Tonight we had the missionaries over for dinner. Elder Amari used to be a violent drug dealer from the Atlanta projects and was featured in the show, Scared Straight. He spent most of his middle school years in prison. When he got home from prison at the age of sixteen, he opened the door to his home and saw his mother on the couch. When she saw him, she dropped to her knees and prayed out loud for the first time. She prayed that God would send someone or something into his life to change him forever.
She prayed this prayer every day for two months, and one day when Elder Amari was sitting on his couch high on drugs, the missionaries came to his door. He thought they were the FBI and cursed them out. They calmly told him that they had been sent to him from God to “change his life forever.” Elder Amari was baptized weeks later and is now an incredible missionary.
I love his story. Jesus and his gospel have the power to forever change the bleakest life. Elder Amari is on a completely different trajectory now, and his future family will be so blessed.
On another note, I felt incredibly loved today. Out of the blue, UPS rang the doorbell and handed me…tickets to Hamilton. I tried two times to buy tickets and it didn’t work either time. Abe and I know for a fact we have not been charged for tickets, but somehow there must have been a mix up along the way–and now we’re going to Hamilton! Abe’s integrity is piqued so he is currently trying to track down whatever vendor sent us the tickets so we can pay for them.
In the meantime, I am viewing the tickets as a love note from God.
