No Yellow Notebook

To Sabbath School teachers: This story is for Sabbath, August 21.

By Andrew McChesney

N

ine-year-old Jaira has a favorite notebook in her home in the Marshall Islands.

The notebook has a bright yellow cover and a metal spiral binding. She draws pictures and writes letters on its pages. All her drawings and letters go to one person, the man who gave her the notebook: Grandpa Bob in faraway Texas.

But one day, Jaira couldn’t find the yellow notebook. And she really needed it. She had written a letter to say thank you for a box of gifts that she and her family had received from Grandpa Bob. Father wanted to mail her letter to Texas.

“I need your letter,” Father said. “Your older brothers, Raijan and Jehuraian, have given me their thank-you letters, and I want to mail them today.”

Jaira stood at the living-room table where she had left the notebook. The table was empty. Jaira looked under the table. No notebook. She looked on and under the sofa. Nothing. Where was it?

Going into the kitchen, she looked on the counter and in the sink. Nothing. She didn’t think that the notebook was in the refrigerator, but she checked just in case. Inside, she found yellow squash and yellow bananas. But no yellow notebook.

Jaira searched in her bedroom. Nothing.

Now she was worried. She didn’t know where else to look. She had carefully written the thank-you letter when her missionary family had received the box from Grandpa Bob. She also had drawn a picture of a girl — herself — with a happy smile. Where was the notebook?

Jaira slowly made her way back to the living room. She clearly remembered putting the notebook on the table after showing her letter and the drawing to Father. She looked at the empty table.

Father was waiting. What could she do?

Jaira suddenly remembered what she could do. She could pray. Father always told her that she could pray to God about any problem. Now she had a big problem.

Jaira sat down on the floor in front of the table. She closed her eyes and folded her hands at the tip of her nose.

“Dear Jesus, please help me to find the notebook so I can get the letter to send,” she prayed.

Opening her eyes, her glance fell on the table. She blinked and looked again. There was her yellow notebook!

“Thank you, Jesus!” she exclaimed.

She grabbed the notebook and looked inside. Her letter and drawing were still there. “Wait, Daddy!” she called. “I need to write a letter.”

Sitting down in front of the table, Jaira wrote a second letter to send to Texas.

“I want to tell you that God answered my prayer,” she began.

Three years ago, your Thirteenth Sabbath Offering helped build a school in the Marshall Islands where Jaira’s parents, missionaries from the Philippines, taught children about the God who answers prayers. Thank you for your offering this quarter that will help another Pacific Ocean mission school, in Palau.