The lost referral card

 

11 Feb 2026

Tom Floodeen
@TFloodeen
In November of 1977, while on a business trip to Salt Lake City, I happened to walk through Temple Square and went through the visitor's center. After reading the 13 articles of faith, I was converted. I filled out a referral card, got a Book of Mormon, several missionary tracts and flew home to Santa Clara, California to share with my wife. It was not until February of 1978 that the Missionaries came to our door. The taught us, got me to stop drinking and smoking and baptized us on 22 April 1978. Years later I was able to visit with one of the Elders that baptized us. He lived in Caldwell Idaho. He said that the mission had closed Santa Clara to missionary work for a short time. Then he was asked to pick up a new MTC missionary and reopen Santa CLara. When they got to their apartment, he said it was a disaster. He told the Mission President that instead of doing missionary work, they had to first clean the apartment. He said they changed into their grubbies and started cleaning. When they pulled the desk away from the wall, stuck to the wall was a referral card. He peeled it off and read it. He saw that it had not been followed up on. He said to his companion, put your suit on, we are going to this house right now. They came to my house and exactly the right time for us to be receptive. I thought this was an awesome story that I did not learn until many years later.


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