The miracle of Joel

 We've written about the occurrence of baptisms happening in India this past year and all have been wonderful to us and were a cause for rejoicing. But this last and final one is pretty special. Joel's baptism is an answer to one of our personal prayers. From the start of our full-time mission, we had a desire and a prayer that we could be instrumental in bringing even one soul to believe in Jesus Christ. Though we weren't called to be proselyting missionaries per se, we professed in prayer that our "overarching and undergirding" desire was to bring souls to Christ, no matter if we were serving in the FamilySearch library, a mission office, or the Young Adults of Coimbatore, India. It's all been for the same purpose. The reality was, as we gave away dozens of contact cards and Books of Mormon, we saw no fruit from our labors and this blessing eluded us. I would get my hopes up every time we met someone new that this was the One. It's been my personal test of faith to see if I'd keep persevering or get cynical and stop trying. It seems to come so easy for others. I think of my Great Great Great Grandfather, Wilford Woodruff, who preached the restored Gospel gospel of Christ in England and converted entire congregations. This is my heritage after all! So although it was discouraging, we just kept trying; from Ann, to Balu, to Vadivu, to Kalaivanan, to Vivek, to Joyce, to Jess, to Juli, to Avi, to Ishani, and some others whose names we can't rightly remember. Then along comes Joel. We just immediately connected to him. He came to the church on his own accord as you recall. Just like the others, we offered the Book of Mormon to him that we told him would change his life. But the difference is Joel actually opened the book and read it with a humble heart. And the Holy Spirit did the rest to convince his heart and mind. Could the Lord's timing have been any more precise? I mean, how down to the wire could it get? He waited for our VERY LAST Sunday in India to grant us this blessing to fullfil the desired prayer of our hearts. So I will remember that. He often waits to the end of the 4th watch, after we've exerted all our own efforts before he grants the miracle or blessing. 

Joel's ancestors came to India from Portugal and settled in Goa, thus his non-Indian surname. He was raised in the Catholic Church by his parents and was even an altar boy at the age of 10. (Thank you parents, for planting those seeds of faith in him and his Christian school as well, that exposed him to prayer every day).  His surname and his heritage allowed him to be categorized by the Indian government as a Christian which allows baptism in his case. When Joel was a teen, his mother left the Catholic Church to join a Protestant church but his father currently has allegiance to the former. I'm conjecturing that as a result of his family's disagreements about religion, Joel was disillusioned by it all and became an Atheist, putting his trust in science and other man-made things. At least that's how he labeled himself the first time we met him. But he also expressed to us that the nihilism that came with a disbelief in God gave his life an existential lack of meaning. Fortunately for him and us, he was not a cocky know-it-all yet a voracious reader with a thirst for knowledge and was willing to be taught a new approach to faith in Jesus Christ that was neither Catholicism nor Protestantism but a restored church of high liturgy (the temple) like Catholicism and the low liturgy (the church meetings) like Protestantism. The Restored Church of Jesus Christ is also the perfect marriage between the 

Old Testament           &     New Testament

Prophets                             Apostles

Temples                              Chapels

Patriarchal Blessings       Gifts of the Spirit 

The House of Israel          The Body of Christ

Physical Gathering           Spiritual Gathering

Holy One of Israel             Savior and Redeemer

Jehovah                               Jesus Christ

There's only one church like it on the earth, and it is the true Church of Jesus Christ. I testify of it. If you're looking only for good fruits in a church you will find them in great abundance too, for by their fruits ye also can know the truth. So back to Joel, he took the challenge to read the Book of Mormon and to plant the seed of faith in his unbelieving heart. We chuckled when he described in a text that he was "arousing his faculties". We knew he was quoting Alma the prophet. A really good sign! Initially, he and Rob worked out a buddy reporting system to help him stop drinking coffee. He said the blessings were already coming to him in that he was sleeping deeper and was less jittery. I wish I could quote you all the texts he sent to us throughout his quest for finding the truth. Imagine our joy when he went up to the pulpit this last Fast and Testimony Meeting and shared his journey thus far and professed his faith and announced he wanted to receive baptism. Oh if only we could've been Pentecostal and Evangelical for just one moment, to jump up and shout Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!! But the Spirit restrained us from such boisterous outbursts. But inwardly, we were over the moon! 

The members of the ward have already rallied round him and offered him a sense of belonging to a church family.

Sister Reji, her daughter Karol, son-in-law Abner and baby Ezekiel 

And of course, the full-time elders have been his good friends and teachers through these last months, teaching him the discussions and answering his questions. 

                          A band of Brothers 

                  He's become like a son to us

         Getting lessons in tying his own tie

What a magnificent way to end one season of our 4-fold mission! It was a blessed but also bittersweet day saying goodbye to all the dear saints who came to his baptism. It feels very abrupt to say goodbye to Joel too since we've been so involved in his spiritual progress but thanks to the blessings of technology, we can stay in touch and stay close. Plus we have full confidence in the Whitefield Ward that they will continue to love and nurture Joel. Goodbye Joel. Goodbye India. We have been changed by you. We love you. We'll miss you deeply. 

Now we pack, and squeeze in a few last minute things like lunch with the ex-pat ladies, a final Mundi dinner, shipping off many accumulated items and getting new budgetary specs and dental care. And then in 2 more days we will depart out of the land...

"Now I say unto you...what have ye against being baptized in the name of the Lord, as a witness before him that ye have entered into a covenant with him, that ye will serve him and keep his commandments that he may pour out his Spirit more abundantly upon you?

And now, when the people had heard these words, they clapped their hands for joy, and exclaimed: This is the desire of our hearts.

Mosiah 18: 10-11