A Prayer and a Gift

  A few nights ago my companion and I were out working.  We had a great appointment with a family and we had just left their home when I reached into my pocket to get my keys.  I pulled them out and noticed a little chain was dangling freely and I idly wondered where it had come from.  Then I realized it was the chain from the flash drive that holds my mission memories.  And there was no flash drive on it.

  Instant panic.

  I checked my pocket to see if the flash drive had broken off in there.  Instead of a flash drive, I felt a hole in my pocket.

  Enhanced panic.

  I told my missionary companion about my predicament and we started searching the ground and retracing our steps.  No flash drive.  We checked the entire car, including my floor space and under the seat.  No flash drive. We went back to the family and asked them if they had seen it.  Nope.  They invited us back in and we checked the floors.  No flash drive.

  Optimum panic.

  At that point, I remembered a blog post I had read where another missionary told a very similar story.  She talked about how she had prayed to find her flash drive and soon thereafter she found it.  I decided a little prayer was needed.  So I bowed my head and said a quick prayer asking for help in finding my flash drive.  Then we looked a little longer.  No flash drive.

  I was a little bit frustrated, but I decided I wasn't going to use any more of the Lord's time looking for a flash drive.  I decided to give this one over to the Lord and just get back to work.  So we did.  We worked the rest of the evening and I tried not to think about it.  That night when we came in, my companion went into our room and I walked over to my desk and sat down.  A moment later, my companion called out "Hey, Elder Romney!  Guess what I found?" and walked out holding my flash drive.  It had somehow wound up in his bag and he only found it after we had come in.

  It helped me relearn something that I teach people all the time as a missionary.  God doesn't always answer prayers right when we want or expect Him to.  Sometimes we need to endure a little further and work a little harder and then He'll give us what we need once we've learned our lesson.  God loves us, and He knows how to give us good gifts.  But sometimes God withholds a good gift because He has a better gift in mind.  My gift from Him was learning to focus on His work before my own desires.

The flash drive was a bonus.