In November 1970, I left the San Antonio (Chile) Branch of the Chilean Mission and took a bus to Santiago to prepare to leave for my home in Roseville, Calif. I was excited about the prospects after a two-year mission, but sad to leave a country and people I had learned to love deeply. Part of the routine for every departing missionary was an interview with the mission president. I had served the second year of my mission under President J. Donal Earl of Arizona.

President Earl had worked with the saints of Chile to prepare them for the establishment of stakes, wards and a future temple. This, together with the size of the mission — Chile stretches over 2,700 miles along the west coast of South America — made it difficult for him to meet frequently with the missionaries. As he interviewed me the day before I departed, he asked, " Elder, has your father, Ray, joined the Church while you have been serving?" I replied, "No, he hasn't."

President Earl asked, "Has he been going to Church?" I answered that it was my understanding that he had started attending with my mother and brother. He then stated, "Elder, your mission is not over until your father has joined the Church."

I was astonished and replied, "You do not know this man. He is a wonderful, supportive father, but he smokes, drinks coffee and I don't believe he is interested in joining the Church." The response came, "That's fine. Your mission is not completed until your father is baptized."

I realized that further protest would be futile. I felt a tremendous burden and even some doubt.

After I arrived home we acted quickly. The following Monday we held our first-ever family home evening. The purpose was for me to "tell the story of my mission." At the end I bore my testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel. We knelt in prayer, each of us praying, including Dad. At the end of the prayers, my father asked, "What do I do next?"

He was baptized seven weeks later in the Roseville California Stake Center. Our family was sealed in the Oakland California Temple on April 1, 1972. — Gary V. Davis, Roseville (Calif.) 7th Ward