The Good Samaritan

Dear Family,

This week has been great, but first off, Happy Birthday Brianne!!! There. I got it out. :)

Let me tell you about a crazy experience I had last Monday. It is kind of long, but it is good! I promise! It was 8:40pm and starting to get dark and we started to bike back to our apartment from the church. There are 2 routes. Usually we go up the large hill and coast down the other side, but we were tired, so we decided to go the round route through a neighborhood instead. It was weird because I noticed that we even went to the opposite side of the street than we normally do.

There, sitting on the grass next to the park fence, was an old man. He was wearing a camouflage shirt and greenish-brownish pants. We wouldn't have seen him if we biked on the other side of the road. We asked him how he was doing. He said, "Not very good." Was asked what was wrong and he said that he can't walk very well because he recently had his is feet operated on. He also said that he was trying to walk back to his home from his friends house, but he got lost and it is starting to get dark. He didn't have is walker, either.

We asked him what is address was and we put it into Elder Scheidell's GPS. It brought up no results. We did find an intersection just down the road a bit that he was talking about. We locked up our bikes and walked with him down to that street. It was slow progress because his feet hurt. We found out that he likes to sing gospel music and he has a good singing voice. When we got to the intersection, he looked around and said that he didn't recognize anything. By now, it was 9:20pm, past our curfew. We called the Zone Leaders and let them know.

We asked him for his home phone number and called it. "This is not a working number," our phone said back. We found a place to sit down and I was thinking, "What are we going to do? We need to go and we can't just leave this man here!" We called every member we knew. Finally, Brother Decker answered and was on the way.

It was around 9:35pm when Brother Decker came around the corner with his truck. We all got in and we drove around the general area until the man recognized his street. He lived in an adult care home and his street address was just one digit off of what he told us earlier. We took him to his house and the care takers were waiting there for him. Sadly, I don't remember his name. Brother Decker drove us back to our apartment. We got back at around 9:48pm.

I believe that Heavenly Father loves His children. He knew that one of his children was in trouble and needed to be brought back home. He directed Elder Scheidell and I on a route and place that we don't normally take so that we would find him. It would have been so easy to just say, "Have a good night" and keep biking on to make it back before curfew, but something kept us there long enough to ask, "What is wrong" and to help out. I know that Heavenly Father works in mysterious ways and I am just grateful that He was able to use us as instruments in his hands.

Don't be afraid to sacrifice for the good of others. I believe that in the story of the Good Samaritan that he was a busy person, too! He had a life like everyone else, but he was willing to stop for the man that needed his help. Heavenly Father wants to bless His children and more often than not, he does it through other people. Be the angel in someone else's life. Show them what it means to be Christ-like. And you will receive many blessings from our Father in Heaven.

Sorry for the extreme length of this letter. I hope you liked it! I love you all!

Love,
Elder Bretton Steiner.

Oh! Also, the Overson family gave us a ride to church in their Ford Model A! It was probably the most comfortable car I have ever been in! It was so much fun!

Another great sunset at Lakota Creek!