Convert Baptisms!

Hey kiddies, this is how it all went down. Living here in Utah, we have a lot of child-of-record baptisms. We have a lot of 9-year-old child baptisms. But we don't (at least in my ward) see many adult convert baptisms. Most the folks are either active LDS, less active LDS, grew up LDS and don't care now, grew up LDS and got excommunicated, or legitimately follow another religious philosophy. But we had some success recently!

I was talking to the Sister Missionaries one day in a meeting and they asked for referrals (as they are wont to do). We have a lady on our records, Jane Doe*, who no one in the ward has met. She moved in about 2 years ago, but she'd never attended our ward and we admittedly didn't do a great job of seeking her out. I told the sisters to go find Jane and see what her story was. I assumed she was a single lady and the sisters may have some success.

The sisters visited Jane's house and found a man there. They asked him if he was interested in hearing more about the LDS church and he said, "Actually, I am." There were no ladies in the house, so the sisters couldn't enter and instead gave him the first discussion on the doorstep. He soaked it up. A return appointment was made for a few days later.

Turns out Jane Doe is married and has 13- and 7-year-old sons. Jane's the only member in the family. Well, with John Doe** now taking discussions, it was pretty much like they were teaching the whole family. Jane hadn't been to church in quite some time and couldn't provide much insight to John. I attended one of the discussions and was impressed with how genuinuely interested John and the family were in attending church and eventually getting baptized. John was fairly concerned at how his family would react to his decision and we tried to provide some comfort / support.

The baptism happened last Sunday while I was in Hawaii, but I'm told it was very good. John reported to me that people at work or elsewhere would ask how it went and he said, "It was like I had a baptism hangover...I couldn't find the right words and would mumble and slur, but it was amazing!" Both he and his 13-year-old son (hmm...we'll call him Mack) got baptized.

I had the opportunity to confirm both today during Sacrament Meeting. It was a good opportunity for the ward to see this, too, because everyone was excited and was glad to see a confirmation separate from the usual kid-during-stake-baptism ritual we do when we baptize folks like a factory. Wohoo! This was all about having the right people (missionaries) in the right place (John's doorstep) at the right time (after a lifetime of the Lord softening John's heart and opening his mind).

* Her name has been changed to preserve privacy and add humor to this post.
** His name has also been changed. I hope you didn't really need the note to explain this. Just how many Jane and John Doe's do you really know?