Your Book of Mormon Story

[Hemidakota]

My friend...WELCOME HOME.

I do love stories like this. It only helps me to help others in the same position.

[Avrham]

hi
well my conversion to christ started when i was studying as JW for about 2yrs which helped me greatly in my teens so i had already a knowledge of christ before i joined the LDS but the BOM came into my life at a time when i was studying out my life and the things i wanted to do i have always believed since i joined 12yrs ago my testimony has always been their even when i have been sinking sometimes i always have questions/doubts and will continue to in order to gain a little bit more knowledge

[nc31410]

Wow...I love reading everyones story! Truely amazing!

For me actually was kind of wierd, but i believe in destiny, and how God has a set plan for all of us. So I know that the way I became part of the LDS church, and all the steps I had to take, to be put in that right set of mind to fully embrace the true meanings and teachings of the church.

I grew up in Utah, so I was surrounded with friends who were members. They'd always invite me to the church activities, and young women activities. I was curious, but always too shy to ask anything. When I moved to Spanish Fork Utah during the summer of 6th grade, I didn't have friends because school hadn't started yet, and so most of my time was spent at the library! I started to read Mormon authors like Anita Stansfield and Jack Weyland! I fell in LOVE with the books, and the first books that ever filled me with emotion and actually cried! I read these books all through high school!

I soon started to take intersest in the LDS faith. There were terms I didn't understand. By that time my freshman year of high school I became really close with this guy (who is now my husband). He was a member of the church, and on occasion I would ask him about those terms I didn't understand. And I really started to take interest! Anyways, I knew the basic beliefs of the church, but never really thought about actually taking the lessons.

All of my family are Catholic. So when I started to date my husband they'd always tease me because I was dating a "Mormon". Even though at that time, he was inactive, I felt very embarassed about the teasing.

So after 1 year of dating, we found out I was preg. Telling my parents was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. Immediately my mom wanted me to get an abortion. But I knew better. I knew that because I made a bad choice I was supposed to take on the consequences. Either way, I knew in my heart that this was meant to be, a bad choice on my part, but that the actions that had to be taken from that day forward were meant for me to grow and learn.

So I got married, kept going through school, dealt with marriage problems, emotional problems, my parents and other people. I just had to stay strong. I started to really drift away from any belief at all. I mean I knew God existed, but I didn't go to a church or anything like that. I was just going through so much that I just felt alone.

So after my jr. year of high school my husband and i moved to houston texas with his family. At this time it was SO SO hard for me, being a young mother, going to school to finish my senior year, coming home and doing house work and taking care of a baby. It was SO hard. But I was determined to do something right for once. With alot of hard work I finished my senior year. And became a stay at home mom. At this point any church related things, I'd really just not even bother. It wasn't until I went to visit my parents back in utah for the first time since my daughter was born that I really started to think about my faith, and if the catholic faith was the right thing for me...I really had to think hard, because I didn't want to have to explain to my daughter one day why we don't asist any church, or have to explain to her who Jesus Christ is...and be afraid of just ending up confusing her. After my return back home, I started to pray about possibly learning more about the LDS church. I asked questions, talked to my cousin who is a convert. And then one day on our way to pick up my brother in law from the airport, i had used the restroom at a gas station. By this time I had prayed and not recieved any kind of answer. So I'm in the bathroom and I look over at the door, and there is graffiti and writing, and there was this one that cought my eye it said "You will never be truly happy, unless you let God in heart" and for me that was it. For me that was my answer to my prayers! Soon after that, I finally told my husband about this whole thing, (he had no idea I had any intentions of becoming LDS) he was proud and very supportive. I recieved the lessons and soon after got baptized on December 31st. 06'. It was one of the most amazing and rewarding decision I have ever made. I have a strong testimony from the BOM, the scriptures have helped me lift my spirits when I need them the most. I can just sit down and read any passage I turn to and find something uplifting to whatever situation I am in. Its helped my daughter have the curiousity of what I am reading and sits down also to "read" the scriptures. Its truely blessed my heart! And my husband is still inactive. I'm working on setting an example I haven't given up! I've gone to church every sunday for the past couple of months! I've recieved my calling as a Young Women's teacher (miah maids) and I've seen all these events truely bless my life and my family!

And thanks to everyone who shared their story in here! It was a pleasure reading your stories!!

[StallionMcBeastly]

Originally Posted by tomk

I've enjoyed reading these posts, particularly Hemidakota's.

