Letter from Elder Austin dated September 10, 2013

I had an experience today that I thought I would write you about.  I am currently in the Bray District of the Dublin Zone.  We are a very close district and we call ourselves the Bray Family.  There is about 10 of us and we are always together on P Days and other missionary activities.  We have recently received a new addition to our district.  A sister missionary named Sister Lewis has been reassigned from her mission in France to the Scotland/Ireland mission.  She has no idea why.  She has teamed up with the sisters in our district.  Today we had a district meeting at the stake center in the heart of Dublin.  It was a great meeting and we learned about how to be more unified.  After the meeting was over, Sister Lewis and her companion said they needed us and they took me and my companion into one of the classrooms.  Sister Lewis said she needed a priesthood blessing.  She looked at me and asked me if I would do it.  Why she chose me out of all the elders in our district still questions me today.  She said since her reassignment, she felt stressed and upset, so she asked for a blessing of peace and comfort.  I laid my hands upon her head and gave her a blessing.  I did the best I could to listen to the Spirit and to know what to say.  I was afraid it would not comfort her in her time of need because I didn't think it was that great of a blessing.

After I was finished, there was a brief period of silence.  She then stood up, looked at me with tears dripping from her eyes, and smiled.  Still smiling and slightly crying, she said, "Thank you so much Elder Austin."  When she said that, it was like the Spirit punched me straight in the heart.  I know right then and there that she was comforted.  After we left the room, Sister Lewis went straight to her journal and with the help of her companions, wrote the blessing down that I had offered.  I still do not know why she chose me.  There were about 20 elders in the building, all of them hand been on their mission much longer than me and had more experience.  I looked in my Patriarchal Blessing and it said that I would be called upon at random times to give blessings to those who need comfort.  That look on her face and those tears in her eyes testified to me of the power of the Priesthood.  Even though it was not the greatest of blessings (in my opinion anyway), her countenance told me that the Spirit had touched her and she felt peace.

I know that the Priesthood is the power and authority to act in the name of God.  It is the SAME POWER that Moses used to part the Red Sea and it is the SAME POWER that Jesus Christ used to heal the sick and give sight to the blind, and raise the dead.  That SAME POWER is in me.  It may not do such extreme things as it did in ancient times (or at least not that much anymore), but it can give comfort and peace to those who seek it.  That to me is a miracle and I have witnessed it first hand.

When Sister Lewis smiled at me, it was a smile of pure happiness.  I have only seen that smile a handful of times in my life, and only one other time on my mission.  It was the same smile Yolanda gave me right after her baptism.  I recognized it because I felt the same way, truly happy.  I live and I serve because of that reason.  I live and I serve for that smile.

I hope you liked my experience and my feelings toward it.  I love and miss you!

Elder Austin