Croatian Angel

Last night I went to the temple.

It was only to sit outside, I didn't have the time to go inside. But as I sat there, a man called out to me. He had a heavy accent, it sounded Eastern European. He said, "You are member? You go inside?"

I replied that I did go inside, but not tonight. A conversation ensued in which I tried to explain in simple English terms what we did inside the temple- that is, make higher promises than just baptism with God. I explained that marriage is the highest promise.

We began talking about where all of this came from, why people do it. I talked about the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith and how he found and translated the plates that testify of Jesus Christ. The main looked at me and said, "What do you get out of the book? Why do you like it?"

All I could say, as tears sprang to my eyes, was, "The love of God."

He began to cry with me, in that moment, as we sat and stared at the beautiful San Diego Temple.

"That he never leaves you, and that you can trust that He knows what he's doing," through tears again.

"Stop. Just sit, in this moment," said my friend, "You have pain in your life?"

"Yes," I could hardly get the word out.

"Just sit, and cry. That is okay. I can see it, when you say this to me," his eyes, still covered in tears, seemed to search my face further.

We sat, and both cried, and then this strange Croatian man looked at me, pointed at the temple, and said, "If you weren't Baptist, I would hug you now."

"You can hug me," I responded, as I said it wondering what my father would think that I was saying this to a random, 45 year old man from a different country whom I had met 10 minutes earlier and whom I knew nothing about.

He scooted over and held me as I cried. It was one of the oddest experiences of my life, and as he did it, he said, "Here. From the heart, this hug. You cry. Get it out. Cry as much as you need."

I cried. A lot. And then he stopped, let go, and said, "Trust me that everything is in its place. Just like this building, so beautiful and perfect, everything is perfectly in its place and God knows what He is doing. Know, my friend, that if you had nothing before, you lost nothing. But if you had something, all it takes is patience for it to come back to you. What you need to do is learn to wait for God to bring what you need to you. It is best school, for you to learn patience."

Patience. I can learn to wait for God to bring to me what I need, whether that be old or new, but I can trust Him to bring it to me.