Mike has been investigating
the church for about 3 years, and the Elders called him" an eternagator", or an
eternal investigator! He had lots of trouble with the word of wisdom, mainly
coffee and smoking. He lives alone with
his dog in a trailer and is kind of a loner but seemed somewhat receptive to the Gospel message.
The Elders taught him and taught him and didn’t see very much progress. He was pretty good about coming to church, and had to get a ride because he had lost his drivers license. So he came in the Pearce’s (he lives in Warsaw) and would stay until they finished with all of their responsibilities, which was often about 6-7 hours later! Then
when the sisters came, he seemed to turn a corner. I don’t think that they did
much differently than the Elders, but he finally found the willpower to stop
smoking and give up coffee.
He was interviewed by President Jacobs, President Stratford and they said that yes, he was ready and worthy to be baptized, which was wonderful news! He was quite excited!
He was baptized on St. Patrick’s day and it was a very nice
service. He asked Elder LaFleur to
return and baptize him, which he did. We bought him a white shirt and Paul gave
him a few ties and President Jacobs bought him a pair of dress pants.
He cut his hair and looked so nice!
Paul spent most of the day filling the font and setting up chairs. He also conducted the service. Kim prepared the program, the video presentation and led the music as well as helped make the refreshments which we served afterward. Sisters Hall and Wolfe, Elders Cobabe, Jones and Cox also came back to attend. President and Sister Stratford, President Birch and the Alldredges also came which was so nice.
It was one of the most
spiritual baptisms that we have ever attended!
He will be a great asset to our branch!
He loves studying the scriptures and calls us and the sisters all the
time for pronunciation, observations and insights!
What a blessing the Gospel is to help make good men better!
