Daan Brandenburg – July 2010
Daan Brandenburg is the 3rd child of 8 kids. Until yesterday, he was the only non member in his family. He's a chess champion! He goes to other cities and countries to play in chess tournaments and usually wins a lot of money (that he sometimes gives away). Before he was baptized, he didn't do a whole lot with prayer and reading out of the scriptures. He had been coming to church every so often, mostly just to be with his family (which is an awesome reason!) Little by little, he began to feel the Spirit and notice the example of his family. He saw his older brother, Rick, go on a mission, whom he had a really close bond with. About a month and 1/2 ago, he came up to his dad and said that he wanted to be baptized! A date was set for July 25th and we decided to teach him, even though he had already known a good amount about the gospel.
While teaching him, we realized that the gospel answered several of his questions, such as things in the afterlife, tithing, the importance of prophets, and others. He developed more of a relationship with his Savior. He realized that he was being baptized in order to follow the Savior, not just to do it. He read everyday in the scriptures and continued to ask questions that even stumped us! He took an opportunity to fast, which at first was difficult for him. To help him through the difficulty, he read in the Book of Mormon in 3 Nephi 11 where the Savior talks about the importance of being baptized. He told us that he took that as a strong confirmation that being baptized was what the Savior wanted him to do right now. At his baptism, he expressed his gratitude for the gospel and how happy he was that he made this decision. He has felt the power of his sins being washed away. It was incredible to be able to witness. (Written by Elder Pinnock)
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