Faith precedes the miracle!

      I am beginning to see a pattern in all my recent blog posts... they all pertain to faith. What can I say, I love faith. Faith is such a broad subject. There are so many ways to describe and teach and define faith. It all kind of depends on what lesson you are aiming to teach, in this post I want to talk about the power that can come when you walk in faith. 

    This past week I was studying a lot in the New Testament, Matthew 4 to be specific. We read about James and John just leaving their ships and livelihood in order to follow Jesus Christ. How did they do it? They had faith. They trusted even though they couldn't see completely the outcomes of their walking they knew that they were walking in the right direction. Walking in faith. 

    In the Doctrine and Covenants 35 we learn that faith precedes the miracle. I truly believe that ANYTHING and EVERYTHING is possible because of faith! Faith truly is THE power. It was by faith that Moses parted the Red Sea.It was by faith that Nephi and his family made it to the America's. And it was by faith that Joseph Smith saw God the Father and his son Jesus Christ. 

     Faith has preceded a miracle so many times in church history, but today I want to take a minute to tell you about a girl that has more faith than anyone I know... 

     Su is 23 and had been going to church on and off in a small town called Stevenage, England for a little over 4 years. She had meet with missionaries a couple times over the years but something always cut it off. Her sister had gotten baptized just a week or so before we met Su. Su attended her sister’s baptisms and the missionaries once again got her to agree to meet them, except she didn’t lived in Stevenage anymore. She lived in a little place called Hemel Hempstead which was in our area. They called us and gave us her number and we set up a time to go see her. We instantly knew she was what you call a “golden investigator.” She knew more about the church than anyone I had ever taught. She had the gospel library app and read the Book of Mormon several times a week. Her only concern was that she didn’t know how she would make it through reading all the Teachings of the Presidents books, because “there are so many.” We saw Su at least 3 times a week until her baptism 4 weeks later. 

     She was so excited. I have never seen anyone so excited for their baptism. She came out of the changing room literally skipping around the church. The bishop from Stevenage, the first ward she attended, was even coming to baptize her. Baptisms in Watford were always held after church, so we walk in for church with Su and the chapel is abnormally cold. A member of the bishopric informed us that the heating wasn’t working that day and suggested that we might want to keep our coats on.

    We sat down in the chapel and thought nothing more of it. During the opening hymn for sacrament meeting that same member of the bishopric came and sat on the end of our row. He whispered in my ear for a bit, then he returned to the stand. I turned to my companion Sister Wright with wide eyes and said, “The heating isn’t working, which means the boiler isn’t working, which means there is no hot water for the baptism.” She responded, “Well what do we do??” “I guess we boil water.” Was my response. Brother Andrews, the member of the bishopric returned back to our row and told me the bishop wanted to postpone the baptism. I looked at him and said, “No. We will not postpone the baptism.” He didn’t ask questions, went and talked to the bishop again, and came back to us and told us there would be an emergency meeting in the bishop’s office right after sacrament meeting. 

    If you ask Sister Wright and I, that was THE longest sacrament meeting of our lives. I don't think either of us have prayed more in the coarse of one hour than we did that day. Let me also explain that this Sunday was the last Sunday of the month and the transfer. We weren't one hundred percent sure, but we had a feeling that one of us would be moving that week and neither of us wanted to miss Su's special day. 

   Not only was this a special day for our friend Su, our friend Joseph was also scheduled to be baptized on this day. Joseph was a small, soft-spoken Ghanian. I had never seen someone grasp onto the Book of Mormon the way Joseph did. He carried it with him literally everywhere he went. 

   Sacrament meeting ended and we went into the bishop’s office. It was us, the elders, the ward mission leader, the bishop, a member of the stake presidency, Joseph,  and Su. We opened with a prayer and then the bishop explained the whole situation. He laid out two options: we can push the baptism back or Su can be baptized in cold water. He then looked at her and said, “Su, what would you like to do?” With no hesitation, not even an exhale, she responded, “I’ll be baptized in cold water.” The bishop, I think a little shocked at her answer, said, “what if the bishop from Stevenage gets here and doesn’t want to get in the cold water?” Again not a second of hesitation before one of the elders, Elder Mecham, declared, “I’ll get in.” Su with a head nod said, “Then Elder Mecham will baptize me.” Bishop then looked at Joseph and asked Joseph what he would like to do. Joseph mumbled something in his soft broken english. And Bishop said, "Okay Su will get baptized in freezing cold water and Joseph will wait until next week." I wasn't completely sure if that was what Joseph mumbled so I looked at him and asked for clarification. Bishop quickly cut me off and said that his decision was already made and we shouldn't try to convince him. 

       I shut my mouth and sat there feeling confused because I was simply just making sure we hadn't already put words into his mouth. Bishop then looked at me, I already feeling very divided in faith, and asked if I would offer the closing prayer and I did. Personally, I don't think I have ever said a more, what's the word, maybe blunt, vocal prayer in my life. I exhorted with all my energy of heart that Heavenly Father would perform a miracle, that each and everyone of us would have the faith sufficient to witness a miracle, and that we could all be united in this great cause. 

       Of course this story would be great if it just ended there, but this is the Lord’s work. No sooner had we said amen to the closing prayer than the same Brother Andrews opened the door to the bishop’s office and said “The boiler is working.” Su and Joseph were both baptized that day in warm water. I have often looked back and pondered on that experience. I cannot say for certain, but I often wonder if God’s plan never was for Su and Joseph to get baptized in cold water, or if He just wanted to test each and everyone of us and our faith. 

     This is a great story, it is uplifting and edifying. We learn many examples of great faith, faith that President Packer described it like this: “There is another kind of faith, rare indeed. This is the kind of faith that causes things to happen. It is the kind of faith that is worthy and prepared and unyielding, and it calls forth things that otherwise would not be. It is the kind of faith that moves people. It is the kind of faith that sometimes moves things.” But what are we going to do about it? How are we going to develop that kind of faith?

    Wait to find out some of my thoughts and ideas in my next blog post, "Faith is our SUPERPOWER!"