One day we were out door knocking. We were having little
success, so we thought we’d try a different street. At the very last door we
met this guy who was just visiting his friend for the day. We told him we love
to talk to everyone! As the conversation went on he told us that his wife is a
member of the church but she doesn’t go anymore. He talked about how the elders
used to come visit them. We asked if there would be a good time for us to come
and visit him and his wife. The only time they were both available was Monday
at noon.
As Monday rolled around, we went to visit them thinking they
wouldn’t be home or might not even be interested. We knocked on the door, and
his wife answered. By the looks of it, she didn’t seem interested at all. But
with a smile on our face we told her who we were and that her husband invited
us to come over. She told us she knew who we were and what we were trying to
do, but still asked if we wanted to come in. Our small talk led to the ultimate
question…”When were you baptized?” With this simple question she
opened up about how her family had been going through a rough time and she felt
like they needed to come to a church. We shared with her the miracle of how we
found her husband and testified to her that God is mindful of them and
that is why he had sent us to them. We later found out that as we prayed with
them that afternoon, she had felt the Spirit for the first time again in many
years.
We began teaching their family; the father was there for all the lessons. As we visited
on one particular night, we brought a member with us and planned on setting a
baptismal date with him. As the lesson progressed we felt that the member
should be the one to extend the baptismal invite. With no way of letting the
member know, we waited and were surprised when the member said, “I feel
that you are ready. I feel inspired to invite you to be baptized on July 5th.
Will you be baptized then?” Our jaws dropped, but even more so when this great father said
yes. He hadn’t smoked for four days and was so ready to give it up. So the baptism would be a whole week earlier
than planned!
The coming week we met with them every day. As
the baptismal interview drew closer and closer we got more and more nervous.
But when we asked him the baptismal interview questions, we were amazed at how
well he answered them. Like proud parents, we watched him come out of his
interview. He’d passed!
As he entered the water we thought of the life he had had
and the decisions he had made. Then to see him be raised up out of that water,
completely clean…what a miracle! Since then we have been able to witness his
ordination to the Aaronic priesthood and the strength that has been brought to
their entire family as they read the Book of Mormon and live the doctrines of
the gospel. We know that God’s hand really is in this work and that he is
preparing his children to receive the restored gospel. Our duty is to simply go
out and find them. How great is our calling!
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