Real Intent by: Elder "C"

Not all of a missionary's "contacts" come from knocking on doors.  This young man we taught the gospel over the backyard fence.  He was a young man, only twenty-eight years of age, lived next door to the apartment we were renting.

This man was extremly intelligent-well read, well versed in the current affairs of the world-and an atheist,  he felt that if there was a God, as we had explained our conception of God to him, that God would not have created the mess in Christianity that is prevalent in the world today.  Therefore, he concluded that is prevalent in the world today.  Therefore, he concluded that there was no God.  But he also believed that to be able to communicate with a Supreme Being would be one of the most sublime experience in the world-an experience which he said he had never felt before, nor did he believe would ever happen.

Spiritually, the Church was not of interest to him, but he enjoyed comparing the doctrines of the Church with other churches, both Christian and non-Christian.  As with any new subject that caught his interest, he delved deeply into the subject, reading the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, Pearl of Great price, and Talmage's Jesus the Christ in just a matter of weeks.

As there "Over the backyard" discussions continues, we soon exhausted our resources, without any indication that he was gaining testimony from his extensive reading, or our discussions.  In our frustration at not knowing how to better proceed, we began to encourage the man to pray to gain a spiritual testimony of the gospel, instead of just  studying it as a sociological organization.  As a result of our persistence, finally one night he said,  "I'll put your teaching to a test.  I'll pray, and if I recieve an answer, I'll join your Church. If not, you can never come back into my home as a minister!"

We agreed to those terms.
My companion and I retired to bed about ten o'clock that night, as we usually did.  We sound asleep when the phone rang.  I was little groggy as I answered the phone, and on the other end was our next door neighbor, obviosly very excited.

"Elders!Come over, quick!" he said.  "I've got to see you.  Right now!"

"It's late," I mumbled.  "It's one o'clock in the morning!"
"I know it's late, but I've got to talk to you. Come quick!"
So we quickly dressed and went to his home to find him sitting on the sofa, shaking, obviously very upset, and very white.  He exclaimed very excitedly,  "Elders, I've got to be baptized! Tonight!"

We looked at our watches and said, "It's only a little after one o'clock in the morning.  The water would be cold.  Besides the chapel is locked."

"I don't care! I'll go get baptized in the river! We've got to do it right now!"
"Well, what happend?" we asked.
"Elders," he said, "something wonderful happend tonight! I suppose the most wonderful thing I've ever experience.  I was able to communicate with a source higher than my self.  A Supreme Being! I do believe in God, Elders! In fact," he said,  "I know there's a God!"

He then went on to relate what had happened to him that night.  He had waited until his family had gone to bed that evening to fulfill the commitment that he had made to us to test prayer, and see if it really did work; to find out if there really was a Father in heaven and put the Book of Mormon and the truthfulness of the gospel to the test.

He prayed as we had told him to, although very mechanically.  When he got up after having not felt anything, he said to himself, "Well, that's just what I expected-nothing!"

But, as he sat there thinking about that prayer, he said, "I thought to my self that if there was a God as the elders told me there was, he probably would not have answered that prayer because of the motives that I had.  I was doing this purely for an intellectual exercise.  I was just curious about this knowledge merely from a worldly standpoint."

He then began to wonder what would happen if he promised God, if there was a God, that he would join his Church and serve him and build up his kingdom on earth, if he would only communicate with him tell him the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon.

So this young man again down by the side of his bed and pryaed with a different intent,  And as he started to pray, the Spirit of the Lord came upon him to such an extent that, as he reached out to touch his wife to awaken her, he found that he could not, as he was paralyzed.  He could not move.

Then his eyes were opened, and a vision of the story of the Book of Mormon was unfolded to him.  He saw Joseph recieving the "Golden Plates," the translation of the Book of Mormon, and the apostles giving Josep Smith and Oliver Cowdery the priesthood.

After the vision left him, he immediately called my companion and we requesting, almost demanding, baptism into the Lord's Church.  The Lord had honored his sincere request for a knowledge of the truth, and now he was determined to keep his commitment to that Supreme Being.

This man is now the branch president in his small community, having been truly converted by the communication that he experienced that night with our Father in heaven.

***The End***

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