Mission Miracle from Elder Devon Fitzgerald

This past week we got a new investigator named Ioan. The way he found us reminds me of several stories that I've heard of in the Ensign. Growing up, he studied to be a priest and was for 10 years of his life. To be a priest, he had to get married, and unfortunately did due to demand rather than love. 10 years afterward, he was devastated when his wife left him for someone else. According to him, that was the first time that God told him that his place was not in the orthodox church. However, he still wanted to serve as a priest. He was required to remarry and serve somewhere outside of the city for 5 years. After that he was promised stewardship in Bucuresti. So he did exactly what he was asked to do. After the 5 years he was denied the stewardship that was promised to him. The second time God told him that his place was somewhere else. He said that it was at that moment where he began to search for his answers. He said that he was clearly told that there was something else for him. So he went to every church he knew of but it didn't fill his emptiness, using his words. That search lasted for almost 6 years. Then one day he came across an article about a problem that a certain orthodox priest had with mormon missionaries in Pitesti. From reading the article he understood that the priest wasn't worth listening to (his words again) and that young boys teach English as well as religion. My favorite part of this story is the fact the Lord created a referral from an article which was an attempt of somebody to give us negative press. So he took the address which was written incorrectly in the article and started looking. He talked to several taxi drivers and individuals on the street until someone realized that He wanted to find Str. Florariei (our actual address) instead of Str. Florilor (the incorrect address from the article). After finding our villa he was discouraged by the fact that no one was there. So he came back again and again, a total of 12 times! On the 12th time we were at the villa. A piano lesson had just ended and we were in the kitchen speaking in English. He entered the villa and saw that there wasn't anyone there. So he looked around. I can't think of the courage it would take to come into a foreign church unannounced, and then to approach the individuals in a separate room who were speaking a foreign language. But to him, he wanted nothing more than to find his answers. He asked us a little about the English classes and we took his information and told him that they will start again in about a month and a half. He then asked us if we could discuss religion before that because that's far too long for him to wait. Surprised, we were excited to take him into the other room and have a discussion. We promised him that all of his answers were in the Book of Mormon and he was more than excited to take one. He told us about his life and how he's been searching for us. We could only just sit back and be amazed at his diligence and how prepared he was to meet us. He wants to do everything to find God and help everyone else to do the same, especially his 4 children and wife (he remarried). We literally couldn't ask for more. This was an answer to a lot of prayers. Last week we were talking and were saying that the only thing that Pitesti did have was a serious, progressing investigator. I personally had started to think that people like Parley P Pratt didn't exist anymore. People educated in scripture, yet humble enough to want more, and even realize that there is more. This whole thing happened on Wednesday. On Saturday, we met with him again and were able to talk about the restoration. He told us about the first time He read the Bible and he had a feeling which made him know that is was true. That was actually when he wanted to be a priest. He said he hasn't had that feeling again... until he picked up the Book of Mormon and started to read it. We are promised that people will be lead to us. I learned quite abruptly that this is very true. Unfortunately he was unable to come to church because he lives 30 km outside of the city and he hadn't been home for a week. But the story isn't over yet.