Mothers Who Know

Conversion Part Three

I walked into church that morning with a few emotions. Anticipation at seeing my neighbors reaction to my showing up as a suprise to them. Nervousness about what I was getting myself into, and butterflies - though I wasn't sure why. I arrived a few minutes early and walked in. The reaction was as expected - htey did a double take and almost jumped out of the pew when they saw me walk in. (Apparenly after I had left the night before they had decided to fast for me as a family  - I found this out months later). They introduced me to everyone in the ward (what a congregration is called). They were very friendly and welcoming to me.

The service started and was very nice. It was a fast and testimony meeting. After the sacrament was blessed and passed, the members of the congregration had a chance to get up and bear thier testimonies of the Savior, their relationship to Him, thier blessings, challenges, prayers, etc. I remember being very touched again by these sincere peoples testimonies. First it had been the young women, and now it was the congregration. It was the way I had always`pictured church to be. However, converting would be a huge thing for me. I dont know why I felt that way. I just knew it would be a big step into something different that my family would not like.

I was introduced to the missionaries after the service. They were nice, but I turned down thier offer to meet with me. I wasnt ready for anything formal like that. However, I did go home and start reading the Book of Mormon passages about faith that I had written down the night before. They were captivating. They explained perfectly what faith was, and how to nurture it. I kept reading. Since the scriptures were in the middle of the book (Alma 32), I read from there to the end, and from the beginning to the middle again. Just like the gospel principles book I had read and had no problem with - so too had I enjoyed reading this.

As the week went on, I was informed that missionaries would be at my neighbors house for dinner on Firday night in case I wanted to stop over with any questions. Not wanting to let on that I was interested, I kept feigning disinterest till that day. I finally let on that I would be coming. I showed up with about three pages of questions. Looking back though,  it wasn't questions about specific doctrines their church had, it was mostly questions about living a Christian lifestyle. How devoted you were supposed to be. What made them believe in God? Why would they want to give up two years of their life serving Him.

We talked for about two hours that first night - they answered all my questions, and taught me a few things about God and prayer. I would like to say that I immediately recognized the truth of it all right then, but I didn't. I was still just checking it out as a curiosity. I was completely foriegn to the things of the Spirit, and would still need some more time to figure some things out.

Untitled Comment

08:16, Wednesday, November 21, 2007 .. Posted by homesteadinthemaking

I have one question. I don't here you saying anything about reading the Word of God, the Bible. Do you read and study the Bible? Your story is very interesting.
Blessings,
Trixi