My Conversion Story

[DMGNUT]

First off, I'm sorry for what must appear to be a very lengthy post.

I thought sharing this very short "readers digest condensed version" of my family's conversion would give others here a better understanding of who I am.

I wrote it several years ago and always intended to make changes or include more details, but just never got around to it.

Upon reading again, I think maybe it covers everything it needs to cover, just fine.

My Conversion Story...

I’m not a perfect man, and as a matter of fact, I’ve had over 40 years to perfect my many imperfections, but none-the-less, here’ my story.

It was a Thursday evening December 2004 and the kids were in bed. The wife and I were just sitting on the couch talking about the Bible and how you had to accept all of it, or none of it. It was admittedly a bit of an odd conversation for a couple that hadn’t been to church for over 2 years. I guess I was feeling guilty about not taking the time to see to it that our kids grew up knowing Jesus as their Savior. My wife and I had grown up knowing this, and we had tried on many occasions to find a church that we “knew” was right, but now as adults, we knew they were all missing something.

We had a nice life; it’s not that we were struggling with anything. We’d lived in this house for almost 8 years, but it was just that, a house, not a home. It seemed like it was only a home when we were going to church? So why didn’t any of them feel right?

I’d rather not go into details about the religions we tried, as I don’t want this to sound like a “bashing” thread, but just to be clear, each time we chose a new church/religion to try, we stuck with it for about 2 years (even though we often knew much sooner, that it wasn’t the place for us). I felt if I didn’t give it “time” to feel right, I was somehow copping out or quitting too soon. Each time we left a religion, we would kind of give up and not even bother looking for a new one for maybe a year or more, I guess out of despair?

Anyway, back to that Thursday evening; the discussion soon turned to my comments about there being literally hundreds of Christian religions, and if we took a couple years to check out each one… well lets just say I felt our search was for something we’d never find, and therefore a waste of time. It seems odd to say it now, but I was willing to give myself up as a lost cause, but I wasn’t willing to do that with my kids. So, by my reasoning, we needed to find some “acceptable” Christian religion, and drop the kids off each Sunday for Sunday school, so they could learn what they needed to learn, and we could forget about the whole “finding the right church” idea.

It was kind of an off-handed remark by my wife, when we got up to go to bed, but it caught my attention. She said, “If only someone would come to our door and tell us which religion was right”, and she kind of left it hanging there in the air. I of course responded with my typically sarcastic, “Yeh, right”.

I spent Friday as usual, all day and late into the evening at work. And as usual got up early Saturday, to go shooting with friends and came home around 10am. I was in the garage cleaning some guns and had just stepped into the kitchen for a glass of water when the door bell rang. My wife was bundled up on the couch half asleep, but still managed, “who could that be”. I looked through the peep hole and said, “There’s Mormons at our door”. Knowing my sarcastic side very well, she warned me to be nice. Imagine their surprise (and hers) when once the door was opened and they began their, “Hi, we’re missionaries from the Church of…” That’s as far as they got. I interrupted them and said, “I know who you are, and boy am I glad you’re here. I’ve got a lot of questions for you guys”. You wouldn’t believe the smiles on their faces. I kept them there answering my questions for over 3 hours, until they finally had to excuse themselves to go to a previously arranged appointment.

The rest of the story goes pretty much as you’d expect. We were baptized about 4 months later on April 23, 2005 and confirmed into the Church on April 24. We were sealed in the Mesa, AZ Temple on April 27, 2006.

Now I guess this would be a fairly average story, if not for one small detail. You see, that Saturday when the missionaries came to our door, they were headed to another area to knock on doors, for those few hours until their scheduled appointment. We live only a couple blocks from where the missionaries live, and they have to pass our place to go anywhere else in the area they cover. They passed our house, as every missionary had done for the last 8 years, almost everyday. I’m sure the Lord knew we were not ready to hear the news about His restored Church, and our Lord has a great deal of patience. But this time, less than 36 hours before these missionaries rode their bikes past our house, my wife had said we’d listen, if someone would come to our door, and tell us which Church was the right Church. And guess what? When she said that, the Lord was listening.

I don’t know if it’s appropriate to use their names, so I won’t. But one of these Elders was a young man from Georgia, with only 2 weeks left on his mission. He got exactly 2 houses past ours and stopped. His companion, an Elder from Canada (who imparted this story to us, and everyone else in attendance, on the day of our baptism) rode his bike on for a ways before realizing his companion had stopped. He said as he rode back to his companion, he guessed that the chain had come off his bike, or that he needed to tie his shoe. But when he rode back, his companion was standing very still with a look of concentration on his face. The Canadian Elder said it was as if his companion was listening to someone. Then suddenly the Elder from Georgia said, “We have to go back to that house”, as he pointed to our house. The Canadian Elder said all he could think to say was, “why”? The Georgia Elder responded, “I don’t know why, but we have to go, and we have to go right now”.

And that’s how we came to be members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Because a missionary who even after, or maybe especially after, two years of serving the Lord, was still listening for that, “still small voice”, and responded to the prompting of the Holy Spirit.

The Lord has testified to me of the Truthfulness of His restored Church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

And that is my story.

And I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

I should clarify (since I didn't do so in my short story) that my wife and I, and both of our sons were all baptized together. My sons were only 10 and 13 at the time. To this day, we are the only members of our family who are members of the Church (but our work to change this continues, and always will).

I'd also like to add that we have since found (or actually he found us) the missionary from Georgia, who was prompted to return to our home that cold December day many years ago. I have only ever seen him that one time, but the answers he and his companion gave to my "3 hour interrogation" stand alone, as the reason I asked them to return. Shortly after his release, the missionary from Canada was transfered and they were replaced by a missionary from The Czech Republic and one from Samoa. These were the two who actually taught us the lessons and baptized and confirmed us members of the Church. We are still in contact with both of them too.

I regret not knowing more of the young man from Canada.

On a side note; I often wonder about the Lord's "selection" on who He would send to find us, and who He would have teach us the lessons and then baptize and confirm us. You see there's an old country boy saying in Texas, that goes, "No ones gona tell me, how the cow eats the cabbage". I know... most peole who hear it (even those from Texas) often wonder out-loud... what the heck does that mean? Well, in a round about way, it means we don't take kindly to outsiders telling us our business.

I've always kind of thought that the Lord has a sense of humor, and He intentionally sent two "outsiders" (two wonderful young men who grew up not even speaking English as their first language) to tell this old country boy "exactly" how the cow eats the cabbage...

[Anddenex]

Both of my parents are converts to the Church, while they were in their twenties. As a result of their decision, they had four children, all the boys went on missions and all the children have been married in the temple. They have 13 grandchildren who are being taught the gospel. I am very thankful for my parents humility in accepting the missionaries in their home.

My father, although single, decided himself that there could be only one true path. He decided that he would search every religion he could for a year, and if he did not find the true path he would give up. Well, within that year he was about to give up, and by different circumstances decided to stay with his brother who had converted to the Church a few years before my father. He shared with his brother what he was doing and his brother asked him if he had met with the missionaries from his Church.

Well, as a result, and because of one inspired missionary, my father joined the Church. Welcome to LDS.net.

[Vort]

What a great story. Thank you for sharing it.

[pam]

Truly awesome story.