Chance Encounter

I must tell of my experience as I went to the temple today. Now to preface this, I must admit that many times I read the articles at the end of the Ensign where people tell their personal stories of conversion etc. under Latter Day Saint Voices and sometimes I get jealous. Now it is not that I haven’t seen and experienced some miraculous events through the power of the spirit in my lifetime, but many times I wonder what experience I would talk about that would even compare with some of the stories in the Ensign. I have never been prompted by the spirit to change seats or change lanes because of impending disaster or things as dramatic as this, but I have been prompted in many small things.

Well today, I went to the Columbia, South Carolina Temple to attend a few sessions since I had the day off and there is not much else to do without your family. I was trying to decide a couple of days ago whether to go to the Atlanta Temple which is about 2 hours away and larger with more accommodations, or the Columbia, South Carolina Temple which is one of the smaller temples. I was going to go to the Atlanta Temple, but last night when I realized they had their last session in the late afternoon, I decided instead to go to the Columbia Temple which was a little closer. I was hoping to be able to go through a couple of sessions since I don’t usually have the chance to do that very often. I left for the Temple at 10:00 in the morning hoping to get there at the right time so I could go through the 12:00 session and then go to the 2:00 session as well. Well as it was, I did get lost getting to the temple once, but I was able to fairly quickly make the right turn to get back on track. I made it to the temple with plenty of time to get ready etc. That being a miracle in itself!

When I got to the Temple, the front desk man told me that the session was probably going to be full at 12:00 and that I may need to do some other things in the temple, which I was fine with. I got dressed and went to the meeting room and the people in charge were taking number and wondering if they were going to have enough room. Fortunately they did and I was able to go to the 12:00 session which was almost maximum capacity. I enjoyed the session, although towards the end, it was starting to look like I would not be able to make the 2:00 session, which was the last session for the day, because we were still busy. The first session ended at 5 minutes to 2:00, just barely allowing me enough time to change and barely make it to the 2:00 session.

I got seated, and very soon after the next session began. This session had fewer people than the session before it, probably only 10 guys or so. I was deep in thought and enjoying the spirit which is so abundant in the Temple when towards the middle of the session, one of the guys in front of me waved as though he knew me. I didn’t get it, because I was in a place where the chance of someone knowing me was extremely slim. I saw the guys face for a second before he turned back around and I didn’t recognize him from the military base where I only knew a few members. I didn’t know what to think, but I just kind of crossed it out of my mind and just thought how odd it was wondering if the guy had waved to someone else although it looked like he had waved at me.

I heard the guy talking to someone else in front of me, and I still did not know who it was, but I did start to put his face with people I knew. I thought he kind of looked like my cousin from back home in Idaho. I listened to him talk, and he kind of had the same type of voice as well. As I got to the Celestial room I was hoping the guy would be there so I could find out who he was. I went up to him and asked, Paul, and I got a huge smile on my face. This is actually a second cousin, but a cousin who I had known very well up to college and had a great deal of respect for. He was one of those people that after getting to know him, I had little doubt that we had known each other in the pre-existence as odd as that may sound.

I was taken back with emotion although we had a good talk and got reacquainted as we spoke is whispers about each others families. Of all the people to meet in an obscure place in South Carolina and of all the places to meet in the Celestial room. I had lost contact with him when I was activated for military duty, and he had moved to South Carolina a couple of years earlier. I was amazed at how many mini-miracles had taken place for us to see each other again and to get reacquainted both as family and as friends. He told me that he had barely made the session himself which was also quite amazing. As I look at all the events that had to take place just right for us to get reacquainted, I couldn’t help but gain a stronger testimony that our Heavenly Father knows us very well and is in control of the events that shape our lives if we will let him guide us. There is no way a person could tell me that was just coincidence. What an awesome experience!