The Wallet Prayer

(Finland – Week 36)

15 Sep 2015

We are currently emailing in a new place, and it's the coolest library ever. It has all these modern chairs, glass everywhere, and a bridge that leads... to no where! I can't even comprehend all the symbolism and deep thought, it's super great. I'm more cultured just by sitting in here.

This week we had an awesome experience with prayer! A lady was looking through the bushes with a shovel, obviously she lost something. We asked if we could help, she said she had misplaced her wallet which had everything in it. ID cards, bank cards, bus card, everything. We happily whipped out our umbrellas and started parting the bush sea in search of the wallet. After about 10 minutes of fruitless searching, my awesome companion said, "I know how to find it! Let's say a prayer!" So the three of us huddled together and prayed right on the street. After the prayer the woman let out her breath, and thanked us for the beautiful prayer. Her stress had melted from her face and she said that she knew her wallet would be found. She said that from the moment we approached she new who we were, one because no one else wore skirts like ours, but also because only people like us would stop to help. She accepted a Book of Mormon, and promised to read it. We never found the wallet, but we saw her again just last night. She was with a group of friends, and she flagged us down. She yelled across the square that she had found her wallet, and that she knew it was because of our prayer. She then excitedly started telling her friends about prayer. It was so wonderful to see this woman recognize an answer to a prayer. I don't remember even learning how to pray, I've done it my whole life, seeing someone who just discovered the miracle of prayer for the first time was fantastic. It reminded me of how special prayer really is. Enos in the Book of Mormon received an answer to his prayer, and he asked, how did this happen? His answer was, "And he said unto me: Because of thy faith in Christ,whom thou hast never before heard nor seen... wherefore, go to, thy faith hath made thee whole." (Enos 1:8) I know that prayer works, that it's so simple but profound. Think about it, every time we pray we are in contact with our Heavenly Father, we feel the Holy Ghost, and we pray in the name of Christ, we involve every member of the Godhead! I love prayer, I have found so much comfort, peace, and answers. Prayer is real, it works.

If you all would open your May 2015 copies of the ensign and look on page 108, you will see a cute family sitting on a lovely bench. That bench is in the church of my first area in Finland!! You can look at that and imagine me sitting there, doing something missionary-y like reading my scriptures. I definitely have read my scriptures there. I think I also napped there once, we had to skip dinner for something so we took a little break at the church and I took a few minutes to re-energize. Anyway, it's a pretty great bench. I don't actually know the family though, I think they were from a different congregation. Also in the same Ensign, on the computer screen on page 74, is Finnish!!!! Also, read the talks from this Ensign, they're even more fantastic than the bench.

This picture is of my companion! And the beauty of Finland never ceases to amaze.

Much love! Have a wonderful week!

Sisar Mendenhall