May I begin with mine...Six months after I joined the church...I was heavily taunted by my family over my "joining" the church...It was a very difficult time for me...I left California and moved in with a LDS family in SLC. One of the Sister Missionaries that I became very close to after my conversion...invited me to stay with her family...I lived with them nearly a month...The Greenburg family gave me a room down in the basement of their home...and there...for "3" weeks...I PRAYED to know with ALL OF MY HEART...if the Book of Mormon was true...I had to know...One morning...as I read it...I had this INCREBIBLE witness...that the Book of Mormon was TRUE...I was SO EXCITED over my experience...that I RAN UPSTAIRS...and cried out...."Sister Greenburg....Sister Greenburg...the Book of Mormon IS TRUE!!!" She simply smiled at me...and patted my head...."I know, dear"....I have NEVER FORGOTTEN THAT EXPERIENCE....I know with ALL OF MY HEART...it TRULY is the WORD OF GOD...It has been one of my GREATEST "treasures" to have been given this knowledge.....The feelings I get...when I do read it....reconfirms that BLESSED MORNING....nearly 35 years ago...
The Book of Mormon is also where I gained by testimony of the Restored Church. After attending a tiny branch in northern Ohio for several weeks as a favor to a high school friend to play piano for their meetings, the missionaries approached me about taking the discussions. The doctrine they taught made sense, nothing too different from what I believed. It was familiar, and I felt I had reconnected with something that had been missing. (At the time, I acknowledged it as a rekindling of a spiritual life which had been abandoned by my father after my mother died, now I see it as a resonating within my spirit that I had found the Truth.) But one little thing made me hesitate just a little,...the First Vision. Of course the missionaries had me reading the Book of Mormon throughout the discussions and I found it fascinating and easy to understand compared to my American Standard version of the Bible. I took Moroni's challenge, I prayed to know if the Book was of God. Indeed! The Spirit came swift and strong! The Book of Mormon was true and it was written for my day, and for me personally. So if the Book of Mormon was true, then Joseph Smith was a prophet who had seen and talked with Heavenly Father and restored the Church of Jesus Christ to the earth in latter-day. It is the keystone of my testimony! How grateful for a high school friend to ask me to help at her Church. How wonderful to find a blessing in my mother's passing. How grateful I am for the Book of Mormon!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Linda...for sharing this...Though we have discussed we were converts to the church and talked about parts of our conversion...I do not recall this part of your story...THANK YOU...Your testimony means even more...because..you have truly become my sister...It is even sweeter to me...
ReplyDeleteI so appreciate both of your stories... and here's mine... I took the missionary discussions as a young teenager and it all came very easily to me... as I was taught each principle it just made sense as if this was what I'd always known and believed. I read the Book of Mormon about a year after my baptism in preparation for the coming Seminary year. It also just rang true. I think I really fell in love with the book as a freshman at BYU. I can remember wanting to hurry through other parts of my day to get to that favorite part where I could really savour my reading of the Book of Mormon! I loved being surrounded by it and remember especially loving it when I'd get up early for class and see girls sitting in the hall (so as not to have to turn on the light and disturb their room mates) reading their scriptures so early in the morning. This book is so powerful and I love the actual words in it. I like to look many of the words up in a really good dictionary to help me better understand their meaning!! I love it! Sandee
ReplyDeleteThank you, Sandee...I can just picture you IN ACTION...I envisioned, also, your description of girls sitting in the hall...reading their scriptures...Wouldn't that make a GREAT WORK OF ART????
ReplyDeleteMy parents got baptized when I was a little over a year old, but they became inactive in the church. My cousin encouraged me to get the discussions when I was 13 while visiting my great aunt and her kids here in Orlando. I remember the feeling of the SPirit it was very powerful whenever I was with the missionaries, so I decided to get baptized.
ReplyDeleteAfter my baptism, I returned to my country by myself. On the plane I was reading the book of mormon. I remember sharing the message with the passanger next to me. She was thrilled about my faith and enthusiasm I had about my beliefs.
You have been a BLESSING TO US ALL!!!! I LOVE hearing your TESTIMONY...!!!! It is PURE...Thank you...Ann...for having such a LOVING SPIRIT!!!
ReplyDeleteOkay, here is my simple comment. I have no great story to tell, I have just never doubted that it wasn't true. Its really never crossed my mind that the Book of Mormon could be anything but the word of God. Its just always felt so good and so right. Of course, I have great parents to thank for that! =)
ReplyDeleteYour dad's patriarchal blessing said that we would receive "strong" spirits...You came "packaged" that way...Sarah...We didn't have much to do with your testimony...(smile) Loved hearing your THOUGHTS...Every mother on this BLOG...would attest...that nothing means more to us...than our children embracing the gospel...None of us want to lose our children...Besides,we mothers invested: 9 months of pregnancy..."X" amount in labor...and years of praying over each child...We want a RETURN on our INVESTMENT..(smile)
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