Earlier this month I was on my way back to Germany from the US. The morning of my return flight, the airline canceled my flight. A subsequent rebooking saw delays and, throughout the course of the day I was on hold with United Airlines for multiple hours, rebooked three times, and had an exciting airport transfer across Washington DC before I finally made it to an international flight with just minutes to spare. It wasn’t one of my favorite travel experiences.
While in line at security, a Lufthaunsa employee and a passenger she was escorting got in line behind me. I could quickly tell that the older passenger did not speak English and she looked very uncomfortable. Since we were headed to Germany I turned around and asked the older passenger if she spoke German. She did not.
On the other side of security as I watched the lady continue to not understand the TSA agents, I asked the Lufthansa employee what language the lady spoke. As luck would have it (i.e. divine providence), she said she thought the lady might be from Ukraine.
The older passenger and I ended up talking the whole way to the gate. It turns out she has been staying with her daughter in DC and now has to return to Ukraine. At the gate she borrowed my phone to let her daughter know she was about to board. Her daughter asked to speak with me and expressed her gratitude to me that her mom met someone who could talk to her and help her. Her mom was understandably nervous to fly alone surrounded by people she couldn’t communicate with--not to mention the fact that she was returning to Ukraine--and her daughter was likewise worried about her mom. Being able to talk to me was a tender mercy for both of them.
In Frankfurt the airport set this lady up with someone who would take her to her next gate. I talked with her a bit, connected her phone to WiFi so she could call her daughter, and, once she was on the phone with her daughter, went on my way.
A few days later I read with my kids in the Book of Mormon about Joseph Smith being an instrument in the Lord’s hands (2 Nephi 3:24). The phrase “an instrument in the Lord’s hands” is repeated a few times in the Book of Mormon describing people through whom the Lord blessed His children.
As disciples of Christ, we desire and seek to be instruments in the Lord’s hands as He does His work to bless His children. Looking back, this was one such experience.
I do not think that God orchestrated the entire series of flight cancellations and delays just to put me in that specific security line to meet that Ukrainian woman. I do not believe having a translator available in a non-urgent, non-vital situation would merit inconveniencing hundreds of other people. However, I do believe that in His omniscience the Lord made the most of an already-unfortunate situation and guided the subsequent events that brought me and the Ukrainian lady together. If either of us showed up to the Washington Dulles airport a few minutes earlier or later, we would have never crossed paths. I am grateful for His tender mercies that He trusted me to help her and brightened my travel experience.
Obviously I did nothing to create this situation, nor am I the focal point of this story. Yes, I enjoy telling a good “travel woes” story (I had to cut the word count for this story in half) and yes I have more than a few to share. However, in telling this story, I add the same caveat that the book of Mormon prophet Ammon gave when he rejoiced in being an instrument in the Lord’s hands:
“Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things” (Alma 26:12).
I share this experience simply to illustrate two eternal principles. One, our Heavenly Father looks out for us, even in little ways as He did with His daughter, this Ukrainian lady who was traveling alone in foreign lands. And two, we can be blessed by being instruments in the Lord’s hands when we look for opportunities to serve wherever we are.
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