My Friends Mike and Angela: Part 1: Missouri

I was going to wait until February to tell this story so that it would be on the one year anniversary of the blessed event, but I can't wait that long. (I am severely impatient when it comes to things like this.)This story is important to me. It strengthened my testimony beyond measure. It's also a long story so I will share it in two parts. It's not flowery or poetic, but it's simple and lovely.

Almost one year ago I was living in Blue Springs, MO. My missionary companion and I were working hard to teach people about the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. One man that we worked with had been a member of the LDS church but had started working Sundays and eventually just stopped coming even when he could. Fortunately, he started coming back with the help of his home teachers, and he didn't just come back slowly or lazily. He came back with a fire. He wanted to spread the happiness he had with everyone. His name is Mike. This takes us to a cold night in February a month or so since he had returned to church. The three of us were driving through an apartment complex, 15 or so buildings each about 3 stories tall, when we saw a man walking alone in the dark heavy night. Mike waved at him and he waved back. Immediately, Mike shouted at me to stop the car and park. I asked him why and this dialogue followed:

Me: Why? What's wrong?
Mike: He waved back! He must be nice. We need to talk to him about the gospel. NOW!

Me: Friend, people wave at us all the time, but they usually don't want to hear about the church...

Mike: No, Elder Hayter, we need to talk to him. 

Me: OK, Friend. 

We proceeded to park and awkwardly chased down this man who had walked another 50 meters down the road. Unfortunately, I was right. He wasn't terribly interested in what we had to say. The good news is that the Lord had inspired my friend for a reason. As we were slipping over the ice headed back to the warm confines of the car we saw a lady and her daughter walking towards their apartment. I recognized her. We had talked with her a month previous and she hadn't expressed much interest. Tonight was different. We had only talked for a couple of minutes when her daughter asked if we wanted some hot chocolate. So three men working for the Lord and a single mother and her wonderful daughter started a friendship that would have eternal consequences. She was curious and open-minded. This lady was going to change my life. Her name was Angela.