BREDA, Netherlands — We were newlyweds, married only a couple of months in the summer of 1970 when missionaries knocked on our door in the Netherlands. They asked my wife for me, but I was not home. They left and never returned.

However, six years later, at another address, missionaries again knocked on the door and asked for the man of the house. Again my wife told them I wasn't there. This time the missionaries kept returning. My wife told me that Americans came to the door and because they asked for me, she assumed that I must know them.

But I didn't know any Americans. On very hot summer day in July 1976, the missionaries visited again and this time I just happened to pull into the driveway.

The missionaries introduced themselves with an unmistakable accent. They were nicely dressed and very polite. They asked if they could tell me something about the gospel. I marveled that they came all the way from America to do so. It must be something very special I thought. They gave an introduction and a message which led to my baptism 15 months later.

My wife, however, was not at all interested and didn't want to hear anything about this "strange" religion. In the meantime the family was growing with two boys. As a convert, it was challenging for me to not only lead my family in righteousness, but also to lead the family in prayer.

It is a difficult thing to do when you have never learned to pray. I lacked practice, and I also wondered how my wife and children would react.

Then Christmas was coming, two months after my baptism. The years before it had become a family tradition to tell the children about the birth of Jesus Christ from the Bible, or read a Christmas story. But the family had never prayed together.

Perhaps, I thought, this would be a good opportunity to start praying as a family. It was Christmas morning. The living room was beautifully decorated with a Christmas tree with lights and candles burning. There was soft music from The Mormon Tabernacle Choir from a record I had received earlier from the missionaries. But I could only think about what I wanted to say in the prayer. I had a heavy heart for the task I had set for myself.

The family gathered around the nicely set table and after reading about the birth of Jesus Christ, I pulled myself together . . . and led my family in prayer. My wife and children reacted like it was the most normal thing to do, not aware of how I had prepared myself to do this important thing.

The next day my parents came for dinner. This time it was perhaps even more difficult to say a prayer in front of parents that had never taught me to pray.

When Christmas was over, I looked back with gratitude because this was a turning point in the life of me and my family.

Five years later my oldest son was baptized. Another two years later, my second son was baptized. Seventeen years after I joined, my wife was baptized. Our first son served a mission in America and was married a couple of years after his return. His wife was not a member then but was baptized six months after their marriage. They now have a little girl of two years and a second child will be born this Christmas. This child will also be born in the covenant.

The youngest son made it possible for his best friend to go on a mission by caring for his mother who was in bad health. My wife and I are now serving our second mission after many years of Church service in the Netherlands.

All this is the blessing for being obedient and for making this difficult decision that Christmas in 1977.

Ineke and Charles Mac Lean of the Antwerp Belgium Stake are currently serving in the Austria Vienna Mission.