In the right place, at the right time...

A week ago today we were in fabulous Maui. We had an amazing time and I, of course, took tons of pictures and I have some entertaining stories to tell...but first I wanted to share this experience. It turned out to be one of the highlights of our trip and certainly one of the highlights of my life.

The last time Aric and I went to Maui we didn't go to church because we didn't know where the church was until it was too late. So this trip we made sure we had all the info we needed to get there. The meetings were supposed to start at 9am. We got a cab and pulled into the parking lot at 8:50am. For those of you who know us well, I'm sure you are shocked that we were so early...anyway we pulled into an empty parking lot. It seemed strange and our cab driver was hesitant to leave us. Aric saw a sign taped to the front door of the building so he went to check it out. While he did that another car pulled up. There were two sweet little grannies in it. The sign said that it was stake conference and the meeting started at 8am at a building that was far away. While we discussed what to do with the two older sisters, two other cars pulled up. We sent our cab away because we  had already figured out a ride back to the hotel.
By 9:05 we had over twenty people there. It was decided that we would have a testimony meeting. We opened the meeting with a song and a prayer. We all sat on the patio of the chapel over looking the ocean. For an hour and a half we bore testimonies of Christ and his gospel. Stories and scriptures were shared. The spirit was indescribably strong. I will never forget it.
One brother mentioned the scripture  Matthew 18:20 "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them."
I know Heavenly Father blessed us with his spirit as we testified to each other of Him and His Son Jesus Christ.  As we sang, prayed and cried together we felt a closeness that only the spirit of Christ can provide. Each of us could have chosen to play instead of worship that day. We came from all across the country to vacation and yet we all knew that there is no vacation from the Sabbath.
We came from Arizona, Utah, Indiana, Washington, California and Oregon. For an hour and a half we were a temporary ward, we had Young Women and Young Men, Primary and Relief Society. Most importantly, we had the priesthood to preside and that was all we needed.
We closed our meeting the same way we began, but now we felt truly like brothers and sisters. We started out as strangers in a church parking lot, and left as brothers and sisters bound together by the thread of the gospel.
After the prayer I grabbed my camera, which I conveniently had in my purse and took a picture of our congregation of 43 strong.

 

I am so grateful for that experience. I feel the spirit all over again just writing about it. I know that we were blessed to be at the right place at the right time.

*****

To my temporary ward...thank you for sharing your testimonies with me and Aric. Our testimonies were strengthened by you and we are better people for having met you all. We will treasure our time with you forever...xoxo