Sharing the Gospel...on airplanes :)

Hello everyone! :)

I think I finally figured out why President Uchtdorf always talks about airplanes at Conference. It`s not that he`s one of the most famous and acknowledged pilots in German history, but that airplanes are just a great place to do Missionary work. Think about it: You`re stuck for a few hours with often complete strangers and the odds are really against them running away from you. Ever since Elder Corbridge shared that in a devotional, I`ve always prayed before stepping on an airplane that I would have an opportunity to share my testimony with someone around me. Needless to say, the Lord really worked miracles for me every single time! :)

As some of you may know, I traveled a lot this summer in order to visit my family in Germany, and my flights there (Salt Lake-Chicago-Duesseldorf, and back the other way around yesterday) were my test run for airplane prayers for Missionary opportunities. Here`s the play-by-play analysis:

When I sat down on my flight to Chicago back in late April, a young Hispanic lady of about my age sat down next to me. I was really excited! She looked really nice and we soon started talking. Within just a few moments though, I had figured out that she went to BYU and that her and two other girls were on their way to Lithuania to teach English for the summer (Emma and Alex, both of whom I count to the most dear readers of my blog...this is a shout out to you! :) ). All three of them were members so it seemed like there was not much to do about sharing the Gospel. However, I am just so glad for the wonderful friendship we were able to start on that flight! So I assume it was totally worth it :) I just feel like we`re inspiring each other so much these days. AND...Sister Watts is going to the Russia Vladivostok Mission in October and who knows, maybe I`ll join her (that would be cool by the way! :) ).

On to the second flight that day, and that`s where the first real Missionary miracle happened. I got to sit next to a lady from Cologne who had moved to Chicago with her husband, and now she was traveling home to see her family (kinda like me...except for the marriage part haha ;) ). So, as we were talking about where we came from and what we were doing in America, I mentioned that I live in Utah. So, she was asking about Mormons and whether they were really as weird and crazy as everyone was telling her in Illinois. Lesson right here: Answer the question that should have been asked! So, I told her that I was actually LDS myself, and that I absolutely loved it. She was surprised to say the least! But then she asked a lot more questions. Turns out, she had actually almost been to Church once but didn`t want to stay for three hours, so only her sister went. Anyways, I told her that our main service, the Sacrament Meeting, is only a little over an hour and that the rest of the three hours are two classes in which we talk about how to become more Christlike and learn about the scriptures. I also told her that we sing three to four hymns during Sacrament Meeting as a congregation after she said that she really likes church music. I invited her to check out a Sacrament Meeting when she`s back in America and she said that she would. :) I have no idea if she actually did but I shared the lds.org maps tool with her and she promised to use it. Ya know...it`s all about planting seeds :) I might never know if something grew out of this one but I opened my mouth and great things happened! :)

After a lot more Missionary work done while home in Germany, my flight back came around yesterday. So...another chance right here, and it worked out pretty great! :)

I sat next to a man from Ohio who was on his way home after a vacation in Switzerland. Again, we talked about where we came from and after I said that I go to school in Utah, he asked me if I went to BYU. I told him no, but that I had plans to transfer there soon after getting my Associates Degree at Weber State. He asked if I was Mormon and I said yes! :) But unfortunately we didn`t carry on the conversation for about another three hours or so. However, all of a sudden when Chicago came closer and after we both had taken a little nap, he asked me if all of my family was Mormon. Well, since I`m a convert and the only member in my family, I said so. And he asked for my conversion story, which I just felt inspired to share with him. As I said in an earlier post, I try not to throw it around the room all the time because it`s really just very personal, sacred and precious to me. But in this moment it just felt right! :) I could see he was moved. After I shared the experiences I`ve had with the Book of Mormon and how it contributed to my conversion, he asked if I had ever read the Bible (I`ve read it all the way through :) ). He was surprised I did not find the Book of Mormon troubling considering what`s written in the Bible. I just bore a really powerful testimony about how the Book of Mormon and the Bible testify of exactly the same things: Jesus is the Christ and the Son of God! He lives! He is the Savior of the world and through faith in Him, we can be saved and washed clean from all our sins! And that this is really the message of both books, and that this second witness is just another tool of God to bring people home to Him :) He said that he was super surprised that we actually believed that and he said that as a non-denominational Christian he believes in the same things! And he said that this second witness function of the Book of Mormon actually makes a lot of sense as long as it doesn`t contradict the teachings of the Bible (which it doesn`t). He still said that he was happy with what he believed in but promised that *if* Missionaries knock on his door someday, he will definitely listen now! So...I hope someone in the Ohio Cleveland Mission is reading this and is living up to it! Especially since he said he wouldn`t give me his name or address so he knows that when the Missionaries still come to his house, it will be inspired.

On my way to Salt Lake, both me and my neighbor slept pretty much the whole time haha :) But I`m not sure if we wouldn`t have felt too tired to talk much anyways.

It`s also just fascinating how I have never made the first step in any of those conversations. We just say hi to each other and all of a sudden we`re ALWAYS down to talking about faith. :) Now...where would that be happening, hadn`t all these people been sent to me by divine inspiration and hadn`t they been prepared to receive me? :)

I just KNOW with all certainty that the principles I just testified of are true! They work :) Go and try it! Read the Book of Mormon. Come to Church. Ask Heavenly Father in prayer if this is what you should be doing, and He will answer that it is! What a loving Heavenly Father we have who is so willing to share with us - Showing us how we should share His message with everyone we meet! :) I have to get much better at this but I`m learning :)

Love you guys! :D

-- Pascal