During the month of October, 1996, my companion Elder Chandler, and I, were working with the Sanchez-Blanco family in Costa Rica. The wife and youngest daughter of this family had been members of the Church for about six months. We taught the oldest daughter, Noilyns, and had the privilege of participating in her baptism. We had been working with Manuel (the father) also, but he was not very receptive, although he did attend the baptism of his daughter.

It was the most spiritual baptism that I have ever been to. The Spirit bore witness to everyone there that we had witnessed a true baptism, and that it had been accepted in the heavens. We knew that Manuel felt the Spirit too, and we hoped that he would recognize those feelings.

We set up an appointment to teach the first discussion to one of Noilyns' friends in the Sancho-Blanco home. As we started the discussion, we noticed that Manuel was at the other end of the room playing Atari. I invited him to join us but as usual, he told us that he was busy. At that moment, something special happened. Elder Chandler and I just looked at each other and without a word, stood up. We knew what we had to do. We walked over and stood next to Manuel. Elder Chandler, in his broken Spanish, said: "Manuel, if I can beat you at bowling on the Atari, you have to come over and listen to the discussion."

Manuel agreed with the challenge. They began to play, and I prayed like never before. I all my heart I wanted Elder Chandler to win. As they finished the tenth frame, Manuel had slaughtered Elder Chandler. I couldn't believe it. So I turned to Elder Chandler and told him to start the discussion with a hymn. I then turned to Manuel and made the same challenge, but in pool instead of bowling. We began to play, and something incredible happened -- the unexpected -- he threw the game. He literally played his worst, so that he could lose.

We had a very spiritual discussion that night. We challenged Manuel to be baptized. He accepted and we set a baptismal date. A few weeks later he was baptized. He had already read The Book Of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and The Bible. He is now a branch president and his family is preparing to go to the temple to be sealed for eternity.

This experience showed me that the Lord has a way for everyone to receive the gospel. Even though some of the ways might seem strange, they are still His ways and He will let us know, as He let my companion and I know what His ways are. We just need to be sure that we are in tune with the Spirit so that we can learn of His ways.