Cupcakes for Sister Holland

Today was a busy day. I leave for the airport tomorrow morning at 6:30am. I decided to attend the temple this morning for the first session at 10am. Then I spent the afternoon cleaning and packing.

I left home at 5:30pm hoping to make it to the Mushashino Stake Center in Kichijoji before 6:30. I wanted to arrive in time to find seats in the cultural hall for the devotional featuring Elder and Sister Holland and Elder and Sister Rasband. The express train was much slower than usual. It kept stopping to wait for the train ahead of us to leave the station so we could pull in. I didn’t arrive at the church until 6:45. There were no seats left. I heard someone say there was space for English speakers upstairs so Rick and I went up there only to find that everything there was full, too. Then a Japanese man looked at us and asked, “Eigo?” (English) and motioned for us to follow him. He walked very fast and took us back downstairs and into the rear door of the cultural hall leading us along the side and up the chapel aisle to the second row on the chapel’s left side. As we sat down I couldn’t help feeling a bit embarrassed by our good fortune. We hadn’t arrived late for the meeting, but we had arrived too late to deserve a second row seat. We were grateful.

We enjoyed the blessing of listening to Elder and Sister Holland and Elder and Sister Rasband. During his talk Elder Holland mentioned that the next day was Sister Holland’s birthday. At the conclusion of the meeting the congregation was asked to stay at their seats until those on the stand had departed. We were right at the door where they exited. As we stood to watch them leave, our Area President’s wife (a member of my Relief Society) stopped to give me a hug as she left and whispered in my ear, “Will you make cupcakes for Sister Holland’s birthday tomorrow?” Of course, I said yes. (The answer is always yes!) Lesa called after I arrived home and I made arrangements to leave the cupcakes in her apartment building lobby before I left for the airport. She told me that they had been in meetings all day and she kept trying to think of how she could do something for Sister Holland’s birthday. She received the prompting that someone would be sent to help her and she stopped worrying. The reason for our seats on the second row by the door became clear. Lesa knew I was the answer as soon as she saw me. We were seated in the only place where she could have seen me and reached me. I am grateful that I was able to be an answer to the prayer of Lesa’s heart. It was such a simple thing…cupcakes for Sister Holland’s birthday. The amazing thing was our opportunity to see the Lord’s hand in a series of events led us to be in the place we needed to be at the right time.