Missionary Moments: One baptism
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When my husband and I were on our first stake mission in 1968, we had a wonderful spiritual experience. We were in the investigators class at Church when a young man was brought in and introduced to me. I was told, "This young man would like to hear about the gospel." Of course, I was excited.
I learned his name was John Thomas. He was in uniform and just came off his ship, the USS Princeton. I told him my husband, Elmo, was sick at home. I asked the young man to come home and have dinner with us. He said yes, and we had the first flannel board lesson.
The next time he came to shore, we taught him about the three degrees of glory, where we came from and where we're going. It was my turn to give the lesson.
After teaching him, I asked, "What do you think of that, John?" He didn't answer, so I asked again, "What do you think of that, John?"
He said, "This is the most beautiful thing I have ever heard." He said he felt the Spirit so strong that he was speechless.
We gave John all the discussions and he wanted to be baptized. He called his family, and they were strongly against his joining the Church. He called us and some tears were shed. He said, "What can I do? I love my family but how can I deny God?"
John was baptized. After he was out of the Navy, he stayed with us for a while and became active in the Long Beach (Calif.) 1st Ward.
He married a lovely girl named Thala. We went with them to the Mesa Arizona Temple where they were married and sealed for time and all eternity. We keep in touch at Christmas and receive pictures of the children, five girls and two boys. All are very active in the Church and have served missions.
They now live in Puyallup, Wash. Thala made a family tree with all 10 grandchildren and sent us a copy. In her letter, she wrote: "Truly our greatest blessing is our children and to be even more blessed to see them all obedient and living the gospel. See how many lives you have blessed with just one baptism."
We stopped by to see them this spring and had a wonderful family home evening. It had been 35 years since we saw them, so it was a great reunion.
— Jo Phillips, Seal Beach Ward, Long Beach California East Stake
