Elder Stapleton,
First, a happy Father’s Day to you. Please know we love and sustain you in your calling and, though we are still getting acquainted, recognize you are a choice and chosen leader called of the Lord. We look forward to the blessing of having you visit our stake some day soon, we hope, and to be taught by you.
My apologies for the delay in sending you this email, as requested, about my personal missionary example.
My wife Vivienne and I have been persistent in our prayers, setting dates to have someone taught in our home. We have gone through November 23, 2014, February 1, 2015, April 15, 2015, and June 1, 2015 without success; or at least having someone taught in our home.
The success, of course, has been the constancy in our prayers and keeping the joy of sharing the gospel in the forefront of our minds and hearts. We have had many wonderful experiences inviting friends, but so far no one has accepted our invitation. We have had friends, including pastors of other churches, in our home for dinner; on occasion with the missionaries present, but still no one taught in our home.
However, we are beginning to see a very encouraging sign that the Lord is working with a neighbor.
At the end of our block lives a man and a woman, whom we’ve known for some time. Actually, we knew the man soon after moving to Oregon from Arizona in 1989. He was a member of the adjacent ward bishopric and some of his children were quite close friends with our children in school. Sadly, he and his wife got a divorce and he went inactive, eventually requesting his name be removed. We lost contact until about 10 years ago when he and his new wife, Lori, moved into our neighborhood.
Over the past 10 years we have tried to befriend them, even taking them to an Ensign Choir concert, but with little success in creating a deepening relationship. A turning point happened about six years ago when one of our sons, while in high school, one day saw Lori shoveling bark dust. On his own he went to help her. Needless to say, she was “won over” by the goodness of a teenager, who spontaneously jumped in to help.
Even with that, there was no significant progress until recently. A few months ago, my wife Vivienne invited Lori to attend her monthly book club meeting made up mostly of LDS women. That constant contact has deepened their friendship. Then the sister missionaries began to visit Lori (her husband Mike still keeps his distance). Just this past week, Lori happily responded to Vivienne’s invitation to attend Church (which she plans to do with us today) and suggested she would like to receive a Book of Mormon. A bit chagrined we hadn’t already given her one, we gladly presented her with her own copy two days ago.
It’s no coincidence, I’m sure, that our once-teenage son, who helped Lori years ago, is visiting us this week after he and his wife spent a year in Taiwan where he attended a language school before going on to his post-graduate studies. (He served a mission to Australia and came home speaking Mandarin, thanks to his many Chinese companions. He fell in love with the language and wants to teach Chinese at the college level.)
We are very encouraged that Lori will accept our invitation soon to be taught the gospel in our home in answer to our prayers for just such a miracle.
We welcome your prayers that all of this will move forward favorably and the gift of the gospel will be introduced again to this wonderful couple.
Warmly,
Crismon Lewis
President, Mount Hood Stake
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