There are no coincidences!

It made my whole Christmas Eve to see my cute mission companion & cousin Breanne!  She was in town visiting from New York City.  I just love her laugh, positive attitude, friendship, motivation and sweet heart.

We went to KNEADERS for breakfast to eat their famous french toast (which they were heebes all out of and so we settled for the pancakes).   We chatted and laughed our heads off of mission memories and Chileans and updated memories and new ideas ...of me moving to NYC!  That is Breanne trying to persuade me to move out there....we'll see how effective her skills are :)

This cute man came over to take our picture and was asking how we knew each other, where we were from etc.  We started asking him a bunch of questions and he ended up telling us this cute story.  

"You see that fireplace over there and the little table in front of it?  Well, my wife died 3 years ago.  I came up here from Vegas to visit some of my grandkids and we came to eat here at KNEADERS.  Well I left my coat here and had to return to find it.  No one could find it and so I just sat down to eat some breakfast by the fire and the owner of the store came out."

She said "Oh I'm sorry did you loose your coat?"

Man "Yes, oh it's ok.  So are you the owner?"

Owner lady "Well yes.  My husband died 2 years ago and now my daughter and I own it."

Man:  Extends his hand, "Well it's nice to meet you."

She sits down....they eat breakfast...date...fall in LOVE...get MARRIED....and the REST IS HISTORY!!!

We were LOVING THEM!!  So of course we took a picture with them!  I told him after the story "Well you know, I always tell my friends that THERE ARE NO COINCIDENCES!!!"  I truly believe this!  I think that not much happens by chance and that if you are living right, everything in your life comes as a blessing to you not from randomness or coincidence but it is from the Lord.  

Then the man said "That is what Elder Bednar says!"  

I was happy to know an apostle backs up my theories:)  I looked up the talk tonight.  Some of you probably remember it "The Tender Mercies of the Lord."  Google it and read it.  It's SOOOOOO GOOD.  

A few highlights of what he says:

"I testify that the tender mercies of the Lord are real and that they do not occur randomly or merely by coincidence. Often, the Lord's timing of His tender mercies helps us to both discern and acknowledge them."  

" I believe I have come to better understand that the Lord's tender mercies are the very personal and individualized blessings, strength, protection, assurances, guidance, loving-kindnesses, consolation, support, and spiritual gifts which we receive from and because of and through the Lord Jesus Christ. Truly, the Lord suits "his mercies according to the conditions of the children of men" (D&C 46:15)."

"We should not underestimate or overlook the power of the Lord's tender mercies. The simpleness, the sweetness, and the constancy of the tender mercies of the Lord will do much to fortify and protect us in the troubled times in which we do now and will yet live. When words cannot provide the solace we need or express the joy we feel, when it is simply futile to attempt to explain that which is unexplainable, when logic and reason cannot yield adequate understanding about the injustices and inequities of life, when mortal experience and evaluation are insufficient to produce a desired outcome, and when it seems that perhaps we are so totally alone, truly we are blessed by the tender mercies of the Lord and made mighty even unto the power of deliverance (see 1 Nephi 1:20)."

 "As I indicated earlier, the Lord's tender mercies do not occur randomly or merely by coincidence. Faithfulness, obedience, and humility invite tender mercies into our lives, and it is often the Lord's timing that enables us to recognize and treasure these important blessings."

There was no coinsidence with me and Breanne meeting in Chile, spending 5 months together, playing hard and working harder and even laughing harder.  

There was no coincidence when she told a story of her great grandfather and it was the same story as MY GREAT GRANDFATHER!  What?  

We frantically hit the computers the next day trying to contact our moms to confirm that we were actually COUSINS!  And yes we are!  We are 3rd cousins.  Ever since then, everyone in Chile would shout out "It's the primas!  the primas!  (cousins).  he he.

I am forever grateful for this girl to come into my life.  She is so amazing and helps me to be a better person by her example, love, encouragement and faith. 

 Thank goodness for tender mercies!!