Double Whammy

I met two people this week that I really appreciated.

The first one was a referral that we got a couple weeks ago with whom we had set a meeting for this week. We went to his house and he warmly invited us in. As we began talking, he expressed to us that he had read the Book of Mormon, asked us for the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price, told us that he loves the gospel library app, took a Book of Mormon for his daughter... As you can guess, we were pretty shocked. He already knew the role of Joseph Smith so we did not spend any time there. We went straight to the gospel of Jesus Christ because he asked us if we could teach him how to repent. He has some worries that will keep him from baptism for a while, but it is his goal and we hope to help him.

The next one was a man that we met a couple weeks ago too. We were in the park and we know that we were there to see a miracle. We met the people that we thought were our miracle. It turns out that they weren't and so we walked away. Elder Kelsey asked, "where should we go?" I looked around and said, "there it is." We walked swiftly to a couple and started talking to them. The man was very kind and his job is to teach people how to be compassionate. I asked him when we could see him again and he said, "that's tempting." I said, "I know, so when can we see each other again." He didn't know his schedule too well so we took his number.

Fast forward to this week.

We called him up and set a meeting for Saturday. It was about ten minutes past the time and so I thought that he wasn't going to come. However, at that moment, he walked around the corner and apologized for being late. After a quick tour of the chapel, we looked for a room and sat down together. He is a very smart man that studied to be a catholic priest. We asked why he didn't become one and he explained that it was because he knew that the bible was compiled by men, many things have been changed and the religion didn't follow what's written in the bible. I told him that he was exactly right and then elder Kelsey and I presented the message of the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. After we described the authority that Jesus had, he said, "oh, so the restoration means that it's a return to the purity of the doctrine taught by Jesus Christ. It was incredible to see how much sense that it made in his head. We finished the message and he sat quietly. I could tell that he was thinking. He then explained, "I'm trying to decide my next step. Is it to read the Book of Mormon? Is that what you would counsel me?" We of course said yes and asked him, as he receives a testimony of the book, if he would be baptized. He understood the progression and agreed to pray right there. He went on to offer possibly the most sincere prayer I have ever heard. After we said amen, I told him that it was one of the most sincere prayers I have ever heard and he broke into tears.

I don't really understand what happened on these two occasions but I know that God just stepped into the lives of two men, and I was there to witness it.

Love,
Elder Marshall Underwood