I remember reading the Book of Mormon during my teens and praying about it in private and receiving a witness. It was a witness such that I have never felt to discount it as having any other source other than having come from God. No angels appeard, no visions opened in my mind. Just a sweet feeling of peace and warmth from head to toe.

But I would have to say that my testimony and conversion regarding the Book came many many years later, particularly as I became involved in an LDS 12-Step program in order to deal with some Law of Chastity issues that had plagued me since I was 14 years old.

There are many verses which have deep meaning for me now, but one verse in particular has come to mean a lot to me. The wording is very subtle, but if you have "eyes to see" and "ears to hear" you can catch the meaning of it. Or in other words, God can reveal it to you and write it upon your heart when you are ready.

Alma 7:23 And now I would that ye should be humble, and be submissive and gentle; easy to be entreated; full of patience and long-suffering; being temperate in all things; being diligent in keeping the commandments of God at all times; asking for whatsoever things ye stand in need, both spiritual and temporal; always returning thanks unto God for whatsoever things ye do receive.

This verse is like a cup of ultra concentrated laundry soap, but the part that I want to talk about is the last part. There is a distinct word choice that captivates me, and causes my heart to sing hosana:

"whatsoever things ye do receive"

The verse instructs us to ask for whatever spiritual or temporal things we stand in need of.

Then it instructs us to ALWAYS RETURN THANKS for whatsoever things we end-up receiving from the Lord in response to our petition.

This has striking parallels to the Law of Consecration.

1) We ask for EVERYTHING we think we stand in need of.
2) We get back what God in His wisdom knows we need.
3) We are to thank Him for what He wisely chose to give us, even if it is not what we asked for.

The implied lesson here is "What can I learn about the nature of God by what I asked for vs what I received back from Him?" What lesson is He teaching me by how He chose to respond to my petitions?

But there's more.

In this verse lies the secret to "getting what we want" especially in terms of the struggles we face. The key is in being grateful. Grateful for what we DO HAVE not envying what we DON'T HAVE or the ways in which we think or wish God would bless us. Be grateful for how He chooses to bless you. If you do, He can bless you with even more things that are needful! Blessings that you truly need. Blessings that will help you grow the most.


I just can't say enough about this verse or the book.


The book does not have any other origins beside what was stated by Joseph Smith. It is of God. It came about by His power and by no other means. It testifies of Christ and brings us closer to Him (literally).


Tom

I just wanted to thank you for sharing this.

Helped me a lot!

[tree]

awesome thanks so much for sharing.

[tomk]

Originally Posted by StallionMcBeastly

I just wanted to thank you for sharing this.

Helped me a lot!

You are sure welcome. God is so kind to us, isn't He?

[melissar]

Thank you everyone for sharing your stories. I always love reading the posts here. I love the peaceful feeling I get when I read the scriptures. Also as noted in an earlier post, I can feel the difference when I do not read my scriptures daily. I love reading about Christ coming to the Americas, I think it is my favorite part.

[Islander]

I was born and raised in Cuba, in a small fishing town 50 miles east of Habana. I was raised primarily by my great grandmother. She was, without a doubt a remarkable woman. By the time I was born she was in her 80’s. She believed to be born around 1898 although she had no birth certificate to prove it.

She was a natural entrepreneur and inculcated in me a spirit of sacrifice, honesty and self sufficiency that is still with me to this day. She was also instrumental in exposing me to the Gospel, which in itself is all together a miracle. Cuba has a Roman Catholic religious tradition with very strong African religious rituals and practices. She rejected those traditions all her life. She discovered “her God” in the pages of an old battered bible left behind in the 19th century by a plantation owner. There she found Isaiah and the promise of the Temple to ALL people. There she found and understood the coming forth of Christ and the Atonement, the true nature of the Trinity and the absolute need for baptism. For more than 40 years in Cuba we have been enslaved by Communism and cut off from the world. We had no idea about the Restoration.

She spoke and read to me of “her God” as if she had a relationship with Him like none I knew. The same God gave her dreams about impending floods, hurricane and insect infestations that threatened our town. The same God showed her that “there are men on the earth that walk with God and He hears their prayers like onto Moses.” She was convinced that we were born in the wrong country but with faith one day I would find them.

