Last week I went to El Matador to get chips and salsa to take home. When I walked in the door, there was a gentleman there picking up chips and salsa. I placed my order and then waited. The previous gentleman walked back and asked for another order. He stated that he was taking the salsa to a celebration for his grandson that had just returned from an LDS mission. We both waited in the lobby. There was another gentleman who told the gentleman waiting for salsa that he looked familiar. He stated that he was in construction and worked for Nilson homes, and introduced himself as Bruce Nilson. They talked about the grandson and how he had just returned from his mission. Mr Nilson stated that he had served an LDS mission in the 60's in Australia, and then stated that recently a young missionary had just died in Australia. The gentleman pointed to the other couple in the lobby and said, oh yes and right there are his grandparents. Mr Nilson showed so much kindness to this couple it was so neat to listen and watch. On the way there, I listened to a talk by Elder Rasband titled by Divine Design. It talks about how sometimes seemingly small coincidences are really by divine design. Heavenly Father can put us in situations with specific intent in mind. He is in the small details of our lives and those incidents and opportunities are to prepare us to lift our families and others.
My story doesn't stop with just overhearing a conversation. I attempted to contact Mr Nilson through his construction page on Facebook. I sent a message with no response. I could tell the message had been read, and yet no response. I decided to send a second message with no response.
Fast forward one week....
I made a couple of stops after work. One stop was to Costco. I had a few things on my list, and then decided to wander for 5 minutes. When I started walking to the cash register, Mr Nilson was walking toward me. We made eye contact, and then I realized that it was him. I turned around to go and find him. I asked him if he picked up chips and salsa for his grandson the week prior. He stated that yes, that was him. I told him how I was trying to contact him and tell him thank him for being so kind. It was truly an honor to listen to his conversation and watch him comfort the missionaries family. I told him how I listened to the talk about divine design, and that it was important to me to tell him thank you. Everything had to be just right so that I would see Bruce at Costco. I love that because it was important to me, it happened.
Was this just a coincidence? No way!
