April 2005 Ensign - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

68
Coming Home
By Judith A. Deeney
It had been four years since my
baptism, and I had been less active
for most of that time. I was drinking,
smoking, and very depressed. My
husband, Ian, was away at sea, leaving
me home alone with two small children.
And now his submarine had
major defects and was in dry dock at
the other end of the country. Each
evening for six weeks the phone
would ring, and Ian would say, “We
should sail tomorrow.” But tomorrow
never seemed to come, and the promised
sailing was repeatedly delayed.
The bright lights on the horizon
were my marvelous home teachers
LATTER-DAY SAINT VOICES
When Ian
finally
returned
home, he came to
church with me as
he had promised.
The missionaries
were waiting
for him.
and visiting teachers,
who came regularly
to my door and
shared their love
and fellowship. I
must admit I was not
always polite and sometimes downright
rude. Nevertheless, I knew I
could pick up the phone at any time
and they would be willing to help.
My home teachers were consistent
in their belief that if I came back to
church, Ian would get baptized—but
I had to set the example first. Yet I
never felt the desire to put their faith
to the test. I was too spiritually low.
One evening after speaking to Ian
and learning that the submarine had
again been unable to sail for home, I
sat and cried, feeling utterly desolate.
Then I began to pray, something I
had not done for a very long time.
As I prepared for bed that evening,
I was conscious of something I had
not noticed before—a very strong,
though not unpleasant smell. It stirred
a memory long forgotten. I had to
think for a while before I recognized
that it reminded me of the chapel
where I had been baptized. As
recognition dawned I felt a
warm, comforting glow within
and an awakening desire to go
back to church.
I phoned Tony, one of my
home teachers. Soon he and
his wife, Rosie, arrived at my
door, and we talked as we had
never talked before. All past
barriers were swept away. I
was going back to church.
I could hardly wait for Ian’s
next phone call. This time
he was met with excitement
rather than depression. To my
astonishment, his reaction to
my story was to suggest that
when he got home we should go to
church as a family.
The following Sunday Tony and
Rosie picked up the children and
me and took us to church. I was surprised
to see a missionary who had
been sent back to the area for a second
time. He had been to our home
before but had failed, along with
many others, to impress either Ian
ILLUSTRATED BY GREGG THORKELSON