Getting Lost

The last week of April we were out doing flyers just like normal.  I'd drop two kids at the top of one street, drop the next two at the next street, then drive to the bottom of the streets to pick the first two up and take them to the next drop off point.  Like a lot of areas, these streets weren't straight and there were little out shoots breaking off of the main street here and there.  I dropped X and X² at one street, then ∞ and Oº at the next and went back for X and X².  They were almost to the bottom, but there was a horse-shoe street connecting to X's side of the street.  I sent him down the outside of the horse shoe and told X² when he got to the bottom of his side of the street to cross and do the inside of the horse shoe.  It was a simple maneuver-we'd done much more complicated ones in the past-so I wasn't worried in the slightest that anything would go wrong.  I drove to take ∞ and 0º to their next street and within 90 seconds was back checking on X and X².  Only X² was no where to be found.

We play a little game called 'follow the flyers' when we have kids who have left their cell phones home or when the littles go out in pairs instead of being paired with a big.  It's pretty self explanatory--you follow the flyers on the doors till you find the kid.  Well, following X²'s flyers was really simple.  It ended at the bottom of his street.  It didn't continue along the inside of the horse shoe like it was supposed to.  It didn't go back up the other side of the street.  It didn't even go across the busy street into the neighborhood that π² was doing.  It just stopped.  I drove and picked up ∞ and Oº, searching the whole time.  No sign of X².  I went back and picked up X.  Still no sign of him.  In the driveway as X handed his last flyer to some rough looking Mexicans I overheard one say to the other,

"Mira-ella parece preocupada." Look (at her) - She looks worried. 
"De veras-estoy bien preocupada.  No puedo encontrar mi otro niño. ¿Le han visto?" I am very worried!  I can't find my other son!  Have you seen him?

These hard looking men, inked from shaved heads to toes, put down their beers and jumped into action.  They called to a woman inside to grab keys and took down my phone number and took a picture of X with their cell phone so they'd know what X² looks like.  They drove off to the north while I headed south.

X² had now been missing for about 5 minutes and panic was starting to creep into my heart.  Turning to drive the streets again, I saw two official looking men in Police jackets walking out of the last house X² had flyered towards an unmarked police car.  I jumped out of the van and ran up to them--the panic trying to escape as a million different scenarios as to why they were at that house come into my mind; what could the occupants be like, are they criminals? Do they prey on little children?  What type of Mother am I to allow my little 8 year old boys to walk down the street alone, even if it is only for a minute.  That's all it takes for something horrible to happen.

The officers listened to my plea, took down my information and left to join in the search.  As I turned the car on to head back to drive one more time through the route we'd walked,  my phone rang.  My ten minutes of horror were finally over.  The Mexicans had found him.  I weaved through the streets--much further than we had even walked that day--to where he was waiting.

Speech was impossible as the terror came pouring out through tears as X² and I hugged so tight we couldn't breathe.  When tears were exhausted I asked,

"Weren't you scared of those guys bald guys with all the tattoos?"
"No!  They knew my name!" was his innocent reply.

He had kept walking because he was cold and that was the only way he knew to keep warm.  But he'd gone way farther than he'd planned and by the time he realized he was lost, he couldn't find his way back.

I thought of this experience often over the next several days.  It prompted us to go over the 'what to do when you're lost' rules in preparation for our trip with all the kids and I figured this had been a good experience for the reminder that it was.

Then it was fast Sunday.  For those of you who aren't members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the first Sunday of each month is set aside for members to abstain from eating or drinking for 24 hours and to devote themselves to praying for whatever it is they're in need of at the time.  During our worship services, we are welcome to go to the pulpit and share our testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ with the other members of the congregation.  This Sunday, X² asked if I'd go up with him so he could bare his testimony.  Here, to the best of my recollection, is what he said.

"I'd like to share my testimony with you.  When I was at work at my job this week--I'm a flyer runner for Next Generation Pest Control and I get paid $10/hour--I got lost.  I was really scared and nervous because I couldn't find Mama.  After a long time, I remembered that I should pray so I knelt down on the sidewalk at a corner and prayed that Mama could find me.  When I stood up, a car pulled over and the man asked, 'Are you X²?' and I knew that Heavenly Father had answered my prayer.  So I hope you all remember that if you're ever lost, all you have to do is pray and ask Heavenly Father to help someone find you and the will.  They will probably even know your name."

Out of the mouths of babes come some of life's best lessons.  

 Flyers waiting to be taped.

The street we were flyering.