A lot of people struggle with personal issues even to the point where it makes them ill. I remember one evening I had gone for a walk thinking about how I felt spiritually. I felt like I was trapped in a cage, a robot programmed to function the way others wanted me to function. I wanted out of situation but didn't know how to get out. In fact the more I thought about it the more I felt ill. At one point it was more than I could bear and I fell to the road in pain, crying out to God. Sometime after this I was given the opportunity to go back to school, actually College in Winnipeg. First, however I had some education to complete. The Government was actually going to pay me to go to school.

I moved from the farm to Winnipeg in 1971. About a month later I receive a visitor, a minister whom I did not know. He introduced himself and said he was doing a follow up on the Bible courses I had statrted taking. (Note: I mentioned earlier that I first heard V.E. Howard on my forbidden radio. I had tried for days to locate that station and never did find it again.) more than two years ago. I was quite surprised. The minister informed that the church in Louisiana had forwarded my new address, thus the follow up. Thus began several days of intense Bible Study with the Ron, minister. I argued and struggled with God's Word. Ron and I spent hours each week studying God's Word, His Plan of Salvation. Everything I was learning went against what I believed, what I had been raised to believe. Eventually I learned that a lot I believed was true but a lot of it was based on 500 years of tradition. How does one change how they view the scriptures based on 500 years of tradition? It is very challenaging to say the least. The more Ron and I studied God's Word the more I thought about what we studied the more it bothered me.

Sitting in school one day, a day after another intense Bible study, I began to to think seriously that I could be wrong. One Bible verse in particular 1 Peter 3:21 "...and this water symbolizes baptisim that now saves you also - not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ." Other passages we studied was Romans 6:1-14 etc. But that verse hit home hard. As I am thinking about all this I take a piece of paper and start making a list of what I knew I would loose if I surrendered my life to Christ. (1) I would be "blacklisted" by the Mennonites, I would loose my Mennonite girlfriend, I would face the critisiscim of my family, I would have to give up certain beliefs, etc. I had a list of about 20 things and I can't remember them all. The more I thought about it the more I realized I needed to make a decision that day. As Popeye would say, "I can'ts takes no more..." I had made my decision. I borrowed a dime from a fellow student, walked out of class, found the nearest pay phone and I called Ron. "Ron", I said, "I want to be baptized into Christ Jesus." In a very calm voice he replied,"I know." How did he know and he told me he had just finished praying for me. (I later compared times with him when he was praying and it was while I was doing up my list.). I hopped a bus, arrived at the church buldig where Ron was waiting. I walked into his office and said "Ron I have changed my mind, I don't want to baptized." Ron began to tell me how Satan is not willing to let go those who do not know Christ and he (satan) will do whatever he can to prevent someone from yielding their life to Christ. I struggled with what I kne to be right against what I was comfortable with. I yielded to God and was baptized. Somehow I knew my real struggles were just beginning. My brother asked me how I felt after being baptized. I told him "wet." I didn't jump up and down with joy or cry (not that demonstrating joy is wrong I was not one who expressed his feelings that well) but I knew I was a child of God, redeemed by the blood of His Son Jesus Christ. When I was baptized there were some men from Louisiana to help prepare for a summer "campaign" these men would one day be my teachers in Bible College.