Amanda and Marco

5/13/09

My destination was Santa Barbara, CA. Usually I’m able to get through flights but on Wednesday the trip was through Los Angles as the through flight was fully booked. As usual I took two Book of Mormon with me as I didn’t think I could place one on the flight from LA to SB. When I got to the air port early I sat next to a missionary going to Korea. His name was Elder Lee. He is from Korea and has been in the US for two years going to school at BYU. There were 5 missionaries going to Korea, four Elders and one Sister. I showed Elder Lee how we marked the B of M with the pictures of where it came from and the plan of salvation. I thought about giving it to him but wanted to keep it so I might be able to give it to the person I sat next to. It turned out that I didn’t have anyone in the two seats next to me so during the flight I got up and gave it to Elder Lee telling him that he would need an English B of M.

At the LA airport the short flight up to SB was from a remote terminal and you have to take a bus to get there. A young lady got on the bus with me so we visited on the bus and I found that she lived in the town that I would be staying at. We had a great visit while we waited for the departure time. She had a good belief in Christ and in prayer. She was taught well by her parents. She and her husband go to a Protestant church in the area. She was the one I was supposed to meet and to teach. She had no knowledge of her pre life existence as a daughter of out eternal parents. I reminded her that is why we call him Father. When we got to SB she was waiting for her husband to come get her so I took the spare B of M out of my luggage and went through the pictures and plan of salvation and the first few scriptures. I forgot to tell her about families being together forever, big mistake. Both she and her husband are from Florida. I know a lady at my work that belongs to the church so I gave her their names for the missionaries. Sure hope they can find them.

On the flight home I sat next to Marco, he is from Croatia and is getting his Masters Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the SB collage. He speaks excellent English and told me most of the young people over there speak some English what with all of the Hollywood movies in English with sub titles. He was going to a conference at Snowbird in Park City. He wanted to sleep but we had a number of conversations through out the flight about the church. Where he grew up he said there was a house in his neighborhood where missionaries stayed. He said that there was a professional basket ball player from Croatia in the 70’s that joined the church and went back to Croatia and was involved in church work there. He didn’t seem to know anything about our beliefs but certainly was aware of the church. I encouraged him to visit Temple Square if he had a free afternoon. Hopefully he will.