Learning from my Elders

While sitting on a bench with my grandpa in small town Iowa, on a warm summer day, I took the opportunity to ask him two questions. My questions were, "What do you look back on as one of the most fruitful or blessed times of ministry throughout your many years and many locations?" and "What was the hardest thing about ministry?" I enjoyed his answers so I thought I would share them here.
My grandpa looks back at his first pastorate with great fondness. He doesn't know why God chose to bless him and his ministry there as he did but he praises God for it. He was a pastor in Pennsylvania in a very Catholic area. The church consisted of about 15 people when he came if I remember right. They told him that there was not much hope for an increase because the local residents were staunch Catholics. He looks back on this time with such fondness because of the large number of people that God drew to Himself and saved during those years.
While answering my question, he told me a story of one man who believed in Christ during those years. Lou Sickler did not go to my grandfather's church. In fact, he was so opposed to religion that it was off limits for my grandfather to talk to him about when they were together. My grandfather, however, continued to show him Christ's love in deed. He would give Lou rides to get groceries and help in other ways as well. God, in His loving, gracious, and divine providence changed Lou's heart as only He can. My grandfather became very ill during his time in Pennsylvania. He was in excruciating pain and was bedridden. In the midst of this adversity, Lou came to visit. He came to tell my grandpa that the night before he got down on his knees and he accepted Christ and that he had believed. He also came to tell him that he had prayed for my grandfather and that he trusted that God would heal him. What an awesome God we have. His providence amazes me. He works in situations where we can't, to accomplish His great purpose.
God did heal my grandpa and Lou became a faithful member of the church. My grandpa had this praise to speak of Lou, "In all my years of ministry, Lou was the only one that invited the pastor and his family of seven kids to his house for dinner. He would set up a table in the yard and make spaghetti for all of us." What amazed me even more about his hospitality and love for my family members was that he was a single man and he still was the only one in the congregations my grandpa served in to have the pastor's family over for dinner.
The hardest thing my grandpa ever experienced in ministry was having to tell the retirement home where he last served as chaplain, and where he now lives, that he could not handle all the services any more. I can understand this in part having just completed one thing to move to another but I do get to move to another and after some 60 years of serving our Lord he cannot. Two difficulties of ministry I have been thinking about recently are: trusting God, as I move, to work in awesome ways as He has in the past and being faithful to pour into others lives as I am no longer around the people I used to live with who I grew to love deeply.