Joe Craig

A Miracle to us: E. Longmore has called Joe Craig, a Visitor Center Referral from 2003, one of only a half-dozen people in our area book, 50+ times, no exaggeration. E. Longmore has felt strongly that he needed to talk to him and he has not given up. Sunday, en route home, we also stopped by his house in Auburn (we have stopped several times before and found no one at home). There were several cars there, so we drove on down the street and called him. “Miracle of miracles’ he answered the phone. At first he said he had things to do around the house etc. E. Longmore felt that he should leave a spiritual thought with him. He brought up the Book of Mormon and said that it was a second witness of Christ. Joe said it was more than that; it contains ‘plain and precious truths’ that were left out of the Bible. After talking for a while, Joe said we could come and meet him. He needed about 30 minutes to shower. We had a great visit. He said that he really liked the Book of Mosiah where the prophets talk about justice etc. This led into a brief discussion about justice and mercy in conjunction with the Atonement. He said it was not hard for him to believe that God has spoken to other of His children in addition to those in the Bible. When we opened the Book of Mormon to read where Nephi talks about this in 2 Nephi 29 (we had brought a media center copy with us), he immediately stepped over to an end table where, next to the phone, was his own copy of the Book of Mormon. It is amazing what he know so much about the Book of Mormon and has such a strong testimony of it when he knows virtually nothing else about the Church. We asked how he knew it was true. He had kind of a blank look on his face. When E. Longmore said that it was the Holy Ghost testifying that it was true, he said, “like the feeling when I talked to you on the phone.” His son died when he was twelve years old (he would now be 28, the same age as our own son, Danny). E. Longmore and I both felt that his son was anxious to share the gospel with his father. He is a bit reticent about scheduling more visits, but said we could call. That is an invitation we won’t pass up!