Susan Helgeson had no intention of joining The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, although she had enjoyed the friendship of Rand and Janeel Smith from the Smithville Lake Ward (now part of the Shoal Creek Missouri Stake) for over ten years; had attended “The Saints” Stake Adult Religion class they taught; and, had even attended stake conference and general conference in their home.

“I told her when I first invited her to attend the religion class, ‘There’s no pressure on you to join the Church. I think you’ll enjoy the class and there’s a lot of great people’,” recalls Janeel Smith. “And she later told us that was the first time she’d ever learned how the Mormons had been so badly treated.”

The Smiths often invited her to dinner, and sometimes the missionaries came to dinner too—not to teach her, but because the Smiths had signed up on the missionary meal calendar. But Helgeson wasn’t interested in learning more about the Church.

One Sunday dinner at the Smiths in August 2024, two new missionary sisters showed her how to get on Family Search and then asked if they could visit her the next day.

“And I’ve always said ‘no.’ And my mouth opened up, and I said ‘yes’,” remembers Helgeson, now a member of the Doniphan Ward.

“That was the real start of lessons, and for about the first four lessons, I thought, ‘How am I going to tell these girls this is the last one?’ But every time they would come, they’re so sweet, and they’re so kind, and they’re good little teachers, which amazed me. I’m 70-something, and they’re in their 20s, and they’re teaching me about life. So it was really sweet.”

One night the sisters brought up baptism and suggested October 12. Helgeson did not think she was ready, there was so much she didn’t know or understand.

“If I’m going to commit to something, I want to do it right and I don’t even know what I’m committing to. And so I thought, ‘I don’t think I’m ready.’ And then I thought, ‘October 12, that does sound like a pretty cool day.’ You know, it just looked good in my mind. And so, you know, like three minutes later, I said ‘Okay, October 12. Oh my goodness. Yes.’ ”

On October 12, 2024, she was baptized in the Liberty Stake Center. Over 70 people attended the baptism–many were friends from “The Saints” class and members who had helped teach her with the missionaries. “It was overwhelming to see and feel the support of so many people,” says Helgeson.

Rand Smith baptized her, and afterward Janeel Smith told Helgeson: “Sue, you are very loved. Do you realize this is not normal?”

She’s grateful for the Smiths, who never pushed her to take discussions or meet with the missionaries. “They’re just honest, sweet people. I mean, they led me by just being who they were. Just nice, caring, generous, sweet people.”

“It was a natural thing, because we were just dear friends,” says Janeel Smith. “She felt like family from the minute we met her. We grew up around a lot of people of different faiths. We don’t judge anybody whether they are of our faith or not. They are all God’s children. And we should love everybody. So Rand and I have a lot of friends of all different faiths. We don’t ever think that life is about pressuring anybody to join our church.”

Everybody should have a Smith or somebody like them, says Helgeson. It was Janeel Smith who encouraged her to attend the adult religion class initially, and when she didn’t come the first time, she invited her a second time.

After baptism, Helgeson began doing family history work, often visiting the Family History Center at the church and working with the Jurys and the Hopkins. When she was preparing to go to the temple, Janeel Smith encouraged her to share her ancestors’ names with those who would be attending her endowment session so that their work could be done.

“So I gave everybody names and so that day, including me, 27 people received their endowment,” says Helgeson.

“When she crossed through the veil, 27 other people did too,” adds Janeel Smith.