Sister & Elder Lindsay with Janette & Brian Folk, Sr.
If full-time missionaries could have the opportunity to personally plan their final act of service on the day of their departure for home, it would undoubtedly be to perform a baptism or some other priesthood ordinance in support of building the Kingdom of God here on the earth. Imagine the joy that Sister Lindsay and I experienced when we were blessed to be able to lead the non-member wife in a part-member family into the waters of baptism; and then, to confer the Melchizedek priesthood upon her husband while ordaining him to be an elder.
Brian Folk, Sr. first joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints about sixteen years ago; but in the ensuing years, his involvement with the Church was sporadic at best. We first met Janette when she came to Church with two or three of their sons last October. Not recognizing her as someone we had previously met, we immediately introduced ourselves and asked if we might stop by the family home to visit during the coming week. Assuming that we wanted to meet her husband who was a less-active member, Janette said, "Yes," and the appointment was set for the following Tuesday.
Janette and Brian Folk have six sons, five of whom are still at home. Brian, Jr. is a senior in high school, and his younger brothers are Geoffery (age 11), Austin (age 6), Daniel (age 3), and Derrick (age 1). From our very first meeting with the Folks, we were accepted by everyone as being family members. Brother and Sister Folk insisted that we eat dinner with them each week when we came to teach the gospel in the home, because "that's what families are supposed to do when missionaries come to visit!"
We taught the Folks how to pray, encouraged them to read the scriptures, answered their questions about the restored gospel, and invited them each week to attend Church. We also showed them how to plan and conduct a weekly family home evening program and gave them a framed chart that gives everyone in the family an opportunity on a rotating basis to perform each family home evening assignment (prayers, lesson, music, family game or activity, and dessert).
Over time, incredible changes occurred in the home as the Holy Ghost began to positively influence each member of the family. Hearts were touched, and the good seed of the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ began to sprout and grow. When Janette was convinced that the Lord's Church has indeed been restored to the earth, she committed to baptism, and she asked me to perform the ordinance. During this same period of time, Brian, Sr. admitted that while he had previously joined the Church, he was not really converted. Through prayerful study of the scriptures and other related materials that we provided, Brother Folk was truly converted and developed an earnest desire to have his family together with him in the Church. He asked me to confer the priesthood and ordain him an elder, which was done immediately after his wife's baptism.
What a wonderful gift from Heavenly Father to allow Sister Lindsay and me to be instruments in the Lord's hands to unite this family in the Church at the end of our service in the Maryland Baltimore Mission.
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