Another year passed and they submitted papers for a third time.  The couple waited and prayed.  The call arrived and again it was to Siberia.  At this point, they decided that they needed to go and do as the Lord would have them do.

The church has a program of providing blankets and other items to prisons in some countries.  This couple was called to minister in this way.  One day as the sister was trying to speak with a prison guard she became so frustrated at the communication problems that she said out loud, "Doesn't anyone around here speak English?"  From a cell down the corridor a voice said, "I do."  The sister heard the voice and went to the cell to talk with the man only to find that it was her own son who had vanished while travelling some 3 years earlier.  He had lost his papers and had been picked up by the police and could not prove who he was, so they threw him in prison.

The missionaries were able to prove who their son was.  He was released from prison and went back to the U.S.  The Elder and Sister had learned a profound lesson and determined that they would stay and complete their mission.

Are we listening?  In our fast paced world with so many things to keep us busy and so much technology to distract us, are we taking quiet time to reflect, ponder and listen?  I hope that this story will remind each of us to do just that!