Elder Asher and I experienced a miracle a couple days ago. The whole story was 100% spiritually guided, and I am amazed at the infinite wisdom of God. The whole story starts about a month ago.
It was raining, and we had just visited with a member up the street from the chapter house in Steamboat and were driving back down the hill when we noticed someone in the chapter house's backyard working on putting down a garden. We decided to go and help her. She told us her name was Sherry and that she really appreciated our help. She gave us the address to her house, and we found out that it was in a neighborhood of Steamboat that we hadn't been to yet. We promised her we would visit sometime and went on our way.
About a week or two following our meeting with Sherry, we decided we would find this neighborhood and try to find her along with some other people who might want to hear our message. We drove over there, hopped out of our truck and tried the closest house to us. They weren't interested, so we moved on to the next house and tried the door, but nobody answered. As we were walking to the final house in the row, somebody came out of a nearby junky trailer and told us that the people in the house we were headed to were not home. Didn't know the old trailer was still in use, but after this man called to us, we decided to go and try the trailer. He was already back indoors, so we knocked on the door, were invited in by an old woman named Genevieve, and we shared a message with her and answered some of her questions. She wad happy to have met us, and wanted us to come by again. We also went around a bit more of the neighborhood and met Lola and Edison. We shared a message with them and they gave us a plate of food to take with us. This would be the first of many times that they provide a meal for us and give us food to take home.
Saturday (two days ago), was the worldwide day of service, so we decided we would call Sister Hildreth, who wasn't feeling well the last time we went over. When we went over there, we found out she was sick and she wanted a blessing, but neither of us had our bags with us so we had to drive back to our trailer and grab our bags. When we got back, we gave her and Quinton (he was there too) a blessing, helped them get some wood inside and went on our way. On our way back to the trailer, Elder Asher pointed out that we hadn't visited Lola and Edison for about a week, so we made a split-second decision to go and visit them. They invited us in, but our visit was only 10 minutes, which for Lola and Edison, is especially unusual because they really like to talk. They had to leave to a dinner in Ganado. They asked us to come by later in the day, so we left their home and started driving out of the neighborhood. As we were leaving, we noticed an unusual amount of smoke coming out of Genevieve's old trailer, but we almost just left anyway because her house is old and unkempt, so we thought that might be normal. We were then prompted that we need to go check on her, so we went and knocked on her door. When we did, we heard coughing as Genevieve came to answer the door. When she opened the door, a large amount of smoke came following her from behind! She was thankful that we had knocked on her door and woken her up before the smoke became unbearable. We didn't see any flames when we glanced inside, but something was definitely starting on fire in there. We only found a small water basin for washing hands, so we threw that on the wall next to the stove, where we had just noticed a bit of flame appearing. We got outside because the smoke was becoming overwhelmingly thick. I went around the back and grabbed her phone and a few reachable chairs through the small window. Elder Asher punched a hole in the screen mesh in the window and grabbed a bunch of blankets and a pillow. Many people started gathering around and trying to help, but none of us really knew what to do without any hose or fire extinguisher nearby. When Genevieve started panicking, someone finally called the fire department, but by the time they got to the trailer, the whole thing was engulfed in flames. Jeremy was the first firefighter to arrive on the scene, and he put it out pretty good before the bigger fire trucks arrived. President John arrived in his firetruck and did an impressive job squeezing the truck through the gate. When the fire was put out, Genevieve's house was completely gone. She was both laughing and crying about what happened. She was taken to the hospital and is now staying in Flagstaff for the time being. The last thing we heard about her is that her family is in contact with American Red Cross and will receive help from them. I think things can only go uphill for her at this point.
I know that this experience was guided by the hand of the Lord. I am amazed at the greatness of our Heavenly Father and at his infinite wisdom of the future and the past. I am very thankful that He guided us to her trailer at just the right time.
Sincerely,
-Elder Dittmer
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(Photos from Elder Asher's Mom)
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I asked if he'd like to go to a new area for transfers coming up: I really like the area of Steamboat, actually. I get along with Elder Asher, too, so I wouldn't mind staying with him if it comes to that.
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