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Former Member Of Church Of Scotland
"They've Come To Bring You Truth And Light"
As Told To Terry Tippets
Jeanette McLeod was a spry, slender woman in her
late 60’s when she first became acquainted with the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints. She lived alone, but found friendship
at her Church of Scotland services on Sunday and during the
once-a-week Bingo gatherings at the same church.
She was also taking karate lessons, and had
developed a small fan club there because of her age and what she was
attempting to do. During one Sunday sermon at her church, her
minister encouraged the congregation to pray for truth and light.
The statement made a strong impression on her, and she determined
that she would follow her minister’s advice.
So, every night from then on when she knelt down
to pray, she included an appeal for the Lord to send her truth and
light. One evening several weeks later, two missionaries from the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were walking back to
their apartment.
They were returning from MIA (Mutual Improvement
Association), a weekly church function for teen-aged members. For
several months, they had traveled the same route to and from the
meeting.
A few blocks from their apartment, they suddenly stopped
and looked at each other. "Elder", said one of missionaries, pointing
to the house they had stopped in front of, "we have to knock on the
door of that house. There is a person there who is seeking for truth
and light." The other missionary nodded in agreement, so they headed
up the sidewalk and towards the front door.
At the sound of knocking on her door, Jeanette
McLeod laid her Bible aside and arose from her chair, wondering who
could be visiting her at this hour of the evening. She opened the
door and found two nicely dressed young men standing there. "Yes? she
questioned them, What can I do for you?"
"We’ve come to bring you truth and light", said one
of the young men. Thinking that she hadn’t heard correctly, she
asked, "What did you say?" " We’ve come to bring you truth and light",
said the same young man. At that moment, a sheet of light dropped
down from the doorway, obscuring the two young men from her view.
As her right hand gripped the doorknob in anxiety,
a calm, pleasant voice in her ear said, They’ve come to bring the
truth and light you’ve been praying for. She looked behind her, but
no one was there. She turned back to the door.
After a few more seconds, the sheet of light
vanished, and she could see the two young men once again. "And where
have you been?" she asked the missionaries tartly. "Nowhere, they
replied. We've been standing right here."
They hadn’t seen the sheet of light across the
door. Well, she told them, you'd better come in. I’ve got a story to
tell you that you’re not going to believe. But they did believe it.
She told them about her minister’s advice to the congregation to
pray for truth and light and how that had led to the two of them
being in her living room right then.
When she finished telling them the story, they
both had tears in their eyes. One of the missionaries turned his
head to the other. Isn't that marvelous, he said.
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Note From Author, TerryTippets
On my mission in Scotland years ago (1969-1971), a
woman who was in her late 60's when she was baptized LDS told me her
conversion story one evening when my companion and I were visiting.
I have never heard a story quite like it before or since. She was
Church of Scotland, and one Sunday her minister had encourage the
congregation to "pray for truth and light". She took him at his
word, and that's when the adventure began.
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