Two Books and an Organ

The missionaries asked my Relief Society counselor and me to visit an elderly lady investigator in an older section of Cleveland. When she played “Come, Come, Ye Saints” on her organ for us, we were very surprised.

“How do you like that hymn?” she asked. “It is very special to me.” The small, dark-haired lady in her late seventies explained that two missionaries had spent some time in her home when she was a little girl. Her parents had invited them to eat dinner and stay the night.

When one missionary had commented on the family’s beautifully carved wooden organ, she recalled, her father had offered to play for them. After he had played a few familiar songs and hymns, the missionary had handed him a hymnbook and asked him to play from it.

At breakfast the next morning, the missionaries had left two books with the family: the hymnbook her father had played from and a copy of the Book of Mormon. “When my parents died, I inherited the organ and learned to play from the hymnbook,” she said. “The Book of Mormon was put away on a shelf until a couple of months ago, when two young missionaries came to our door with their message. This time I listened.

“I have read your Book of Mormon and the missionaries have taught my husband and me the gospel. We both want to be baptized, but he is terminally ill.”

Her husband died a few weeks later and shortly thereafter, this sister was baptized.

I remember her face, shining with the Spirit as she said, “The gospel is true, and I know that my husband is aware of what I have done this day. Now I will make arrangements to have his baptism done for him.”

The two missionaries who visited her parents’ home long ago never realized the important seed they had planted. They had prepared the way for other missionaries by bearing their testimonies and giving them two books—books that would forever change their lives.

Illustrated by Cindy J. Spencer