Conversion Story Part 2
* This is continued from the post before this. You need to read the other post so this will make sense *
So, when her mom and I would stay up, I asked her all sorts of questions. I knew the Bible very well, having already completed most of it. Plus, in the parochial school, we had to memorize specific verses everyday and were tested on it every Friday. We used the Beck version of the Bible, but I also had a King James and a New International version. I was sure that there was something was wrong with the church and I was determined to find out what it was. At the time I was working for a store called Fedco, which is kind of like a Walmart. I was a cart pusher, and a darned good one!
exclaim I actually broke the record and set a new one for most carts pushed. Guess how many I pushed...go ahead, try. Nowadays they have electric cart pushers that push 8 at a time. Before that, we had to push 20 to 25 carts. Well, I pushed 100 even!!!
eek I didn't push them that far, but we had to push them 10 yards. Before that, the record at our store was 72, which was alot. I don't think my record will be broken.
cool I also don't think my back will ever heal!
xp Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, I had this job during the time I was learning about the church. Finally I thought, "Ok, this is too big a decision to trust to this girl, her mom or even me. I need help from above to decide if I should keep learning about the church." So, one night I was working in the left parking lot. (we all had our own lot to cover for carts.) The store was in Cerritos, CA, right across from Cerritos Mall. In Cerritos, it can get very foggy at times. This night it was extremely foggy. I had been thinking about all I had learned all night and decided I should pray about it. Now I don't know about you, but I never used to pray on my knees. Actually, I used to pray in the shower because I was all alone and, well, that was just what I did. But this time I decided to get on my knees and pray. So, in the middle of the left parking lot, I got down on my knees and prayed. This night, it was so foggy, that from where I was, you couldn't see the store
OR the street. It was about 9:30 at night. As I was on my knees, if someone had sped through my lot, there is no way they would have seen me before they ran me over. So thank heavens no one did!
As I got on my knees and prayed to know whether I should continue learning about the LDS faith, I had such a sense of calm come over me, it is impossible to clearly describe it. I felt warmth and peace in every fiber of my being. I clearly had received an answer to continue to learn about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The next day I went over to my friend's house and told her and her mom, "Well, how do I go about talking to the missionaries?" They both flipped out and got all excited. I said "Hey, I just said talk!"
smile And we all laughed a little more. Her mom called the missionaries and two sister missionaries came over the next night (Wednesday) to teach me the first discussion.
During the first discussion, they started to read something out of the Book of Mormon. I said "Hey, don't read that. That's
YOUR book...of course it's going to agree with you. Show me in the Bible where it supports what you're teaching." Without flinching, they used the Bible for the whole discussion. That made a
huge impression on me. It showed me that they weren't afraid to just use the Bible and plus, they were flexible and since I
knew and trusted the Bible, it put me at ease. At the end of the discussion, they asked if they could come back next Wed. I said, "Do we have to wait a week?"
idea They got all excited and started flipping through their planners and said "No, when do you want us to come back?" I said "How about Friday, in two days." They looked and said "Sure!" On Friday, I said it was fine to use the Book of Mormon. I think that since they allowed me to just use the Bible in the first discussion, it put me at ease and then it was fine to use the Book of Mormon later. Plus I wanted to see what was in this book. Friday night, we went through discussions 2
AND 3. They asked when did I want them to come back. I said how about tomorrow and they said Great!!!
One other important part needs to be mentioned. While these young ladies were much older than me, and knew more than I did in many areas, they didn't try to snowball me or bluff on anything. Having read the Bible alot and with so much religion that I had been exposed to, there were some questions I had that they didn't know the answers to. If they would've tried to bluff like they did, or kind of skirt the issue, it would've really thrown up a red flag. If they didn't know an answer, they said "We don't know, but we'll find out." I'd gotten cheap answers in my past to different questions, but these great sister missionaries never tried to do that. And they
did get me my answers before they came back for the next discussion.
So, on Saturday, they came back and taught discussion 4. I said "let's keep going." So they taught discussion 5. I said "let's keep going." So they taught discussion 6. They then said "Do you want to go somewhere real cool?" I said sure, so we all went to the Los Angeles Temple and went to the visitor's center. We took the tour and then watched a cool movie. I prayed about all that we had talked about in the last 4 days and how everything felt so good and right. I also marveled that there wasn't one thing they had taught me that I disagreed with. I also prayed to know that Joseph Smith really had seen and done the things they told me had happened. Again, I felt the same way I had when I prayed in the parking lot at Fedco. Late Saturday night, I called the missionaries and asked if I could be baptized tomorrow. They said they would need to call me back. During that time, my friend's mother got a little worried. She wanted to be sure that I was sure what I was doing. She went over tithing again. No problem, I had paid tithing when I was Lutheran to some degree. She told me about the Word of Wisdom again. No problem, I was one of only about 3 on the football team that didn't drink. I had about 1/2 of a beer 2 years before and thought it tasted horrible. The only other time I ever drank alcohol was taking communion (wine) in the Lutheran church. I never smoked, tried any drugs or anything else that was bad for my body. I had tried my mom's coffee when I was alot younger, but didn't like it. They did tell me that I couldn't dring any caffeinated sodas anymore. Dr. Pepper was my favorite, but I said I could give it up. She then asked me if I had kissed her daughter. I said yes. She asked if I had
really kissed her. I said yes. She said, "Well, that's as far as you ever can go, before marriage." This sounded a little alarming, butI certainly wasn't going to tell
her (the mother of my then girlfriend) that. However, I knew that if that was what a prophet of the Lord said, then it was right.
The next day, Sunday, 4 days after the sisters had taught me the 1st discussion, I was baptized by immersion by my friend's father. Her grandfather then confirmed me a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He also gave me the gift of the Holy Ghost. I know that that decision I made is probably the most important decision I've made in my entire life. I have never regretted it since, and have thanked my Father in Heaven repeatedly for that. I also have researched the church extensively since and still have found nothing I disagree with. While I still have much
MUCH to learn, I know that this church is true and is the restored Gospel that Jesus set up during His earthly ministry. He is our Savior and Redeemer and stands at the head of this church.
I also know that my experience, while extremely sacred and personal to me, can be had by any other who wants to know if this church is true. While our Father in Heaven loves me very much, He doesn't love me anymore than he loves everyone else. If He told me it is true, He will tell you also. All you have to do is ask! Thanks for letting me share this with you. If you have any questions or comments, by all means let me know.
Take care.
smile
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