Several years ago in Connecticut, Brad was assigned as the home teacher for Brent. Brent had chosen to leave the church at about the age of 14 because he had some bad experiences. Brent had since married, raised a family outside the church, divorced, and had recovered from being an alcoholic. When he and Brad met, Brent was satisfied with his life outside of the church, seeing no need for any additional spirituality in his life. He had been through the Alcoholics Anonymous program with great success, and found strength in being clean and sober and working hard each day. He had become an excellent swimming pool designer/contractor/building supervisor and was respected at his job.
Brad started trying to visit Brent and found him to be polite but not interested in more than casual conversation. Brad and Maren invited Brent over to dinner and somebody mixed up the time, so we were not home when he came over. We tried again and then heard that Brent had to stay home with serious back pain. Maren suggested that we take our food over to Brent's house since he was not well, so we did. Brent later commented several times on how much that meant to him.
One day, Brent started dating a lovely lady named Patty. She happened to be at his house once when Brad and Maren came over for home teaching. Patty enjoyed the visit, and asked Brent to invite her over when we came the next time, and the next. Patty was an active Catholic, and was teaching catechism classes at the time, so she was interested in talking about religion. We could see that Brent wasn't progressing much in the gospel, but we saw that Patty was - so one day we invited her to meet with the missionaries and learn more about our church. She accepted! We were delighted to join them as they met with the missionaries. After a time, Brent realized that he wanted to learn what Patty was learning and feel the excitement she felt about the church. They both started reading the Book of Mormon and coming to church with us. Patty later joined the church, and Brent came back to full activity in the gospel. It was a joy to have them later be sealed in the temple and serve in the church in a variety of capacities. Brent is now a high councilor in the stake and is a great example of service in our ward.
Brent eventually introduced the gospel to his neighbors, Brian and Sarah D. (and their three kids) and his co-worker Dan and wife, Maya. All of them joined the church and are truly delightful members. It has been such a privilege to know Brent and Patty, and we will sure miss them!
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| Patty & Brent M. with Brad, Callum, and Maren |
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