Rafael and Yolanda Maldonado (7 Total in Family)

A good story of what happened as Sister Maldonado was having a surgical procedure. The missionaries came to the hospital to give Sister Maldonado a blessing with Elder Maldonado, but they couldn't find Elder and Sister Maldonado. They got to the hospital and asked where the Maldonado's were. Well, there just happened to be some other Maldonado's in the hospital. When they got to her room, they obviously knew it wasn't Elder and Sister Maldonado. It was a Rafael and Yolanda Maldonado. Yolanda had a room already; she was preparing to have gall bladder surgery. Sister Maldonado was in the operating room at the time and did not have a room yet. The missionaries visited with Rafael and Yolanda Maldonado for a little while. When the missionaries called Elder Maldonado he had already given Sister Maldonado a blessing, so the missionaries left. Later Elder Maldonado was talking on the phone to Sister Cordner in the Mission Office, who had sent the Elder’s, and was telling the story of the missionaries coming and not being able to find them, and visiting with the other family in the hospital with their last name. While Elder Maldonado was telling the story a man just happened to be sitting nearby listening, as Elder Maldonado was hanging up the phone he came up to him and said, you must have been talking about me; “ I am Rafael Maldonado”. Rafael told him that his wife, Yolanda, was in the hospital for gall bladder surgery. Elder Maldonado was able to talk to Rafael Maldonado in the waiting room, while they waited for their wives to have their procedure and surgery. He was able to share some information about the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith, Father in Heaven, Jesus Christ, the Holy Ghost, and he read Moroni 10: 3-5 together with him. Rafael told Elder Maldonado that he has a problem with the Catholic Church that he was attending, and it was about paying tithes. Elder Maldonado bore his testimony to him about tithing and assured him that he has been blessed in his own life by paying his tithing. He was able to get their address and phone number. He also called the Mission office and reported the referral to Sister Cordner, as well as calling the Missionaries to let them know that he got their address and phone number. They were thrilled to have this referral. On Thursday December 3, 2009 when Sister Maldonado was discharged from the hospital they visited Yolanda in her room at the hospital before leaving. Yolanda shared with them that she had an experience with receiving an e-mail prior to having a gall bladder attack and she said that she was going to have some good things coming into her life, and their home was going to be blessed. She didn’t understand how this could be, seeing that she was having surgery, this was bad luck and not the blessings that she was expecting. Then she said “the Missionaries came to my room and we have been looking for a church”. Then she realized that this was the blessing and this was meant to be. Elder and Sister Maldonado gave her a Book of Mormon and let her know they were happy to have met them; that the Missionaries will visit them, and they would keep in touch with them. What are the odds? That was a very expensive missionary referral says Elder Maldonado.