“A while ago my bishop and priests quorum adviser challenged
our quorum to give away two copies of the Book of Mormon within a year. I took
the challenge to heart and always had a Book of Mormon on me (in the car, in my
backpack, etc.). Several people accepted copies, but nobody really showed any
further interest.
“Then one day in June, I was filling up my car with gasoline
after work and saw a coworker buying cigarettes. Because of his smoking and his
rough personality, I never thought about sharing the gospel with him. He came
over to talk to me, and we talked about music and movies. When I explained that
I don’t watch movies with vulgarity, violence, or immorality, the topic changed
to religion. I grabbed the Book of Mormon from the backseat of my car, wrote my
testimony inside the cover, and gave it to him.
“The next time I worked with him, I asked if he had read any
of it. He said, ‘Jeff, I read the introduction, and I know it’s true. I want to
know more and be baptized.’
“That really shocked me. I gave the missionaries his address
so that they could teach him, and I took him to church with me. He loved it. He
set a date for his baptism.
“Before his baptism, he told me that he had been offered a
really good job, but he had to act immediately. It was in Alaska, and he was
leaving in two days. So we found the address of the meetinghouse in town, and
then he left.
“Over the next few months we kept in touch, but he made no
progress toward baptism. Then one day he called and told me he had contacted
the missionaries and was going to be baptized that Saturday.
“Now he holds the Aaronic Priesthood and has blessed the
sacrament several times. (Jeffrey Olson, “Invite All to Come unto Christ: You
Never Know,” New Era, Sept 2011, AP14).
