I feel like it’s really hard to get our golden investigators to the baptismal font. It’s those investigators with the light in their eyes that Satan is desperate to stop their progress. This is something we warn people about after they set a date to be baptized. I will never forget Gaston’s baptism. We barely had enough freezing cold water for him to be baptized in. The water pressure was so low that the font was filling at a drizzle. We were pretty sure if he had his back on the floor of the font the water would cover the tip of his nose and his toes. Haha! He was so nervous, but was determined to be baptized even without he support of his family.

We opened the meeting sang, had our talk on baptism, and invited Gaston to the font. As we put the keys on the doors to open the font, they got stuck. The key wouldn’t move. We shook the door and jiggled the key for a full thirty minutes. After a mighty prayer in my heart, the doors opened.

Relieved, the branch president led Gaston up to the font. Right as he was about to step in the water, we heard screaming from the back of the room. We looked around to see what all the noise was about and the water heater had burst into flames!!! I’m not lying to you. There was an actual fire.

At that point I was like, “Back of Satan! Not today!”  We extinguished the flames in the church building and sang a few more hymns to calm people down and let the spirit return.

Gaston was baptized and he is living a beautiful life! He went on to serve a mission, helped many many people find the gospel, married in the temple, takes his baby and wife to church every Sunday, and is a hardworking priesthood leader in a branch that needed him desperately. We laugh about that day. It was pretty awesome.

Sister Smith served in the Buenos Aires South Mission