Jan

Today Jan was baptized.  What a beautiful service.  What a beautiful Spirit there was during the service.

Jan was very nervous, but everything went smoothly and wonderfully.  You can see how nervous he was in the picture.  Diane and I got there before 11:30.  Jan wanted to meet me early so that he and I could practice how the baptism was be done.  We had already done it last Sunday, but he was nervous about it.

It was 10 minutes before 12 noon before we saw him.  He was walking with a woman.  It turns out that it was his friend who came from Bremen. 

Let me break here and tell you how things developed to this point.  His friend, mentioned above, originally introduced Jan to the church.  He moved to England were he was taught.  He would have been baptized there, but he needed to get back to Germany to fulfill family obligations.  That is how the sister missionaries here got involved.  

When Diane and I arrived in Germany, we told ourselves that even though we were assigned to an office job in IT, we wanted to get intimately involved in working with the missionaries.  When we heard about Jan, we immediately invited him over and had discussions with him.  Jan and I hit it off.  Jan and I became very close and we have taken a personal interest in helping him along the way.  

So, now, let's get back to today.  It was a tender mercy that he was walking to church with his friend.  We learned late yesterday afternoon that she planned to get to Jan's baptism by train.  There was a violent storm in northern Germany.  It knocked out the train system there.  She lives 4 hours away.  Not trusting the train system to be back in operation, she booked a flight to come.  The tender mercy is that they happened to come on the same U-bahn (subway/streetcar).  He saw her as he debarked at the station and they were able to walk together to the church.

Once inside, we changed and took pictures.  Before going into the service we FaceTimed with a wonderful senior missionary couple in England.  They had grown very close to Jan, also.

Like I said earlier, the service was wonderful.  Bro. Dicataldo (Italian) talked on Baptism.  He is always smiling and so happy.  You just can’t help smile back when he is talking.

Then came the baptism.  Jan was so nervous about the ordinance.  His health has gone downhill over the past 3 weeks.  He learned he has thrombosis.  (When he learned of that, he told me that he wanted to go through with the baptism.  He didn't want to leave this earth without being baptized.)

He expressed his nervousness even as we were entering the water.  He told me to be careful with his back and his neck.  They were feeling weak.  However, after the baptism and before we returned to the service, he thanked me for doing such a great job and how smoothly it went.  He was so happy and relieved.

We changed and when we got back to the service, a senior missionary sister shared her conversion story and they were just beginning to sing a hymn.  This was followed by a young missionary who has never taken piano lessons playing “I’m Trying to Be Like Jesus” on the piano.  The rendition was so beautiful, that the Spirit touched everyone in the room. 

Then Jan's friend spoke.  The words she said were perfect for Jan.  It has to be one of the best talks I’ve heard given about the Gift of the Holy Ghost at a baptism.  I spoke to her later about it and she told me that she got a lot of the information from a talk from an Apostle.  It wasn't quoted, so I still say she did a good job.

Soon, it was the end of the service.  I didn’t mention, but many of the attendees were Senior Missionaries.  We tried to put out the word, but it was last minute and the Senior Missionaries came out for support.  I think each one brought a dessert.  The table was covered and way too much for everyone. 

There happened to be another baptism for the other ward, so we left most of the food for them.

We FaceTimed with the senior couple from England again before we had to leave.  This couple will go home in about a month and a half.  What a beautiful way to depart from a mission.

You know, someone asked me after the service if this was going to be the highlight of my mission here in Germany.  I told them that it was my dream to come to Germany to see someone’s life change.  I told them that I have seen a change come over Jan.  I told them that his baptism was special, but when he gets the Gift of the Holy Ghost, I will be able to witness the greatest of change as he grows and matures in the gospel.  That is what I came here to see. 

I called Jan this evening to see how things are going and to ask him to prepare for who he wants to bestow the Gift of the Holy Ghost on him tomorrow.  He told me he would be honored if I would do that.  I would really like a member to do it but I didn’t tell him that.  I just politely agreed and told him I would love to.  You see, I know he is close to me, but I won't be here as long as the members will.
He told me something else that I don’t want ever to forget.  I know that he has faced and still is facing several burdens.  No fault of his own.  He told me when he got home things became very tense and stressful, but he said that today amid the turmoil he is surrounded with, for the first time in his life he feels “at peace."  How beautiful those words were to hear.  He thanked me again, reminding me that I had told him he would feel different after he was baptized.  He told me that, though he doesn’t expect his trials to end soon, he now has the strength and conviction to know that they will get better because the Lord has blessed him.

I told Jan that he is very special and I feel blessed just to know him.  Actually, I feel doubly blessed.  My wife is such a great support and not only that, but she has given me so much advice in helping me to help Jan to come unto Christ.