To this day, William Winder doesn't know why he and his missionary companion knocked on Vic and Grace Rawlings' door that sunny day in 1963. The little book with addresses for that neighborhood in Durban, South Africa, had that house number crossed off. That means, "Don't knock, not interested."

Photo courtesy Rawlings family

William Winder, left, with missionary companion, John Lamb, right, taught the gospel to Vic and Grace Rawlings four decades ago. They recently learned of the contributions the Rawlingses have made to the Church.

Grace Rawlings believes maybe "an angel put his finger on it." She and her husband had never turned missionaries away. Nobody knows why their house number was crossed off.

But Elder Winder and Elder John Cardon Lamb knocked on the door that day. And the rest, as they say, is history. Except those two young missionaries serving in the South African Mission did not know the rest of the story for 40 years. They taught the gospel to the Rawlings couple, who had two young children at the time. He was ready, she wasn't. There were transfers, then home.

Then came the October 2006 general conference. Grandfathers now, Brother Winder of the Edgemont 21st Ward, Provo Utah Edgemont South Stake and Brother Lamb of the Lehi 26th Ward, Lehi Utah North Stake, received phone calls that took them back more than four decades. Coming to Salt Lake City were Vic and Grace Rawlings of the Pinetown Ward, Hillcrest South Africa Stake. And they were looking for "their" missionaries.

"We took a long while to get baptized," Brother Rawlings later told the Church News, "but they were the ones who converted us."

Through a series of events and the kindness of a stranger, Brother and Sister Rawlings first contacted Elder Winder, who called Elder Lamb. On Saturday, Sept. 30, Brother and Sister Rawlings attended the first session of general conference and met Brother Winder later at a friend's home. He drove them to his home in Provo, Utah, where Brother Lamb later joined them. It's difficult for the four of them to describe the reunion.

"I just can't tell you. I haven't got words for that," Brother Rawlings later said.

"It was a tremendous experience to see them again," Brother Winder added.

And, of course, they reminisced about how the four of them came together in 1963. "We actually visited their house by mistake," Brother Winder recalled. "We were tracting the neighborhood for the fourth time through and happened to knock on their door. We were certainly being led along that morning to find these wonderful people."

At the time, they were active in their church. They had two of their four children, the eldest was 6 and the youngest, 2. The Rawlings couple had grown up reading the Bible in their families, so when the missionaries began teaching them, they both took the lessons seriously.

Each day at 3:30 a.m., Brother Rawlings would rise and study the Book of Mormon, and then his university studies. "I would then work a full day, arrive home rather tired, and retire early to be able to start the new day at 3:30 a.m.," he recalled in a letter to Brother Winder and Brother Lamb.

At the same time, Sister Rawlings was cross-referencing the Book of Mormon with the Bible, comparing the teachings of the restored gospel with the teachings of other Christian churches.

Brother Rawlings got his answer first. "I got the same feeling reading the Book of Mormon as reading the Bible. I knew it was true."

About that time, the mission president, O. Layton Alldredge, went to Durban to conduct a wedding ceremony at which the Rawlingses were present. Brother Rawlings related how, after the ceremony, President Alldredge "walked straight to (Grace) and proceeded to discuss with her what she had been praying about, without her prompting him."

The mission president advised Brother Rawlings to wait for his wife. Six months later, after Elder Winder and Elder Lamb were gone, they were baptized. The Rawlingses had two more children and Brother Rawlings served as the first branch president in Pinetown, where they helped establish the Church, beginning with six families. That area is now a stake.

Brother Rawlings became a stake patriarch, and he and Sister Rawlings later served missions in the Johannesburg South Africa Temple and the family history center in Johannesburg. Their two sons and one daughter served missions, and one son is a high councilor. Brother and Sister Rawlings have 15 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

Those two missionaries who knocked on their door 40 years ago "touched the lives of all of our family, all of them," Brother Rawlings added.

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