The Prompting

Angela Paulsen

Photo by Isaac Quick on Unsplash

“Come on Elder Phillips,” my companion, Elder Rigby said, slapping me on the shoulder, “We’ve got this.”

“Sure do,” I softly punched him in the shoulder.

We got out of the car and walked towards the apartment complex. It was my last two weeks on the mission and I was determined to knock every door in the city until we found God’s elect. There had to be someone out there who needed to hear our message.

I paused for a moment to look at the daunting building. Five floors. Maybe twenty or more units each. Knocking all these doors would take time, but it wasn’t anything I was unfamiliar with. My companion looked at me and rolled his eyes.

“The longer you hesitate, the longer it’ll take for us to find someone to teach,” Elder Rigby said.

“Sure,” I picked up the pace and walked next to him, “Let’s start on the first floor and make our way up, door by door.”

“Sounds like a plan. Let’s get to it.”

We knocked on the first door and waited. I could hear voices inside and the sound of footsteps got louder. A deep voice came from inside.

“We’re ain’t in’rested in buying nothing,” the masculine voice said.

“We’re not here to sell anything,” my companion said.

“Well, whate’re you’re here for, we ain’t in’rested.”

“What about Jesus?” I tried.

“You fellas Mormons or something or morons? I said we ain’t in’rested.”

“Alright sir, you have a great day,” my companion said.

I’ve been rejected over a thousand times while on the mission, but for some reason, this one just got to me.

“Wait a minute,” I held my hand out, “What if I told you about God’s plan for eternal life?”

Elder Rigby looked at me with a half smile and eager eyes to see how things would play out next.

The man opened the door, stuck his head out and revealed his yellow stained teeth in a nasty snarl.

“Are ya’ll deaf or dumb? There ain’t no God. If there were a God, my wife n’er would’ve died,” He spat out.

“But she’s alive in Christ. Death is not the end.” I pressed.

“If you believe in a God an’ all of this, then why would he take ‘er from me?! No God would cause such pain. She died so young. Now get ou’ of ‘ere,” his eyes pressed like daggers into mine.

Elder Rigby grabbed my arm and tried to pull me back. I should have followed him, but I kept pressing.

“But there is so much joy and peace through Christ! You will see her-” I was cut off.

“Don’t you dare feed me false hope. She’s gone!” He paused for a moment to regain his composure, then continued, “now, leave. Before I call the cops.”

This time, Elder Rigby yanked me back and we walked away.

“Elder Phillips, I know it’s hard to back off when we see the bigger picture. But we need to meet people where they’re at. He’s not ready. Looks like he’s hardened his heart too much,” Elder Rigby said, still holding tight to my arm.

I shrugged off his hand in annoyance and we continued on to the next several units, but nobody answered. I could hear whispers behind a few doors. My guess was that they heard us arguing with the grump of a man and decided it was in their best interest not to hear us out.

By the time we reached the third floor, most everyone was either not home or ignoring us. One person slammed the door on us, but what was really funny was when we saw one kid poke his eyes through the window’s blinds and yell, “Mama, there’s two white guys at the door. They look like they’re going to church,” the mom replied to her son’s yelling with a mumbled lecture of not talking about people while they are in earshot.

“Let’s just keep going. I’m sure we’ll find someone,” I said.

“Maybe there’s a better way to do this,” Elder Rigby said.

“And that would be…?” I asked.

“I don’t know, but maybe we should slow down for a moment and think. Maybe we could try another floor or re-knock on some doors that didn’t answer.” he said.

I had a feeling he was right, but I also knew that there was no time to waste.

“We can’t slow down and we need to finish this floor and get everyone. What if we miss someone?”

Elder Rigby nodded reluctantly, but went on, “I don’t want to miss anyone either, but like I said, maybe there’s another way.”

I ignored his words and walked on to the next door. He sighed behind me, but trudged on with me.

After another hour of slowly making our way through the apartment complex, we made a few promising appointments for the next week which gave me a slight feeling of accomplishment.

I let out a grunt of frustration as we made it to the end of another floor.

“I just have a feeling that there’s someone here that we need to find. But what if we don’t? I asked, not expecting an answer.

Elder Rigby just sighed and patted my back.

“Maybe we need to take a break,” he finally said after an awkward silence.

“Sure,” I gave in.

“If you have this feeling that there’s someone we need to teach, then what can we do to find them?” he asked.

“I can’t think of anything other than to keep doing what we’ve already been doing.” I sat down on the floor and rested my head in my hands.

“Let’s pray,” Elder Rigby said.

I folded my arms and said a simple prayer.

“Our Father in Heaven, please humble our hearts and help us to listen to the spirit. Please guide us to where we need to go. We truly want to teach of You and your Son. We say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.”

“Amen,” Elder Rigby said, “Okay. Now let’s sit and listen to the spirit.”

We waited for no more than a moment, when I had a thought to make our way back to the parking lot. We sat in the car for a while and waited. I wasn’t sure what we were waiting for, but before I could think too much, I saw a middle aged woman appear out of the corner of my eye. She was grabbing groceries out of her car when I had the thought that she could use help.

“Let’s help her.” I got out of the car and my companion was right behind me.

Not wanting to scare the woman, I greeted her as we approached her.

“Hi there! Excuse me, could we help you with your groceries?” I said. She turned around to look at us.

“Sure. I could use the help. My apartment is one of the first ones over here.”

We followed her to where we first started knocking. She happened to live right next to the grumpy man we met earlier.

“Who are you guys? Salesmen?” she asked, opening the door to her home. We followed her in to place her groceries down in her kitchen.

“No, but that’s not the first time we’ve been thought to be salesmen today,” I laughed, “We’re actually missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.”

“No kidding,” she said, “What do you guys believe in? I was a part of the Christian church for a while.”

“Well, we believe in a lot of things. The most important to me being that Jesus atoned for all of us so that we may all live with him after we die,” Elder Rigby chimed in.

“All? What do you mean by all?” She looked perplexed.

“We all have the chance to live in heaven again. We just need to repent and come to Christ with soft hearts,” I replied.

“But what if you weren’t ever baptized?” she asked.

“We believe that we can baptize as proxy for those who didn’t get baptized while they were living. God has made it possible for everyone to return to live with Him again,” I said.

Tears suddenly filled her eyes.

“What about my baby?” she hesitated for a moment, then went on, her voice cracking as she spoke, “He died before the age of one. Will he able to go to Heaven?”

I was quick to give a resounding, “Yes! Absolutely!”

Her knees collapsed and she fell to the floor. Her face was flooded with tears and her eyes were red.

“All this time…Fifteen years ago, my pastor told me that because my baby wasn’t baptized, the both of us were going to Hell. I’ve been in so much pain. I couldn’t even go to church anymore because it hurt too much. I thought we were both lost. My baby can really be saved?” Her eyes were full of hope.

“He’s already in the arms of the Savior,” I told her, “He has been ever since he passed. God loves His little children.” To think that she had been in so much pain all of these years. It made my heart ache. This sweet woman was who we were looking for. I just had to trust in God and listen.

“You sweet young men, I feel it in my heart that what you’re saying is true. I haven’t felt peace like this in so long. Thank you. Thank you.”

She wiped her eyes, her hands still trembling, but when she stood, she was full of light. I imagined her dressed in white, entering the waters of baptism.

I wouldn’t be there for her baptism, but I didn’t need to be.