Brandon started meeting with the missionaries around Christmastime and accepted the Gospel so easily and wholeheartedly. His faith and dedication have impressed me from the beginning. I remember early on in his investigation of the church, I asked him if there was anything that concerned him or he had trouble accepting about the Church. His response was, "What would be hard to accept?" Since I've known him, he's been interested in accepting anything that is good and will improve his life. Accepting the Gospel was no different.
Funny glitch in the story - I gave his name to the missionaries in the ward where he was living and it took them so long to contact him. When they finally did, he and I had already been talking for a while and he knew a lot about the Church. The first time he went to church (which they didn't invite him to), he was fasting (which they hadn't taught him about) to quite smoking (which they hadn't asked him to do). He was a golden investigator handed to these missionaries on a silver platter and they weren't taking it! Even after they started meeting with him, they were very casual about their attempts to meet with him and invite him to change. If he had been a normal investigator without a support system contacting him on a daily basis (me), they would've lost him just because life gets in the way when things aren't a priority. But fortunately, that wasn't the case. He was baptized February 13, 2016 by Elder Baldwin, one of the first missionaries who taught him. My parents came, as well as Brandon's sister Brooklyn, and many members from his new ward, Beech Grove.
That day was a big one for our family because it was also the day that Isaac was able to get rebaptized. He did it in Utah, where Thomas was able to perform the baptism. So many happy occasions in one day!
The next day, Valentine's Day, we got hit with a big snowstorm right as church was ending. Brandon and I came back to my house to hang out, and as we were sitting inside, we heard this big bang. I thought it had come from upstairs, but I dismissed it. Later, my roommate Carrie came home and asked if it was my car that had the mirror broken off of it. All of a sudden, it clicked - that noise we'd heard was someone hitting my car in front of my house! We went outside to look, and sure enough the mirror was broken and pieces were strewn across the road. As Brandon was looking at it to see if he could put it back on, I realized it was more than just the mirror - the whole front fender was dented. Someone had hit my car - maybe they'd slipped on the snow - and just kept going. I was so upset! Fortunately, I was able to get insurance money for it and Brandon's step-dad did the repairs with that amount of money so I didn't end up having to pay anything out of pocket.
The Monday following that weekend was President's Day, which Brandon and I both had off from work so we took a day trip to Louisville. It had snowed pretty heavily the day before so it was a wet and cold day, but we had a good time. We hit up Ollie's Trolley for some local burgers before heading to the Louisville Slugger Museum and exploring downtown Louisville.
Mirror selfie at the museum
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