Influence

 

My boys had a friend named Mike who would occasionally attend church with us.  He enjoyed being there.  It brought a sense of peace that was nowhere near his home life.  I don’t know what all evils existed but there was a point in time where Mike and his sister were sent to St. George (city in Southern Utah not to be confused with the European country)  to live with relatives.  I don’t know if it was ordered by the state or what exactly happened but they were gone for a couple of years.

While living in St. George Mike discovered a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and decided to attend there – I don’t know how often, but the results were quite positive.  When he moved back to Salt Lake he reunited with my boys and returned to our church for a while.  I remember one particular fast Sunday when he and each of my boys shared their testimonies.  It surprised me that Mike had been the instigator of getting them all up there.  I was touched by what he shared.

Mike was one of my facebook friends when we had moved from Kearns to West Valley. To the best of my knowledge Mike never did get baptized.  Unfortunately he stopped going to Church and picked up some of his dad’s bad habits.  His facebook posts became dark and disheartening.  After a while I lost track of him.  I hope that he returned to what once gave him stability. 

I hadn’t thought of Mike in years. But today I was reminded of the Mike had shared shortly after his visit to St. George.  It was a very uplifting testimony meeting today.