It was late morning or early afternoon when we were riding
on our bicycles alongside President Baird that Elder Finlinson received an
impression that we ought to pay a visit to the grandmother of one of our
investigators, Shoei. Having ample time in our possession, President Baird and
I both readily agreed to this course of action and we promptly set off to
accomplish this task. We rode over to
the neighborhood and parked our bikes outside the front of the house. Before we knocked on the door, however, Elder
Finlinson revealed to President Baird and myself some new information which he
had hitherto failed to mention, namely that the last time we had visited here
the grandmother had told us to never come back.
Nevertheless, we followed through with the course we had set out upon
and knocked on the door.
The grandmother opened the door to us and, to our surprise
and relief, invited us in. As we stepped
in, we realized someone else was there as well!
Shoei was there !! Apparently, he
had a doctor’s appointment that day, and was staying at his grandmother’s
residence until that time. We (Elder
Finlinson and I) then started playing with Shoei while President Baird talked
to his grandmother about various subjects.
Eventually, it came to a point where we were about to leave when
President Baird asked her about the situation concerning Shoei and
baptism. Shoei had been an on and off investigator
for about the space of two years now, due in part to an uncle he lives with
that was very much against the missionaries coming over. This situation had resulted in numerous
problems and setbacks which in turn had caused Shoei’s chances of salvation to
dwindle down almost to nothing.
Unable to meet or teach Shoei at his home, his grandmother
then noted that their one glimmer of hope lay in the hands of Brother
Fujii. Brother Fujii was an active,
God-fearing member who lived in the Toyama Ward and had almost a grandfatherly
relationship with Shoei. He took him and
his brother camping, did activities with them, and even had restored members of
the family (namely this same grandmother) to activity. It was at this point that Elder Finlinson
laid out the suggestion, “What if we taught him at Brother Fujii’s house?” The grandmother replied that that would be
wonderful and would provide a perfect solution to the problem.
This situation only proved to be even better for our schedule
since the person we were next scheduled to meet was in fact Brother Fujii. We biked over to his house and, instead of
going over our pre-prepared lesson, informed him of Shoei’s situation. Hearing our story, Brother Fujii promptly
replied that he would take care of everything.
If we showed up, he would have Shoei ready and waiting, and that is
exactly what happened. A few short weeks
later, Shoei entered the waters of baptism and became a member of the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The
spirit guided us that day and I will ever be thankful that we listened to and
followed the impressions that my companion received.
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| From left: Elder Baker, Elder Finlinson, Bro. Fujii, Shoei's older brother, Shoei, and Shoei's mother Yoshioka Shimai |
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