When Elder Christian Richter and his companion were transferred to open the rural community of TaiBao, Taiwan, they found days hot and investigators few.

On the second day in this new city, the missionaries began eating at a small family-owned diner located below their apartment. During the coming weeks, then months, they enjoyed the Chinese cuisine of the Huang family diner.

They soon became best of friends with Mr. and Mrs. Huang, and their three children, Mary, 14, Angel, 11, and Hank, 10. Eating with the Huangs was like eating at home.

Questions of the Church came up in the course of conversation, but there never seemed a way to get the family to attend Sunday meetings since there was no chapel in TaiBao at the time.

Still, friendship and trust continued to grow as the missionaries shared their testimonies. After seven weeks, having eaten lunch there every weekday, transfers sent Elder Brandt Reese to work with Elder Richter. The Huang family was intrigued with this 6-foot-2 cowboy from southern Utah and allowed him to practice Chinese while teaching the gospel.

Soon, the Huang family was praying. Weeks later, they attended Sunday meetings when the TaiBao chapel opened in a rented building. Each lunch hour presented new opportunities to teach. The missionaries were now as fond of the children as the children were of the missionaries.

Just as Mrs. Huang accepted the invitation to be baptized, Elder Richter was transferred to Tainan, missing her baptism and the baptism of two children, Mary and Hank.

The father was wrestling with intense opposition from his family to not join, but soon declared his faith when sharing a tearful testimony during his wife's baptism.

"When I heard that Brother Huang was about to be baptized, I received permission to call and congratulate him," said Elder Richter. "On the phone, Brother Huang told me how that very day his sisters had scolded him; yelling at him and demanding that he not betray his parents and their Taoist roots.

"I didn't know what to say," Elder Richter said, "so I asked, 'Well, what do you think you should do?'

"His answer made me smile. 'I don't have a long sleeve white shirt yet,' he said. 'I'd better get one tomorrow. …'

"When we hung up, I got on my knees and thanked Heavenly Father for the privilege of meeting such a wonderful family," Elder Richter said.

Brother Huang and his daughter Angel were baptized in October 2008, a month after his wife.

— Shaun D. Stahle