"Another Flashback for President Lisonbee!"

If the success of an elder's mission is comparable to the size of the ties he wore then David's mission as a young man was a huge success.


But this post isn't about the tie he is wearing but about the experience he had with the good people pictured in this photo as well.

David taught this couple after meeting the man, José in the main square in a park in Campinas, Brazil.When he went to José's house to teach him he saw that his house was full of many religious statues, the biggest being a 6 foot statue of Christ on the cross in his living room. It was so big that there was hardly any room for the furniture or for people.

José was a deeply devout Christian and he was very proud of this statue. He paid a lot of money for it. When he and his wife prayed about the message of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ José and his wife received a witness that it was true and they were baptized. After teaching José that our Church does not believe in using icons, statues or crucifixes they asked him to remove the large statue from his home. David and his companion offered to help him. It took both of them using all their strength to carry it to the local Catholic Church and leave it as a donation there. David was very touched by the sacrifice that José was so willing to make. He and his wife had great faith. 

David's companion, Elder Rob MacArthur who is the head Golf Pro at Riverside Country Club also sporting a rather large tie.

When David baptized them he remembers how freezing cold the water in the font was. David says it was so cold that during the baptism he could barely put his hand in it. But both José and his wife came forth out of the water with great smiles and exhibiting much joy nonetheless. After the baptism, David apologized to them for the cold water. They both said that the water wasn't cold at all and that in fact they wondered how they had managed to get it to be so warm. David wrote in his journal that this was just another mission miracle that he would always remember.

Six months later José was called to be the Elder's Quorum President in the ward there. Both José and his wife have since passed away, but his example of faith is something that David will always remember.