Gus was gracious enough to share how his family came to believe the restored gospel. Here is his story.
In the winter of 1913-1914 a blue norther (a blizzard with high winds, very low temperatures and lots of snow) was brewing in southeastern Colorado. A family, who was traveling in a covered wagon, stopped at a farm house to ask permission to park the wagon on the down wind side of his barn to protect them from the wind. Permission was given.
The next morning the wind was blowing fifty miles an hour and the snow was part way up on the windows of the farm house. The farmer’s wife turned to her husband and said, “You go out there get those people and bring them in the house. They can’t stay out there in this weather.” He said, “We have a small house and there isn’t room for all of them in the house.” She said, “You go out there get them anyway. We will just have to make do.” And so it was.
The storm didn’t let up for three weeks. The man traveling was an RLDS missionary and by the time the storm was over, he had converted the whole farm family. As he was preparing to leave, the farmer begged him stay a little longer, because he had family round about who needed to hear the message he had shared during the preceding three weeks.
Soon all of the farmer’s brothers and sisters and family were also converted. Before he left, everyone who was eligible to be baptized went out the stock pond for the service. A hole had to be chopped in the ice as the stock pond had six inches of ice on it.
Included in these baptisms were my grandfather August, grandmother Caroline and my father Wallace, who was eight at the time. The missionary was a well known missionary by the name of Bullard. The farmer was Christopher Ralston, father of apostle Russell Ralston.
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