It was about 1969 when a young girl named Susan Gerszewski came to see me. “Bishop, you’ve got to take my name off the records of the Church.”
I said, “Oh Susan, what’s wrong?”
“My brothers think I’m a dork for being here at BYU, and I can’t stand the pressure when I go home and my parents are wondering what’s gone wrong with me.”
And then all of a sudden, the Lord stepped in and words came out of my mouth like this: “Susan, I promise you that if you stay faithful, your brothers will join the Church and your parents’ hearts will soften.” Now how could I say that? I couldn’t. Only the Lord could.
She said, “ Oh I just don’t know, Bishop, I just don’t know.”
I said, “Well Susan, is the Book of Mormon true?”
“Well, of course it is, Bishop.”
“Do you love the Savior and do you believe in Heavenly Father?”
“Yes I do.”
“Is the Prophet the head of the Church today?”
“Of course.”
“Is this the true Church?”
“Of course it is. But I just can’t stand the pressure.”
I said, “Susan, will you be willing to try? Because the Lord just gave you a promise.”
She said, “Well, I guess I can try.” That year she moved out of the ward and I lost track of her.
Well, at BYU in 1972 I volunteered to teach another religion class, besides the Book of Mormon, before going to my dental office. It was the Gospel Principles and Practices class. There were about sixty students in the class. Life was going merrily along when on the last day to drop the class, a student came up to me and said, “I’ve got to drop your class.”
I asked, “How come?”
He said, “Well I’m on scholarship, and if I don’t get a B or a B+ I could lose my scholarship; and I got a C+ on the test, and besides, I’m not a Mormon.”
I looked at his little information sheet I had him fill out before class, and I’d missed it. He’d checked “nonmember” so close to the “member” that I’d missed it.
I said, “Well, Jim, you mean you’re just afraid you won’t get a B?”
He said, “Well, how can I? I’m not a member and I just can’t risk it.”
I said, “Jim, I’ve got an idea. Do you normally study once a week for this class?”
He answered, “Yes.”
I said, “Jim, I’ve got it. Would you mind studying with me Tuesday nights before class on Wednesday, for an hour?”
He said, “Okay, but what will that do?”
I continued, “Well, Jim, you want a B, right? Do you know who makes out the grade?” He answered, “Well, you do.”
I smiled. “That’s right, Jim, I’m guaranteeing you a B or a B+.”
“You mean you’ll guaran …”
“I guarantee it. Look, I’m going to teach you extra Tuesday nights. If you’re in my house for an hour, well, I’ll make up the test, too. I’ll even help you prepare for the test. Jim I’m guaranteeing you this.”
Jim said, “Well that’s a deal, I’m going to study with you.”
So Jim came up to my house to study. This went on for a couple of weeks, and then one day he asked, “Hey, Brother Ed, could I bring my brother and my roommate up? I mean, we have banana splits and root beer floats and doughnuts every study night; we might as well have parties when you teach.”
And so I said, “You bet, you bring them up.” So we went along for four more weeks. Then one night when they came up, they were kidding around a lot. I said, “You guys are sure having a hoot tonight. What’s up around here?”
They looked at each other as if to say, “Okay, who’s going to tell him?” Then Jim finally said, “Brother Ed, we’ve been thinking, and we talked to our bishop, and we all want to be baptized, and will you baptize us and confirm us members of the Church next week?”
As I floated down from the ceiling I said, “Yes, Jim. I will, I will, I will.” Well, his name was Jim Gerszewski. Jim was Susan’s brother; Susan was at the baptism, and all of us felt intense joy that day.
Now you tell me that God our Father and Jesus Christ are not in charge of everything on this earth. How could those words come out of my mouth: “Your brothers will join the Church”? How, two years later, could one of those brothers be in my class? There were 20,000 students at BYU. Don’t tell me that the Lord’s hand isn’t in all things that are good. All three boys served missions. All three were married in the temple.
So as I learned again that year, the Spirit “will show unto you all things what ye should do” (2 Nephi 32:5). Why is this so important? Because the vision in missionary work is that you must prepare people to feel the Spirit. Their needs are individual—so you must be in tune to what they need. Then, once they feel the Spirit, you can invite them to make a commitment. Once you’ve invited them to make a commitment, you must follow up with them to help them keep that commitment. (Ed J. Pinegar)