by Sister Dever and Sister Hodges
On February 26th we were in Ingles to public contact and Vernon Jarvi was the first person we talked to. He was at the deli getting a sub sandwich in his Hawaiian shirt, cargo shorts and sandals. He said he felt someone look at him and he turned around and saw us smiling at him. He told us he has known people from the church and wanted to know more about what he had to offer.
We got to talking and he invited us to join him at a table. Since then it became our place to meet every week, soon turning into more frequent meetings and lunches.
Vernon, well he is an interesting man. He has a very diverse background and knows a lot about everything. In our first meeting he said, “Back then they did hands on healing but no one wants to talk about that these days.” We got to teach him about the priesthood and he loved it.
Vernon was baptized on May 5, 2024, surrounded by his new church family.
After Vernon got baptized he told us: “I have gotten baptized quite a few times but this, this was different.” He also said that receiving the Holy Ghost was the most amazing feeling.
Vernon was very interested in going to the temple and on May 14th we got to go with him to the Atlanta Georgia Temple. He loved it and wants to go again to the South Carolina Temple so he can then make a round trip to the beach and to go to his favorite restaurant out there.
Getting to know Vernon was amazing and it was 1000% in God’s plan for us to meet him that day.
#TKMTenderMercies
Barlows in TKM 
Love these conversion stories. We just returned from a mission reunion visit to Los Angeles and got to see some of our dear friends there and participate in a Chinese baptism.
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