Johanna's Light

 Johanna Adrianna Gobel Tonks was Born in Dordrecht, South Holland, Netherlands on 1886. She and her sister had to hide their Book of Mormon under the mattress up in their attic bedroom. The oil for their little lamp would burn just long enough for the sisters to read one chapter of the book every night. Their mother, suspicious of all things Mormon, said one evening, “No more light for you girls up there.” Somehow Aunt Jo managed to get some matches, and she and her sister were able to continue reading that precious chapter nightly, even though the oil should have burned out long before. She stated, “No one in this whole wide world can tell me the hand of the Lord wasn’t over us.”

Jo could not get baptized until she turned 18, and that happened while her mother was away helping a sister.

When her mother came home one week later, and was told that she did get baptized,

Her mother replied, “I cannot live with a Mormon. You leave the house now.”

It was 11:00 p.m. and raining terribly, and Jo went walking with her light shining...never to return to that house again.

Here's some concept art for Johanna's light, based on Van Gogh's painting
What would be nice to add to the story blurb is a contrast of scenes between she getting baptized and entering the water with when she steps out into the dark rainy night.

Posted by kevinzico