Noomi and Us

In 2005, my daughter Karen and I flew to Sweden and Norway on a genealogy trip. Prior to going, my mind keep turning the Vedel and Kerstin Förnes. Vedel had just been baptized into the church as a young man when I was a missionary in Sweden in 1982. Since then, he and his wife Kerstin had raised seven children in Sweden, and he had served in their stake presidency for over a decade. I felt impressed that we needed to invite a child of theirs to be a foreign exchange student with us for the next year, though I had no idea who or why. Vedel and I had had no contact with one another in over twenty years, and he would never remember me. But I shared the impression with Kathleen, and she agreed I should offer if the opportunity arose. We attended church in their ward in Orebro, Sweden on the only Sunday we were there. I meet Kerstin during the first hour, but being a surgical nurse, she was called into work the second hour and had to leave. After the meeting block, we were all out in the parking lot visiting when the Holy Ghost jolted my heart and said, “You need to invite Vedel to have one of his kids be a student in America with you - NOW!” I had totally forgotten for some reason. When I offered, he stared at me in a slight stuper, but then said they would be very interested in that for their daughter Noomi. Then he shared this with me: “When my wife Kerstin met you during the first hour, she had a very strong impression that you would invite our daughter to be an exchange student with you. And she told me when he does, you need to say yes!”

LESSON LEARNED: The Lord will allow us to be instruments in His hands if we are in tune with the Holy Spirit and listen to the promptings.

FEEDBACK: HAVE YOU EVER HAD A JOLT-LIKE PROMPTING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT THAT HELPED MAKE AN IMPORTANT IMPACT IN YOUR LIFE?