"Meet Cheryl"
Trinidad Port of Spain Mission
December 5, 2017
I was so
glad to be heading back to the airport to head ‘home’ to Curacao. It had been a
week and a half of intense training for my new position as the Trinidad, Port
of Spain Mission Secretary. I had sat in a chair in the Stake Presidents office
nearly a year ago answering his question of, “What do you want to do on your
mission”. I replied, “I don’t know what I want to do, but I do know what I don’t want to do. I don’t want to sit in an office
every day. I’d rather go out and knock on doors!” “Really,” he responded, with a very wide grin
on his face. “Why do you seem so surprised?” I queried. “Well,” he said with the same grin on his
face, “When I ask most people that question, their answer is just the opposite!
The last thing they want to do is knock on doors.”
And here I
am now, preparing to become “THE” Mission Secretary. What I feel at this moment
is despair, so overwhelmed that I can’t even begin to have a nervous breakdown,
because I don’t know where to begin! Sister Stecker, my trustworthy trainer,
bless her heart, reassured me time after time, “Just remember, take it one day
at a time” and my favorite, “No- body died!”
I find myself repeating to the Lord, “I really just wanted to teach the gospel and bring people to thee.” I LOVE sharing the gospel. It is so easy for me. I don’t know why, but it has always been easy for me. I look for opportunities to place myself in positions where I might be able to talk about the gospel with them.
It is the same feeling you have when you get the most wonderful gift you have had, and you are so happy that you want to call your friends and ask them if the want to go for a ride in your new car, or have a taste of that ‘World’s best Lasagna’ recipe you just made and it is the world's best lasagna!
But the best part is watching their face and seeing how happy it makes them too, when you do something nice for them and see that smile on their face. There is no greater joy than to be the barer of joy!
I find myself repeating to the Lord, “I really just wanted to teach the gospel and bring people to thee.” I LOVE sharing the gospel. It is so easy for me. I don’t know why, but it has always been easy for me. I look for opportunities to place myself in positions where I might be able to talk about the gospel with them.
It is the same feeling you have when you get the most wonderful gift you have had, and you are so happy that you want to call your friends and ask them if the want to go for a ride in your new car, or have a taste of that ‘World’s best Lasagna’ recipe you just made and it is the world's best lasagna!
But the best part is watching their face and seeing how happy it makes them too, when you do something nice for them and see that smile on their face. There is no greater joy than to be the barer of joy!
We walked in
the airport and moved to the departure isle and stood visiting with the
Steckers while waiting, when to our left we heard this awful commotion and
yelling. There we could see an airport security employee rummaging through this
very short but large women’s luggage. We could hear her yelling profanities at
him and telling him what a horrible person he is, to be going through her personal
belongings and messing up her things. The whole airport was watching her, us included.
The
airport employee was patiently responding to her, telling her that it is an airport policy to check bags randomly. But this would not be the first time he
would check her bag, because she quickly grabbed her bag as he was finishing,
and drug it back out to the hall at the back of the line and dropped it on the floor,
yelling and shouting as she went, to repack it. When she brought it back up, expecting
him to take it, he explained that he was going to have to recheck it because once
you take your luggage back out of the checking area, it has to be rechecked.
Well that
really started the yelling and screaming. At
that moment Elder Parr leaned over to me and said, “Let’s hope we aren’t
sitting next to her!” We all chuckled, but deep inside me I felt sorry for her.
People that get upset like that, do so, because things aren’t right in their
lives. I began to wonder at that point what her life could be like to cause her
so much hurt and frustration.
It was a full
flight but thank goodness Elder Parr had booked our flight early enough to get
seats close to the front of the plane. As I boarded, I could see that there
were no open seats as far back as I could see, and as I continued to walk toward the
back of the plane it became obvious that we were headed to the next to the last
row and as I grew close enough to see the seats, there were two seats left on
the plane; the center seat and the window seat. But our tickets were for the
center seat and isle seat and sitting in the isle seat was Cheryl, the woman
who had yelled and screamed about her luggage.
I kindly said, I think we have the isle seat and the center
seat. Then she asked me if I would want the window seat. I knew dad didn’t like
the window seats, so I said, we really would prefer to sit in the seats we were
assigned.” And the complaining began, but she moved over to the window seat. I
turned to dad and said I would sit in the middle, as she was quite large, and
he would be so uncomfortable sitting in the middle.
I sat down and could see
that she was having a hard time fitting in the space and noticed that the arm
rest was down and asked her if she would rather have it up to give her a little
more space. She let me lift it and said thank you. I knew then that she couldn’t
be all that bad. She saw my missionary badge and started asking me
questions about it. We quickly became friends and I knew then why we were
sitting where we were. There are no accidents.
Then the flight attendant, trying to please my friend, asked dad and I to move!!! So Cheryl could have an end seat and be more comfortable. “NO!!!” I thought. I am just getting to the good part! And then Cheryl spoke up and said, “NO! I like her! I like what she says!” I leaned back around and told her we were fine and that we were friends. The attendant looked at me in disbelief and asked, “Really?” and I said, “Yes, we are friends and want to stay here.”
Then the flight attendant, trying to please my friend, asked dad and I to move!!! So Cheryl could have an end seat and be more comfortable. “NO!!!” I thought. I am just getting to the good part! And then Cheryl spoke up and said, “NO! I like her! I like what she says!” I leaned back around and told her we were fine and that we were friends. The attendant looked at me in disbelief and asked, “Really?” and I said, “Yes, we are friends and want to stay here.”
And that is
when we began a lengthy discussion about the gospel. She was interested and asked me if I had a Book of Mormon. I didn’t have a Book
of Mormon, so I gave her a pass-a-long card and got her name and phone number,
so the missionaries could contact her. She told me that she would be returning to Trinidad on Thursday, so the missionaries
could call her then.
We ate
breakfast this morning with President and Sister Egbert, and just before we
left the house it occurred to me that they would probably be on the same flight
as Cheryl headed to Trinidad. So, I grabbed a Book of Mormon on our way out the
door, I wrote her a note inside promising her great blessings if she read the
book and pray about it and signed my name, Sister Deborah Parr.
I will never
travel again without a Book of Mormon in my carry on bag! My heart was filled with
JOY! I had such a love for her when we finished talking. I will never forget that
smile on her face as she nodded when I told her truths and she recognized the
truth in them. This gospel is true! It
is the Peace the world is searching for. It is the Lord’s true Church here on
earth and it brings me SUCH JOY that I just can’t help but want to share it.
LOVE you all, NANA