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Show f" jiriT r rf Gospel was answer center opened door N.Y. NEW YORK CITY, N.Y. Jack and Cay Merryman discuss their most recent pedigree chart additions. Golf leads couple to the right course BY JOHN HART Church News staff writer FARGO, N.D. Long before she was a member of the Church, Catherine (Cay) Merryman worked out a deal with her husband, Jack, to get him involved in genealogy. As part of the deal, she played golf with him in the mornings and he went to the library with her in the afternoons. He almost quit genealogy when his wife hit a 163-ya- rd hole-in-on- e. The Merrymans are now active in the Fargo Ward of the Fargo North Dakota Stake. She is ward Relief Society president, and he is a member of the stake high council. They laugh about the experience, though he still shakes his head in disbelief. Jack made some important discoveries she is quick to add. They in genealogy, were breakthroughs. It was the genealogy connection that brought the Merryman family in contact with the Church. Fascinated by the history of her ancestors. Sister Merryman has devoted years of study to learning of their lives. She developed her own type of pedigree chart and learned research as she went. Being a member of the Church then would have saved her years, she said. The biggest progress I made was finding an LDS branch library, she said. They had just moved to Minneapolis, Minn., and found the branch library address in a genealogical directory. They searched for the location, but all they found was a meetinghouse. Checking further, they found the library was in the basement. She started doing research, and continued for about a year. One of the workers in the library, Norrine Burnham, explained how Sister Merryman was involved further. Cay and I became very good friends, said Sister Burnham. I didnt really help her in the library, just got materials for her. She is a very competent genealogist. I asked her about the missionaries, but she her. didnt think they were old enough to teach She said the library was having trouble finding enough workers, so, after getting approval from the branch librarian, they asked her to become a library worker. The whole group there was working on her for two years in that calling. Sister Merryman remembers being invited to Relief Society. I didnt want to join a womans group, she said. I have lived to eat those words. Being Relief Society president, in my opinion, is probably the best job in the Church. She finally confided to Sister Burnham that she wouldnt be baptized until her husband and daughter were ready. So she accepted an invitation to a ward open house and she and her husband were impressed by the message they received. I stayed up all night, she said. I knew I wanted to join the Church. Jack came to the open house very reluctantly, but he was impressed by the elders and agreed to take the lessors." The family was baptized in October 1973. The baptismal service was packed, with the stake presidency, the high council and many friends. The angels must have been rejoicing," said Sister Burnham. The spirit was very strong. The Merrymans are great people. I dont think they even realized how tremendous they were. Their youngest daughter, Kristin, 15, is a Mia Maid and is active in the ward. The family is still excited about belonging to the Church, though, they both admit, they dont spend as much time on the golf course as they used to. We sure dont, said Jack, shaking his head. I still dont see how she hit that hole-in-on- e. When Karin Altmayer walked into the New York Visitors Center she wasnt sure what she was looking for. She had problems, she knew that, and thats why she was out walking. But what this LDS visitors center had to do with it she didnt know. She was just there. Taking the tour through the center, she was impressed wiJi the Church and the Book of Mormon and she later described her experience at the center as delightful. Karin and her husband, Harold, a successful businessman, had been married four years. His son by a previous marriage had recently moved in with them and he was the source of her troubles. She had been bom and raised in Finland and had grown up in an atmosphere of strict discipline. The boy, on the other hand, had been raised in a more permissive environment, so the two were at odds. Even her husband was hard pressed to deal with his rebellious son. As the situation grew worse, her frustration also increased. During one of her long walks to give her spirit a boost, she stumbled on the visitors center. Though she found the center refreshing, she didnt find the solution to coping with her problems at home. Six months later, however, she became desperate for some counseling on the familys problem and called the visitors center for help. The lady who spoke to her said no one at the center did counseling work but suggested she contact Bishop Albert Woodhouse of the Manhattan 2M Ward, New York New York Stake. Approaching her husband with the idea of going to see Bishop Woodhouse together for counseling she found him opposed to the idea at first. Later he reconsidered and decided it was worth a try. v. I had expected the bishop to be wearing a robe and a domed hat and, quite frankly, to be rather pompous. he said. I was pleasantly surprised to find that none of these things was true. The meeting with Bishop Woodhouse proved very' satisfying for the Altmayers and at the close of the interview the bishop asked the couple if he could send elders to their home to explain the Church to them. They consented. The missionaries, Elders Jef- frey Severe and' Richard Wil- -. . liams, approached them a few days later. They began by giving us a copy of the Book of Mormon, said Brother Altmayer, and a pamphlet about Joseph Smith but that was as far as I would let them go. I was more concerned with the young men themselves and before I was going to read anything I wanted to know more about them. I was truly impressed with the bishop and I was equally impressed with these two young men who called themselves elders. I questioned them up and down, inside and out to try and determine why they were different from all the other young men that I knew who were their age.. Impressed with his initial contact with Church members, Brother Altmayer decided to make a serious study of the Book of Mormon. I didnt read it through but skipped around so I could truly investigate the work, he said. He also visited the visitors center and acquired another book, A Marvelous Work and A Wonder. I was quite intrigued with the material I was reading, he said. For the first time in my life it appeared as though I was involved with consistency and truths that, prior to this, I only believed were possible. Now I thoroughly enjoyed having the missionaries come to our house to discuss the scriptures and their application in everyday life. Although a new world was opening up to the couple, their son continued to be a challenge. At one point he told his father that he didnt believe in God. I thought after all these years he should have learned from me that God indeed does exist," said Brother Altmayer. I had always told my family that I believed that God looks after us and loves us; perhaps I wasnt convincing enough, as I had no orderly way of worshipping Him. I was born and raised a Jew, but at 13 1 knew sometiung was wrong. I felt there was too much dissension among peoples of different faiths. I knew if there was a God, He must be the same God for all His children. Why then should there be such bad feelings between people of different faiths? That evening, he continued to WEEKENDING' SEPTEMBER ' . Continued on page 3, 1977 CHURCH 12 7 |