I joined the Cuban army at age 17. I wandered the jungles of Central and South America, the Savannas in Central Africa and the barren deserts of Ethiopia as a military intelligence officer. I witnessed unimaginable brutality and carnage in the name of country and a doctrine based on repression and fear. Many of my friends died. But the hand of the God of my grandmother shielded me, protected me and comforted me through those years of nightmares and despair. I made my way to America in 1990 and my grandmother died in 1995 just two years before I found the church and the truth that I sought for so many years.
In 1988, while on a mission in the highlands of Honduras I was shot in the head by a sniper. What follow is a true account and my testimony of what transpired:
The next moment, as if in a dream, my head exploded, jerking my cervical spine upwards, in a counter clock motion. And then there was silence. Nothing but the dark, bottomless, and insipid silence that accompanied the fall of my body to the muddy ground two feet below. It seemed like two miles.

The report of the weapon fired across the gorge registered in my traumatized brain a full two seconds later. It sounded far, like a distant echo of thunder. I laid face down, my mouth quickly filling with the unsavory mix of my own blood and the clay and grass of the flooded valley floor. I laid there, my brain in shock and unable to process any of the higher motor functions.

I could hear my own breathing, fast, labored, insufficient with blood gurgling in my throat. After a few seconds, or minutes, the realization of my impending death sparked through my consciousness like lightning. I was dying. I lay there broken, unable to move for what seem like a lifetime. I sobbed quietly, helplessly.

I lost all sense of time as I waited for the sniper to return. Occasionally they do. They come close to “confirm the kill,” they come for a souvenir. After all, he’d been hunting me for a few days. He never came, fearful perhaps of being caught in the open and alone by a larger enemy group. If he felt safe, he’d have watched the fallen prey for half an hour or so, observing for signs of life. He was convinced I was dead and I believed it myself. Most people have never truly and intentionally considered what happens to human beings when they know that their lives are certainly about to be over—especially if there’s no prolonged illness or chronic condition. Popular media has attempted some romanticized interpretation of the pre-death experience. I haven’t seen a convincing one.

Fear. Overwhelming and undiluted terror seizes you. The realization that, conclusively, in just seconds you’ll stand face-to-face, eye-to-eye with the God of the universe is a frightening experience without equal. For me, the thought of being under the all-searching eye of God wasn’t appealing. Not on account of my life.

The fear and apprehension that gripped my entrails, the physical pain that accompanied that moment of despair had no parallel in my life’s existence. I had no words, no explanations, and no excuses. I wasn’t ready to die but I couldn’t escape what seemed the unavoidable outcome of my injuries.

I sobbed, quietly at first, the pain and fear intensifying every minute with the decrease of my physical strength due to the loss of blood. I cried bitterly like never before or since.

I thought of my grandmother. What would she have me say? What could I say to her God? Life, mine at least, seemed distant, disconnected, and almost like a dream. It occurred to me then that I’d wasted my life. For all my accomplishments, scholastic and military, the painful fact remained that nothing, absolutely nothing I’d done at that point was of any real relevance. There was nothing in my life that had been noteworthy. There was nothing that could transcend time and impact others. In fact, away from a few trinkets stored at home and a few black and white photographs in serious peril of extinction, there was no evidence of my existence.

I’d spent my life and time on the earth in a useless and futile struggle. I’d exhausted every opportunity and hour “in the endless game of nothingness,” like Grandma used to say.

I’d seen it before. A “political officer” went to the home of the fallen soldier early in the morning, then read or rehearsed a script about “patriotic duty, heroism, and invaluable service to the country” and so on. It was some meaningless rhetoric designed by someone who had no children, at least none that were in harm’s way, none that had died in a dark and lonely jungle.

“What do I do, Abuela?” I asked myself, my voice barely audible.

I knew what I needed to do. The “how” was the dilemma. Speaking to God has always been a serious, quite involved process. First, there was the issue of, what do you say to God that He already doesn’t know? For me, there was always a certain amount of trepidation in approaching the God of the whole creation.

“Son, we don’t deserve to be heard, but He does,” Grandma used to say. “Humility is the key. Be aware that we’re unworthy of His attention and His care but He offers it to us nonetheless.”

I remembered. Amidst my tears, my fear and sorrow, I remembered.

I spat the blood and mud from my mouth and twisted my body painfully, slowly to face heaven. I cried some more.

“God of my grandmother. I know You can hear for my grandma says You can hear even the creatures that creep in the grass. I’m about to die and maybe I deserve to die; only You know that. I won’t tell You of the things I’ve done wrong for You know them all, God. I pray to You today so that You may be merciful to me. I pray that You may forgive me of all my sins, that You may not look at them anymore, God.”

