Yi of Great Faith

Last spring a friend gave Lawrence Yi two books written by Gordon B. Hinckley (1910-2008), the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Although he was not much of a reader, Lawrence devoured these two books ("Stand For Something" and "Way to Be"). He became interested in the learning more about our religion and decided to visit one of our church buildings -- on a Thursday night. He luckily found a woman to talk to and she answered a few questions and asked for his name and phone number. She called the Mission Office and we assigned two missionaries to contact Lawrence. Lawrence began learning about the church and elected to be baptized on March 23, 2008.

During this time period, I learned that the Broomall 2nd Ward has a group of Korean speaking members who have been meeting together for many years. In September I transferred our one missionary with Korean ancestry, Elder Lee, into this ward, hoping that he might be able to do some missionary work amongst these Koreans. Elder Lee grew up in Los Angeles, but his parents are from Korea and he can eat kimchi like a champ. (But his Korean was a bit rusty!)



Meanwhile, Lawrence's parents liked what they were seeing in their son's life. He was making many positive changes. They encouraged his older sister Lilly, a college graduate with a good job, to attend Lawrence's church. Eventually Lilly started coming and she too was taught by the missionaries. Lilly was baptized on December 17, 2008. The large group photo was taken the evening of her baptism -- look at all the people who came to support her!



Although Lawrence's family lives in the Broomall 2nd Ward boundaries, he and his sister attend the local Young Single Adult ward and have no real contact with the members in the Broomall 2nd Ward. Because of this, I had no realization that the Yi's were Korean!

Lawrence and Lilly's mother, Chang Hee, attended Lilly's baptism -- and she felt a wonderful feeling of peace. Lawrence and Lilly took her to a church service in the Broomall 2nd Ward during the Christmas season. She was greeted by the Korean members and by Elder Lee. Soon she was taking the missionary lessons and make the bold decision to get baptized. Her youngest daughter Rebecca was also being taught by Elder Lee and his companion.

Last Sunday Chang Hee and Rebecca were baptized by Lawrence. Lawrence and Lilly sang a beautiful duet at the baptismal service. A Korean speaking member of the Relief Society Presidency (the Women's organization) warmly greeted her with a hug and a gift.

- What if no one had been at that church building on the Thursday night when Lawrence arrived?
- What if Elder Lee had not been transfered into Broomall 2nd Ward?
- What if Chang Hee lived in a different town where there were no Korean-speaking Mormons?

Too many what ifs!!!

We are humbled by the hand of the Lord in this work...a hand we most often see in the rear-view mirror after the fact!