So last week one of the companionships in
the Zone had a baptism. One of the Elders is a District Leader, so my
companion and I went to interview the investigators. Everything went
fine and they got ready for their baptism. My companion and I went to
support the investigators we interviewed. 1 hour before the baptism I
got the hiccups. It was the first time I’ve had the hiccups in over 5
years, literally. I thought, “It’s fine. The baptism isn’t for an
hour, so they’ll just go away.”

I was wrong. We showed up at the chapel, and I was hiccupping like
crazy. If I spoke, I’d hiccup and sound funny and be really loud,
exactly what a baptism shouldn’t include. I did everything to try to
get rid of them. I tried running, jumping, drinking water, drinking
lots of water, gargling water, getting water splashed on my face, I
stood on my head, everyone tried scaring me, I stuck a piece of paper
to my forehead, I held my breath, etc. etc. Nothing worked! I needed
to give a talk in the baptism, too. And I obviously wanted the Spirit
to be there, which meant no obnoxious hiccups during my talk or during
the baptism. I decided to say a prayer because nothing I was doing was
working. I asked Heavenly Father to allow the Spirit to be there
during my talk. I didn’t ask that my hiccups would leave specifically,
but that the Spirit would be there, whether or not I had my hiccups.

I was sitting in the room with everyone waiting to start, but I still
had the hiccups and felt bad for distracting everyone, so I left. Then
as soon as they started to sing the opening hymn, my hiccups
disappeared completely. I went back into the room and joined in the
hymn. Then I gave my talk. Then we had the baptism. Then we were
talking afterwards and ate some cake. And I didn’t hiccup a single
time. After doing everything I could to get rid of my hiccups, and
after having them for 2+ hours, they were gone. My prayer was
answered.

After leaving the chapel, my hiccups came back. But I was okay with
that. God answered my prayer, and the Spirit was there during the
baptism just like I asked. God really does listen to us and answer us.
But we need to act. If I hadn’t done everything I did to try to get
rid of the hiccups first, I don’t think God would’ve stepped in. But
because I was humble and willing to do what I needed to to get rid of
the hiccups, the Lord blessed me “after all I could do”.

Have a great week, everyone!

-Elder Kehoe