The Saturday after Thanksgiving, we had a wonderful opportunity to attend a baptism. This woman was a co-worker of his when they worked at Deloitte. She was in Tax and Jeff in Audit. Their desks were next to each other and Jeff went to the office probably a handful of times in 5 years of working there.
A few weeks before Thanksgiving, Jeff received an email from her, saying she was getting baptized and wanted to invite us all to come. She went through great lengths to find Jeff. It's been almost 3 years since he worked there and never used his personal email when he was there. Jeff responded and said we'd be happy to come. She then called him a few days later and asked him to give a talk on baptism. Sure. :)
Another co-worker of theirs was the one who helped her and answered all of her questions about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or Mormons. He and his family were coming down from Utah so he could baptize her.
Jeff couldn't remember one conversation with her about being a Mormon. She knew he was a 'BYU-guy' and so was this other co-worker.
The baptism was amazing - she was SOOOO happy! Jeff did a great job with his talk even though I spent most of the time in the hallway with Ammon and peaking in to make sure my kids weren't running amuck. There was a great turn-out of support too. We chatted with her afterwards and this was her story:
She'd been looking for a church to take her family too. They'd tried the Catholic church and her kids were BORED. (her words, not mine). Her kids wanted to go to church with their neighbors who must have talked about primary and how much fun it is. She went over to the neighbors (whom she knows quite well and the kids are best friends), and asked if she could attend church with them. Ummmmmm, yes! They offered to take the children if she didn't want to go and she said no, I'll go too. That was in August 2011 and she was baptized the Saturday after Thanksgiving 2011. WOW!
Another story: My niece is in junior high and one of her teachers went to high school with me. Now, if you know me, you know I don't talk to people I don't know. How do I make friends......I don't, it's very difficult. Well this girl was a year behind me in school so more than likely I NEVER, EVER, said a word to her. I looked her up in the year book and I did recognize her and her name, but again probably never talked to her in my high-school life time. The boy I was dating probably did, he was quite social and involved in student government - guess I like the more social ones. :) Anywho, I commented to Jeff that I'd never talked to her and wondered how she even knew who I was. Jeff (he's a very intelligent and inspired husband) said:
'Just because you never talked with her, doesn't mean she wasn't watching you.'
Oh........good point. My immediate thought was I hope I didn't do anything stupid. I'm sure if it was, she wouldn't have mentioned that she knew me to my niece.
Who's been influenced by your words and actions? You may never know. Take the time to thank those who have influenced you and may not know it. I have had many leaders and examples I wished I'd thanked, but was 'too busy'. I missed out on a great opportunity to show gratitude to them. Two that come to mind all the time have already passed away.
