As promised in last week’s post, I will be blogging about missionary work in July. A few weeks ago in Sunday School at my church, the teacher talked about how so many people she knows are serving missions in Texas. I’ve always felt a kinship to Texas, since I was young. Maybe it started at age 12 when my BFF spent two weeks in the summer with her cousins in TX. She came home with pierced ears and stories of her Texan adventures. This kinship has grown stronger as an adult, since at one point four out of my five sons were living there at the same time. Before that, one of my sons served a mission there in San Antonio. Both my daughters-in-law lived for a time in Texas as well. To top it all off, one of my sons got married in Texas. So it’s fun for me today to share a missionary story that involves Texans.

Today’s story is about two medical doctors who found the restored gospel, thanks to a dear friend who one of the doctors had met in Hawaii.

Our story starts out with a man named Jim Cowart. Jim was a doctor who attended a medical convention at a California resort. He felt discouraged that he had not been able to defend his traditional moral values in discussions with college students who were working at the resort in the summer of 1961.

As his vacation progressed on to Las Vegas, Dr. Cowart continued to feel discouraged with his memories of not defending his values in the discussions with college students. He remembered a friend who was living in Utah, John “Jack” Berge. Jack was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Jim and Jack had met in Hawaii seven years previous to the summer of 1961. Because they had exchanged Christmas cards, Jim knew Jack was at BYU. Jim called Jack at 3 AM to talk. At Jack’s invitation, Dr. Cowart and his wife drove to Provo to visit Jack and ask him questions.

The three had many long discussions, and the Cowarts left with Jim not interested in joining the Church. He did, however, leave with two convictions: 1. He wanted to be a better Christian, and 2. His mother was right when she taught it was important to trust in the teachings of the Bible above the teachings of men.

The Cowarts returned home to Texas. Dr. Cowart decided to be more engaged in the church he had already been attending. His pastor asked him to teach a Bible class. “That was the beginning of the end,” said Jim.

Go here to read the rest of the story!

Want more missionary stories? Go to my family devotionals ebook here, look under the heading “July” and you will find many more missionary stories!