It's Great to be Alive!

What a Difference a Year Makes!   

This has been an amazing week for Eileen and me. Let me tell you about it.

 On Monday, April 18 I saw my cardiologist. My EKG checked out well and he took me off of one medication. It's a water pill and I am so glad to be rid of that one.

On Wednesday, April 27, the anniversary of my heart attack in Uganda I thought about that day last year when I woke up with what I thought was indigestion and was in a hospital in Gulu a few minutes later. This year I woke up and went and worked out for an hour. Later in the day we talked with the father of a Nigerian family we've been working with since October. The man is the minister of a mega church of 900 members in Lagos, Nigeria. We asked him if he joined our church if he would be able to give up his church in Nigeria. That discussion didn't go too well. He said he would not give up his ministry. 

On April 28 last year I was in a tiny flying hospital bound for South Africa for surgery. This year we left at 6 a.m. for the temple in San Antonio with two missionaries to meet a family they had taught that was being sealed. We put the names of our Nigerian friends on the prayer roll. That evening back in Austin we had an incredible lesson with the same Nigerian couple we had spoken to the day before and their children. The father announced to us that he will go back to Nigeria next week to tell his flock there that he plans to join the Mormon Church and that he hopes they will follow him there. He bore powerful testimony of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. He was very happy about his decision and we had an incredible experience. I took some pictures. 

  On April 29th last year I had double bypass surgery and woke up on oxygen with 5 plastic tubes sticking out of my chest. This year we took our Nigerian friends to be interviewed for their baptism on Saturday.  

Today, April 30th we spent all day at the church house where we baptized a very sweet lady from Congo who speaks little English so much of the service was in French. Eileen spoke on the Holy Ghost and Geortund was able to understand her completely. She was followed by a young American woman that we helped teach and who has studied the Church for two years. And finally we finished with the baptism of four members of the Adetuyi family from Nigeria. I baptized Veronica, the mother. Their children were baptized by the Shoal Creek missionaries. What a difference a year can make. I'm grateful for every day that I'm alive.