When I first started working, I met an older colleague. For eight years we stayed in touch, and I am overjoyed to share that she recently received the blessing of new life.
I had been steadily sharing the words of truth with her, but she did not accept the existence of God. Eventually, I no longer knew what more to say, and time simply passed in silence. Then one night, I had a dream. In the dream, she sent me a message saying, “Let’s go to a café.” When I woke up and checked my phone, to my amazement, there was a missed call from her. I called her back and told her about the dream. She laughed and said, “Then shall we really go to a café?” So we met.
As we talked, she told me about a conversation she had recently had with her six-year-old daughter.
“Mom, what happens to a person who lives to the very last number of age?”
“Well, maybe they’ll go to another country.”
She said that as she answered her daughter, she suddenly felt as though heaven might really exist. She confessed that if there truly is heaven and hell, she wanted to go to heaven. I could hardly believe what I was hearing. This was the same woman who had always said she believed neither in the Bible nor in God. But what she said next astonished me even more. Recently, she had felt a heaviness in her heart—as if even washing with water could not cleanse her soul—and she began to wonder, “What if I received baptism, where the forgiveness of sins is promised?” At that moment, I realized that the seeds of God’s word sown years ago had not been in vain. I gave heartfelt thanks to our Heavenly Father and Mother.
I encouraged her, saying that if God had moved her heart that way, she should be baptized right away. Without hesitation, she stood up and said, “Let’s go right now.” On the way to Zion, she spoke quietly.
“I never understood why you kept telling me about the Bible, even though I always refused. But maybe this was meant to happen all along. I feel like this is my last chance. Thank you for not giving up on me for eight years.”
I replied, “I think it was God who kept telling me not to let go of you. God must love you very much.”
She smiled and said softly, “Yes, I’m thankful to God too.”
My heart swelled as I witnessed God’s work—melting a heart that had once been hard as stone and filling it with the hope of heaven. After studying the words of the Bible in Zion, she was reborn as a child of God. During the prayer, she suddenly burst into tears. She said she didn’t even know why the tears came. I held her in my arms, and together we wept tears of joy.
On the way home, she said her heart felt light and free, and she thanked God with a bright smile. She promised to attend church faithfully from then on.
As promised, she came to Zion on the Sabbath with her children. Though it was her first worship and everything was new, she followed along with “Amen,” studied the Bible carefully, and worshiped with a reverent heart.
Before her baptism, she had once asked me, “If I go to your church and believe in God, can I live without worries, like you do? You always seem happy and confident. Maybe it’s because you believe in God, and it always looked like everything in your life turned out well.”
I told her that when she becomes a child of God, He becomes her strong supporter and always protects her. In that moment, I realized once again how important our everyday conduct is in leading one soul to salvation.
As I thought back over the years I had longed for her to accept the truth, tears welled in my eyes. I had only done what God commanded: “Whether they listen or fail to listen, speak My words.” And at last, God allowed me to bear a fruit. Truly, it was not my doing at all. Through simple conversations and daily interactions, God caused the seeds of truth sown long ago to sprout in her heart. Now that she has become my heavenly sister, I pray she will firmly hold the hands of our Heavenly Father and Mother and walk faithfully toward our eternal home in heaven.