Door Number 101

On Saturday, as we were leaving the apartment, Elder Bushman looked at me and asked, "how many doors do you think we can knock today?" Counting door knocks was something we'd never done before. I considered that we had about 5 planned lessons to teach, and told him maybe 30 or 40 doors. He said that he wanted to go crazy, so we decided to knock 50 doors (later we learned that 50 doors is about two hours worth of knocking doors). When we got to companionship study, we began with a prayer, and Elder Bushman, being a little sleepy, asked God to help us knock 100 doors. That's when we decided we might just go for it. Anyway, we challenged the zone to go door-knocking crazy with us, with a little deal that whoever knocked the least amount of doors would make everyone breakfast on P-day. 

Anyway, we knocked and knocked and knocked that day. It was sunny, 102°F and humid, but really not too miserable. We had to get to our last lesson at 8:30 and it was about 8:00 when we had 87 doors knocked. So we were literally running from door to door trying to get that 100 number. Through it all we had found just 5 people that were interested, and just 1 maybe 2 that we felt could progress. It was 8:34 when we hit that door number 100 (so we're already a little late to the lesson) and Elder Bushman and I just looked at each other, and in unison, said, "We've got to get one more." So we did. Door number 101 made all the other doors worth it. Inside was a young family: mother, father, and a 3-year-old boy. The mother explained at the door that they don't go to a church because her husband doesn't speak any English, and the Spanish church down the street doesn't have a nursery for kids. We quickly switched to Spanish mode, and impressed her with our skill set. Her husband came running to the door to see if it was really possible that two Americans could speak such good Spanish, and if there really existed a church that was run in both Spanish and English and had a nursery for kids. They invited us to come back and share our message with them.

Thus sayeth the Lord: "for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith." (Ether 12:6) Miracles are often times seen after great sacrifice is made. I believe that in God's perfect planning, of course it's always going to be the last door, the end of the night, after we've been tempted to give up and we still push through, that we can see the greatest miracles. I encourage you all to keep on going throughout all of the hard times in your lives, past the point of wanting to quit, until you can rest in the mercies of Him who is always in control.

Love,
Elder Stephen Watts