Stories: Late Night Futrono Baptism
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| During the summer of 2004 I served, along with my companion Elder Valdes, in the small and remote lakeside town of Futrono. We were the first missionaries to serve in the area for several years and we were met with some resistance at first.
We had worked vigorously for some time without success when one evening, just before it was time to go home, we knocked on the door of a woman who asked us to enter. We shared a spiritual yet uneventful first discussion and at the end, when we asked if we could leave with a prayer, were informed that she would like to say it. We were surprised to here her offer a very humble and tearful prayer in which she thanked the Lord for sending us to her house. As it turned out she had visited frequently with the previous missionaries in town and had been taught all of the discussions. She had even been to church on several occasions, had read the Book of Mormon several times and already had a testimony of the Gospel. In short, she was a Golden Investigator. Unfortunately, although she deeply wished to be baptized, her husband forbade it.
We visited this humble sister frequently and re-taught her all of the discussions. She had studied extensively and had many deep doctrinal questions that lead to some wonderful conversations. Over a short period of time we became close friends with the sister and her family. Unfortunately her husband remained firm in his unwillingness to allow her to be baptized. As a result, after a while we came to the prayerful conclusion that without a baptism we should no longer teach discussions or engage in deep doctrinal conversations. One evening we met with the couple and informed them of our decision and the reasons behind it, but asked that we remain friends and continue to visit on occasion. The meeting lasted late into the evening and when we were finished and asked to leave with a prayer we found the spirit to be very strong. At the end of our prayer, to our surprise, the husband lifted his head and with tears in his eyes looked at his two kids and told them to get their coats because their mom was getting baptized. By this time it was late and already dark outside. There was no font in town and only the lake nearby. Afraid that the husband might change his mind we decided that the baptism couldn’t wait until morning. So, without delay we ran to wake up the branch president and to grab some baptismal clothing. We all met at the lake a little while later and had a short spiritual lakeside meeting under the moonlight before I performed a very special baptism in the moonlit lake.
After the baptism, while everyone waited, I went through some trees and into a field to find some privacy to change into my dry clothes. The field was somewhat muddy so I found a large flat boulder to stand on while I changed. On top of the boulder as I removed my wet baptismal clothing in the dark something hit me in the head. I couldn’t figure out what it was. Then something hit me in the head again. As I continued to remove my clothing I continued to be pelted in the head by something that I couldn’t see. At about the time that I was standing on the boulder without any clothing on I realized what was pelting me. It was a small bat! I began to frantically jump around, flailing my arms and legs while the bat kept dive bombing my head and grabbing my hair. This continued for a short time when suddenly I realized that a car had come down the road that paralleled the field I was in and as its headlights hit me the car had stopped and turned on its brights. I can only imagine the thoughts going through their minds as they witnessed a naked Gringo (the only one within at least an hours drive) dancing at night on top of a big rock in the middle of a remote field. After a moment or two the car must have gotten bored because it finally drove off. The bat eventually flew away and after a few minutes I was able to compose myself enough to get dressed and return to the baptismal gathering.
We finished the evening by confirming her a member of the church while she sat on a rock next to the lake with her husband and two children looking on. Despite the events on the rock with the bat I witnessed one of the most spiritual events of my mission with perhaps my most special baptismal memory.
Over the years since my mission I’ve often recalled the events of that day and laughed to myself at the thought of that bat pelting me in the head over and over. I’ve decided that I can apply some Gospel meaning to the story. The bat, if you think about it, is much like Satan as he attacks us when we are at our most vulnerable. And, despite our potential embarrassment, there seems to always be somebody looking on. |
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