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AN INCREDIBLE JOURNEY TO CHRISTIANITY April 12
Salt Lake City, Utah My wife, Nellie Jo, and I boarded the plane leaving Louisville with mixed emotions. On the one hand, we still were not fully rested from our trip to Uganda that had ended just three days earlier.
On the other hand, we were energized with anticipation of the interview that would soon take place. My research assistant, Stuart Swicegood, had worked very hard to find the people we would soon meet. A former Mormon couple, Dennis and Rauni Higley, would be waiting to tell us about their amazing pilgrimage from Mormonism to faith in Jesus Christ.
The connection in Atlanta went without a hitch. We arrived late at a hotel in downtown Salt Lake City, and sleep came quickly. In what seemed like the blink of an eye, we were getting ready the next morning to travel to the Higleys' home in a suburb of Salt Lake City.
A cloudless day with a bright blue sky greeted us as we left the hotel. We both breathed in the fresh air and felt the warmth of the mild spring day. If the weather was to be a sign of the hours ahead, the day would be good indeed.
My wife and I discussed our strategy for this interview--the first for this book--because we wanted to be ready for any contingency.
I had a list of numerous questions I would be prepared to ask. Nellie Jo would keep the conversation going smoothly in the event that the discussion came to a lull.
The fifteen-minute drive to Sandy, Utah, was filled with constant conversation and the occasional interruption of the navigation computer in the rental car. I commented to Nellie Jo that every navigation system I used had a female voice, and I wondered why.
My bride oftwenty-seven years did not respond verbally, but her smile said it all.
As we pulled into the driveway of the Higley home, I looked at the mountains framing their home and neighborhood. The scene was postcard perfect.
A sign on the door of their home told us of a Finnish custom that asked all guests to remove their shoes. We rang the doorbell and were quickly greeted by a smiling couple.
Rauni Higley welcomed us with an accent that I did not recognize immediately. She would soon tell us that her native homeland was Finland. Her husband, Dennis, was a native of Idaho.
Nellie Jo has a clear Alabama accent, and I have been told that I speak with a mix of midwestern twang and southern drawl. The interview recording of the four of us would prove to be a cacophony of voices!
Rauni's Story Rauni and Dennis led us into their impeccably clean home, and we made ourselves comfortable. The digital recorder was set. After some introductory and casual conversation, I asked the first interview question: "Tell us about your background." I got the impression that Rauni could not wait to talk, so we all looked at her for the first response.
"I was born in Finland. My father died when I was eleven, and my mother died when I was seventeen. My grandparents had also passed away. I was an only child, so I was left with no family, just some aunts and uncles," she told us with a pause. We could tell that the years since their deaths had not removed all her pain.
Rauni continued, "I met a young lady who had joined the Mormon Church about a year earlier. She found out about all the deaths in my family, and she explained how my parents, grandparents, and I could be sealed together for eternity. She told me that through the Mormon Church I could get all my family back when this life is over."
There was little need to persuade Rauni further. "I didn't have any spiritual foundations," she told us. "They told me that everyone who had not heard the Mormon gospel would get a second chance after death. The names of my parents and grandparents could be taken to the temple, and they could be baptized. It all sounded so great to me."
Mormons became Rauni's family as she joined their church in
1963. "I met with a small group in an apartment. It was a really nice and friendly group of people. We all called each other 'brother and sister.' I never had a brother or sister, and I had no family," she explained.
Rauni became an enthusiastic Mormon. "I read everything in Finland published by the Mormon Church. I read the Book of Mormon right away. I didn't detect any errors in it because I was not that familiar with the Bible. So it sounded just like the Bible to me."
