A mission experience: Dad and I went to the Princes Town Branch today - the furthest from the mission home. While there I met the Roopnarine family who were baptized in mid August. The dad received the priesthood today. They have a darling little 2 year old boy (three in October I think) named Josh. He has the sweetest smile. He walked around the church during the three hour block like it was his second home.
Josh's Story: I sat and talked with Sister Roopnarine after church and asked her to tell me her conversion story. She said that she met the Elders at her brother’s house and they took some time to share a message with her husband. The Elders then asked if they could come to the Roopnarine home and Sister Roopnarine told me that if they hadn’t asked, she was going to invite them. The Elders taught the discussions and Josh just loved having them over. He also loved church and would often ask when he could go to church again and when the missionaries would be coming over.
Early trials: He seems to be a very spiritually sensitive little boy. Maybe that is because he wasn’t supposed to live as a baby. The doctors did an ultrasound during Sister Roopnarine's pregnancy and found that one of Josh’s kidneys was not developed and the other one was blocked. He was delivered 2 weeks early by C-section and was seen by a doctor who found one kidney was just a fluid filled sac and the other was damaged. The doctors had a hard time finding a specialist who could help them.
Meanwhile the baby was in great pain and cried all the time. A doctor decided to try to remove some of the fluid in body by using a large needle. The medicine that was supposed to put the baby to sleep didn’t work and they had to do it while he was awake. Sister Roopnarine said it was a terrible experience. Eventually they found a doctor at Mount Hope hospital who could do surgery on Josh’s kidneys. Sister Roopnarine said that he was in so much pain the night before the surgery that she couldn’t even set him down. But, right after the surgery he was happy and relaxed. She said that prayer is what got them through the crisis.
Meeting the elders: The family met the missionaries about 2 years after this terrible ordeal and Josh was drawn to them. During the time the family was being taught, the father was terribly sick with a series of migraines. He went to bed one night in terrible pain and had a dream where the two missionaries and one other person--all dressed in white gave him a blessing. He immediately felt and warm and peaceful relief from his pain. The interesting thing is that shortly after this dream, in the middle of the night, Josh work up and said ‘when are the missionaries coming back?’ It was almost as if he felt their presence in the dream. (Related by Grandma Robison)
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