“Good afternoon, I found your email online and was hoping you might be able to help us concerning getting baptized. My husband and I live in remote Alaska and are hoping to find a Sabbath church to be baptized in. Thank you for your time and help with our request.”
These were the words the Hillside O’Malley Church secretary read on the screen when she opened her email one Tuesday afternoon. They were penned by Eric and Denny Weathers, from a remote island in the Prince William Sound.
In follow-up, it was soon learned Eric and Denny had been searching and studying online for more than a year since one fateful day when the book Great Controversy showed up in their mailbox. How did it get there? They don’t know, but the whole town of Cordova, where they have a post office box, got one too. Denny brought it home, and her husband, Eric, was the first to read it. Convinced of its truth and feeling like he had finally read something that connected all the dots, he shared it with his wife and began his third reading of the Bible cover-to-cover.
Eric was a third-generation crab fisherman. When he studied the Bible and came again to the clean and unclean foods listed in Genesis, he threw his catch overboard, gave his freshly fried prawns to the birds and began contemplating what to do with his crabbing gear.
Eric and Denny began searching YouTube and soon came across videos from Doug Batchelor. They also began tuning in online to an Adventist church in Calgary each week. Eventually, they both came to one conclusion: It was time to be baptized. After searching online for Adventist churches in the areas easiest for them to get to, they reached out to the Hillside O’Malley Church in Anchorage, Alaska.
What a joy and privilege to be a part of the Weathers' journey. On Jan. 5, 2019, they committed publicly to the Adventist truth through baptism. The audience was encouraged and uplifted as the couple shared their testimony of coming to the same truths through their study of God’s Word. Denny shared, “Seventh-day Adventists quote the Bible. They don’t make [their own] quotes. We didn’t know what we wanted to be. We just wanted something that went with the Bible.”
Eric Weathers (left) and Denny Weathers (right) stand with David Shin, Hillside O'Malley Church pastor.
David Shin, Hillside O'Malley Church pastor, visits with Eric and Denny Weathers just before their baptisms.
David Shin baptizes Denny Weathers as Eric Weathers looks on.
David Shin baptizes Eric Weathers as Denny Weathers looks on.