The wind and the rain abated for a few minutes. The treetops danced softly in the warm breeze as if unwilling to interrupt my prayer. Now and again I could see the stars in the sky in between the dark clouds that rushed across.

“God of my grandmother, I know about and I believe in You because I’ve seen the things that You have done for my grandma. Even if You won’t do anything for me, I believe in You and everything Grandma has taught me about You. She says You’re a God of miracles and I believe. I know that You sent Your Son Jesus Christ to be killed for our sins. I pray today, God, that You will forgive me because of Your Son, for then He also died for my sins. Yours is my spirit and You will be my God. I pray to You today that though I have nothing left and am about to die, the sound of my voice remains here on the earth even though my sprit leaves. But I say this before I die so that You know that I believed in You before I saw You in Heaven, God.

“Take me then, God, and don’t let me suffer any longer. Comfort my grandmother, God, for she is old and she loves me. Help her, God, that she may be able to bear my death and live until You take her to heaven that I may see her again. Forgive me, God. Forgive me, God.”

I wept again, now however, with a tingling in the pit of my stomach. I felt almost happy. I’d said my peace and acknowledged before God the insignificance of my existence. I felt complete. I was now willing to surrender to His will and die.

The rain returned but not the wind. It fell thin and soft, warm and quiet over the already saturated valley floor. I listened and lost myself in memories of distant laughter and children’s play. I remembered Grandma’s warm and aromatic kitchen, the rumor of the seashore, and the wind chime made out of seashells hanging in the patio window.

Inconsequential memories, perhaps, but those were the only meaningful things in my life, I realized. The long talks over the dinner table, the silent moments of quiet reflection while digging about in the small vegetable garden, those were my treasures. Absorbed into those and many other scattered memories, I slipped into unconsciousness.

“Not yet,” I heard inside my rattled brain with astonishing clarity. No cymbal, no trump, no earth-shattering tremor. The quiet and simple phrase startled and surprised me at the same time.

I was in shock due to the loss of blood and my rattled brain had but a spark or electrical impulse barely enough to keep my body alive. The magnitude of the event, the realization that I had been a witness and a recipient of a true miracle and how this event would transform my life would come days later.

I wiggled my soggy toes inside my boots and wiped the blood from my face. The pain on the side of my face was gone, replaced now by a strong pressure over my right eye. I touched my head and the tactile experience was horrific. I could feel the mangled mass of bone and tissue “loose” on the side of my face.

It has taken me many years to find the courage to share glimpses of the life story of my grandmother and an account of my search for truth, spiritual nourishment, and ultimately God. My life, both here and in my native land, has been fraught with struggles, disappointments, and bittersweet experiences. I’ve embraced this country as my own since in the land of my ancestors I have nothing but memories. Therefore, with immense gratitude I call this land my country.

As a keen and honest observer of the world around me, I can thus attest that our country has problems, some actual, some imagined. I’ve traveled beyond these borders and into other lands, thus I believe I speak with some authority on the issue. I can sincerely attest to the uniqueness and special character of this land. Failure to recognize how exceptional this country is, in my at times not-so-humble opinion, conveys an affront to God. This country, as some contend, may not be the best country in the world. But for those that will read these lines and as one that gives witness to this truth, I can sincerely declare that there is no better one.

The founding and development of this nation wasn’t an act of fortuity. It wasn’t luck or chance. The existence and emergence of this land was the result of careful planning and care on the side of the Lord. The coming forth of The Book of Mormon and the restoration of the gospel and all the miracles that accompanied those events had been foretold for millennia.

It’s my testimony that the earth and all that is in it is the Lord’s. We’re His offspring and thus equipped to attain, in time, a level of light, knowledge, and intelligence that will surpass in order of magnitude our current state. All knowledge belongs to Him and nothing is lost to Him. Although He had scattered the nations to and fro across the face of the earth and the oceans, He knows precisely where He has driven them.

I’m convinced that He pours a measure of His spirit of revelation to all those who seek Him with real intent and a pure heart. And it’s that revelation that constitutes the seed of His word and the desire to come to know Him, the Eternal Father. There are men and women all over the earth in distant lands and on the isles of the sea that cry His name and He hears them. It’s therefore our responsibility to seize on the wind of faith and go to on His errand to every corner of the world where His children call on His name for mercy and salvation. Such responsibility can’t be abdicated and in virtue of the abundant blessings that have been poured upon us in this land, we must obey.

