Max's Big Change!

About 10 months ago, I was serving in Townsend, MT. It is an amazing place, 30 miles southeast of Helena. When you drive through you may miss it as there are only about 1600 people there. I didn't know that this place would change the course of my life. Then on Sunday, April 18th, I met Max Michaelson (name has been changed). He is originally from Idaho. And he has lives all over the northwest, and in Kansas. His wife had joined the church about a year and 3 months before. Missionaries had been teaching Max for 2 and half years, and he was so close. The first time I met him, he was even more stubborn than I was. He had issues with Prophets and coffee. He wouldn't budge but neither would I. It was a clash of the titans. i tried to commit him to baptism but he wouldn't. So I left there having dropped Max Michaelson for three months. During those three months I saw two companions leave Townsend. We visited him and his wife occasionally but didn't teach them. Right before the second one left he and I went back to teach him. We got there and something told us to start teaching him again. So we did. Then I got a new missionary, and we began the teaching process again. For two months, we struggled back and forth. Every night, hours of prayer was spent on his behalf. We even tried to set a baptismal date with him for August 14th. He declined the date. Finally at the end of August, he went to meet with the Stake President, I found out later, to tell him that he wasn't going to join. Well after a three-hour meeting with the Stake President, he went home. We had just gotten back from a couple baptisms in Harlowton, and the Spirit told us to go to the Michaelsons' Home. So we did. He told us that he was ready and wanted to be baptized. I can't tell the joy that i felt because not only the prayers of myself and my companions but the prayers of missionaries for the last three years had been answered. He was baptized on September 17th, 2010, a day that I won't soon forget! I testify that the worth of souls is indeed great in the sight of God. "And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people and bring save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom  of my Father!" I testify that because of Max Michaelson, my life will never be the same. I thank my heavenly Father that I was able to be an instrument in his hands to bring Max into the Church, the Kingdom of God on earth today.