We got a call from the Jamestown ward and they told us of a member who is in the VCU hospital and wanted a blessing. They asked US to go and give her a blessing since Jamestown is like 1.5 hours away. I was so humbled.
First off, parking in Richmond is horrendous. I definitely murmured because we had to pay $5 to park in a parking lot that was .75 miles away from the hospital. But after our visit, that $5 was worth every single penny...
For anyone who has been in a hospital before, those things are SUPER confusing and just add COVID on top of it and it made it all the better. They were checking out temperature, we basically were drinking hand sanitizer, and going in random doors hoping it would lead us to our destination. I was worried the nurses were going to mistake our well dress and name tags as the doctors and I would've found myself extracting an appendix from someone in the operating room;)
But in all seriousness, we found our way (after asking too many nurses for directions) and we found this member not very conscious lying on her bed. She has had a lot of trials thrown at her recently and I couldn't help but to be blown away by the opportunity to be the answer to her prayers and the hundreds of prayers being said by family, ward members, and friends. I knew that God was able to send her angels in the form of two 20 year old missionaries. We were able to give her a blessing and then waltz out of the hospital full of the spirit and humbled at the amazing opportunity we were given.
My companion and I have recently been trying to crack the code of how we can help missionaries or even people we are teaching have a greater desire. A desire to learn. To grow. To progress. To be an effective missionary, etc. We decided after reading Ether 12:4 and Moroni 7, that a desire comes from the joy and satisfaction of living the gospel...or in other words after good works. And in order to get to the good works we need a hope in Jesus Christ and we know that hope is strengthened as we have faith in Jesus Christ. Everything comes back to faith. The faith is the root to this tree. Our faith is able to grown when we soften the dirt through humility and meekness. AND things such as Preach My Gospel, studying, prayers, etc are all "the branches and leaves." However, we know, just like trees, that the leaves can provide photosynthesis which in turn strengthens and feeds the trees and allows the roots of Faith in Jesus Christ to grow. This analogy has been an even stronger testimony to me that Faith in Jesus Christ is the basis for everything.
Love you all!
Elder Gardanier
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