I’m indeed grateful beyond measure that the Lord has led my steps unto this land—that I’ve found peace, the truth, and the knowledge that my grandmother desired for me. I’m grateful that the mercies of the Lord extend to those who have crossed the veil without the opportunity to receive the ordinances of salvation. The Lord has inspired His prophets to build many temples in the high places where we may worship and perform under His watchful eye inside His holy mountain.

It’s my witness that as before, the God of the universe has answered the prayer of the simple, the humble but faithful, and has spoken by the mouth of his prophets. I also testify that Joseph Smith was the one chosen to open the doors of the kingdom of heaven and allow the light and truth lost to memory to return. I have an unbending testimony of the restoration of the priesthood of God to the earth, and that such will be the foundation of His kingdom until Christ declares that the work is done. I express infinite gratitude to my Heavenly Father for allowing me to bear the priesthood in order to perform the ordinances of salvation here on the earth. I’m grateful for this endowment that allows me, for the first time in more than 2000 years, to restore to my ancestral line that which may have been lost to my kindred dead.

I’m thus willing to declare with humility but with full intent that I’ve placed my eternal salvation and that of my family on the fact that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is indeed the church of the Savior. I’ve received, in faith and on account of my own life being in mortal danger, a personal testimony that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Eternal Father, and that He lives. It is of Him whom we testify, it is Him of whom we speak and say Master, Savior, and Redeemer. I declare that Jesus Christ is the instrument of salvation for the dying world and I’ve pledged to dedicate my life to the work of spreading His gospel. He is the same that was crucified for the sins of mankind, past, present, and future, and none will be saved except one confesses faith and belief in Him. We worship Him because He lives and guides the affairs of the kingdom through His prophets, seers, and revelators, Thomas S. Monson being the keeper of the keys of the priesthood and of the gathering in this day.

I know that through Jesus Christ we’re partakers of the covenant of the patriarchs. That in one measure or other, the blood of Israel runs through our veins and the blessings promised to them is also our promise. Thus we must remain faithful to the covenants, old and new, in order to receive the everlasting blessings of the gathering onto Zion.

I’ve prayed that we may have the faith and strength to endure the trials that will surely come. I’ve prayed that we may not fear or heed to the rumors of war and the power of tyrants and those that oppress. I’ve prayed that we may be sharp tools in the hands of the Lord to carve His word in the hearts of those who are looking for His truth. There are millions of men and women pleading in the dark for the light of the gospel and to them we most go or account for our lack of diligence at the last day.

It is my testimony that if we are faithful and true to the stewardship that we’ve been given, we’ll be counted among those present under the bright morning light when the trump will sound from the edge of the universe announcing the coming of the Lord Almighty and the resurrection of those who crossed the veil professing faith in Christ.

[Hemidakota]

Thanks Skalenfehl for linking this from another thread.

Islander, thanks for sharing your story.

[Berean]

I will read these when it is not 1:00 am!

I will give a short history and elaborate later when it is a more reasonable hour.

When I took the discussions in my mid 20's I thought I was going to convert my boyfriend, his family, and of course the Elders to be Baptists...thank the Lord that did not happen. I felt the Spirit in those discussions (Cambridge Longfellow Ward) like I rarely have since. "My" senior Elder, Elder Graile, who was *fantastic* and I hope I spelled his name right was truly amazing. I saw his first name on his scriptures but of course never called him that. There was a very young and sweet Elder Bell and another great one at the beginning...Elder Andreason? who was also excellent and they all showed me what it is like to be a true Latter-Day Saint. Hopefully I am more humble now.
My parents pretty much freaked when they found out. My dad yelled and mom went upstairs to be alone. Still not happy but much more accepting. My parents have gone to dinner at the homes of a couple of families in my ward and there is one woman I especially admire. When exiting *each* family's home my mother said she got the distinct impression that "ye shall know them by their fruits."
She still denies the source but I think she knows the Church is true but is too afraid of going to Hell to accept it. It would be *so* good for especially her because she is extremely dissatisfied with her current church and I know she would make friends in our old ward where she would be. I see her fitting in splendidly in our current ward. I do not want to be overly pushy but I know this would be so good for her.
Somehow I knew I would not be able to shut up...you will find out if you have not already that I like to post.
OK I will go to bed now...