Stories: A Most Spiritual Conversion and A Most Embarrassing Moment
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Porsgrunn, Norge: On Thursday, August 16, 1962, and because it was still summer time, Elder Murphy and I began tracting out in Bøle, our northern-most rural area towards Skien on the east side of the river. This was an area of many fourplexes. We had tracted all morning without so much as a call-back, so we were getting a little discouraged when it was about time to quit for middag. There were three or four of these fourplexes left in that complex, so we decided that we would finish them before heading back for Porsgrunn. Since it was my turn to do the door approach the next time, I said, “Let’s smile and be happy, as if we have had a lot of success today.” This we did, and the lady who answered the door did so very quickly, as she was just right inside doing the laundry. I gave her the first part of the door approach and handed her the tract “Et Viktig Budskap.” Fru Greve received them both very positively, said she was very busy at that time, and asked us to come back that evening at 5:30. We ask her to have her whole family there at that time, because the message was very important to all of them. We left swiftly with great enthusiasm and finished all of the rest of the fourplexes before going for middag.
After middag, we attended to some errands and other things that needed attention, then headed out to Bøle to meet with the Greves. Fru Greve greeted us at the door almost as soon as we knocked and told us that Herr Greve had taken their two daughters out for the time and had given her permission to meet with us. She had read the pamphlet we had left with her earlier that afternoon. We winced at the opportunity somewhat, but proceeded with caution. Mission rules allowed only 15 minutes for missionaries to be in the presence of a single person of the opposite sex, and we took that amount of time and finished the five points of the door approach. She took especial note to two of those points, that of a living prophet on the earth and the Book of Mormon, and asked us more about them. Since we had used our allotted time, we gave her the pamphlet “Joseph Smith’s Testimony. “ But, as we were leaving, after having emphasized getting her husband and children to our next appointment, she asked for a Book of Mormon, which we gave her.
Our next appointment was for the following Monday at 8:00PM. She again met us with overwhelming joy, and there was a completely different atmosphere there, even though she was again alone as in the previous meeting. She sat us down on the couch, sat herself across the coffee table from us, and immediately told us “I have read the pamphlet and the book you left last time, and I know they’re true, and I want to be baptized.” Of course, both Elder Murphy and I were completely without words for that: there was nothing like that in any of the discussions as they stood in the manual. I told her that we would be glad to accommodate her wish, but we would need to tell her more about the Gospel and the Church. Søster-to-be Greve agreed with that, so we proceeded to present a very abbreviated first discussion on the Apostacy and the Restoration. I don’t remember much of what went on during this time, because the Spirit was in complete control. Afterward, she asked if we had any more pamphlets or books she could read, but the “Joseph Smith Testimony” pamphlet was the one to give after the first discussion. I had a hard bound copy of “The Pearl of Great Price” that I carried in my “saddle bags” under my arms, so I gave that to her. That was the last I would see Søster Greve until the next summer, as, on the very next day, I received a letter from President Gundersen transferring me to the southwestern outskirts of Oslo. Søster Greve was a teacher in the Norwegian state schools, which were out for the summer, and was a “speed reader.”
Throughout the next school year, she corresponded with a member of the Church in the Høvik area who was also a teacher in the state schools. Bror Tingstad was able to finally convince her that his membership in the Church had no negative influence on his teaching position, so she eventually joined the Church.
(I tried convincing President Gundersen over the telephone to leave me in Porsgrunn, because of the promise of Søster-to-be Greve and her family. However, the President thought it best to make the move as planned, since the Spirit indicated that was where I was supposed to be.)
Sandvika/Kolsaas, Norge: On Friday, November 23, 1962, Bror Tingstad, who was a member of the Church who lived in our assigned tracting area and was a school teacher, received a letter from Søster-to-be Greve. The letter introduced her to him and expressed her concern of being a teacher in the Norwegian state schools and the potential conflict of interest by being a member of any Church other than the “Stat Kirke.” Bror Tingstad replied that he found no conflict, for him, at least. On Saturday, December 8, 1962, I learned that Søster Greve got baptized during that week.
Asker, Norge: A letter home dated Sunday, January 10, 1963, contained this information: "I received a letter the other day from a lady down in Porsgrunn, a Mrs. Rutt E. Greve. I first met and talked with her just before I moved from there. In it, she told me how happy she was to have become a member of the Church. She said that it had been I who 'lighted the first spark of faith' in her heart. I was certainly thrilled and overjoyed to hear that I had been just a part of her conversion. She just seemed to accept everything I told her as truth. She took the Book of Mormon and the Prophet Joseph Smith's Story from us on the first visit and by the second visit had read them both through and knew by the Spirit that they were true. I knew from the beginning that she would become a member. I could just feel it within me. "
Asker, Norge: A letter home dated Wednesday, June 19, 1963, had this in it: "I had a pleasant surprise here last Sunday. Do you remember that lady I told you about whom we tracted up and gave the first couple of lessons before I was moved from Porsgrunn and who later became a member of the Church? Well, she came up to Oslo and went to Church at Skarpsno Branch, and you can believe what a wonderful experience it was to meet her again. She is such a wonderful person and an excellent member of the Church down there."
When Sister Greve visited the Skarpsno Branch for Sunday School, the Sunday School Superintendent asked all the vacationing visitors to came up and tell about themselves. She was sitting on the first row of the overflow section in the Chapel at Drammensveien 96G, and many of the Elders, including me, were sitting towards the back of that section (as usual, so we could see any new people who came, or for other reasons). She got up at the invitation to speak, and I recognized her when she stood up to the podium to speak. She introduced herself and told a little about her recent conversion to the Church, then closed and sat down in the same place, three or four rows ahead of me. After Sunday School opening exercises ended, I grabbed Elder Hibbard and went up to greet her. However, some of the local members were talking with her at that time and her back was turned to our approach. When they were finished and getting ready to go to class, I reached up and tapped her very gingerly on the shoulder (mission rules required absolutely no contact with a single woman). She turned around, and, recognizing me, threw her arms around my neck. Of course, I didn’t hug back, but turned 40 shades of red with embarrassment, according to the other Elders who were standing close by (including Elder Hibbard). If my memory serves me well enough, we didn’t attend Sunday School class, but sat in the Chapel and reminisced about her conversion. Afterward, we took our picture together out in the Rose Garden beside the Mission Home. (She said it was my teaching that first convinced her of the truth, and when I left so suddenly, she had to come to it all over again.
I have to admit, and I must remember, that it was the Holy Spirit who taught her, not I. That is the first time I remember truly teaching by the Spirit, because it testified to her of what we were telling her was true. That same Spirit testified to her as she read the Testimony of Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon, and the Pearl of Great Price. Concerning the Pearl of Great Price, she allowed as how I showed great faith in her own fledgling faith in letting her have the book at all, as Moses 4:32 states: "And these are the words which I spake unto my servant Moses, and they are true even as I will; and I have spoken them unto you. See thou show them unto no man, until I command you, except to them that believe. Amen.” This is the only place that prerequisite stands, to show how detailed and sharp her memory was at that time.) |
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