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VIEW PERSONAL BELIEFS
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POSTED BY:
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puniisham
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DATE:
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05.08.2008 |
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SUBJECT:
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I WAS LOST BUT NOW I'M FOUND |
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LOCATION:
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Aiea, United States
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Hi, I'd like to introduce myself to you. My name is Puni and I live in Hawaii. My family and I will make 3 years this december in the gospel. Last year, September 22, 2007, my husband and my children were sealed in the Laie, Hawaii Temple for time and eternity and it was awesome!
My family and I were searching for the right church that fit us. We knew that we needed God in our lives and we wanted our children to grow up knowing Him. We went to every kind of denomination like the Assembly of God and 7th Day Adventist, and then to the Baptist, and Catholic, Methodist but none of them "felt" or sounded right.
My mother was a return missionary and because we were forced to go to church when i turned 12 I decided not to go anymore. There was alot of things that I didn't understand and couldn't find answers to so one day I just decided not to go anymore. Thru out the years, my mom would try to get me to go and the more she bugged me about it the more I grew to detest the gospel. The older I got, I vowed that I would never ever go to any mormon church ever again.
It was while searching that I began to pray to the Lord to show me which church was the right one to go to. I told God that I just wanted to find a church where I could go to to feel His spirit, to worship and Praise Him and to finally be able to pay tithing to Him. I prayed and prayed and then all of a sudden, I started hearing this voice and it was telling me to go the mormon church. I was like no way! Any church but not that one! For about a month, I kept hearing this voice trying to convince me to go back to this gospel but I was adamant and there was just no way. It kept telling me to give this church a chance just one more chance and if it doesn't work out then I could walk away from it. I kept saying to myself..no way, I'm not going. And then my mom calls me one day and she tells me that Gladys Knight was coming to Hawaii and that she was going to have a concert at her ward that sunday and I was like...SHOOTS!!! We're coming.
My husband and the kids got dressed up and we went. My husband didn't want to go but I told him Gladys Knight was going to be there, lets just go see her sing and then we'll leave! He was like, okay shoots, we can do that. So we get there, went thru the sacrament service and everything and there's no Gladys Knight in sight. I asked my mom where was Gladys Knight and she was like...oh she's having her concert at the BYU auditorium and that she was trying to find tickets for us to be able to go. I was like WHAT?! So we came for nothing. That's when she invited us to go to the Gospel Principals class and I was like...nah that's okay and my husband was on the side giving me the eye signals for us to leave, and while all this was going on, that same voice was telling me to go to the class. It was telling me to go to the class, just give a chance and that voice kept getting louder and louder to the point where I turned to my husband and convinced him to go with me to the class. So we did. It was like the lesson was talking to us and I felt the Holy Spirit so strong that I got up in the middle of the class and the lesson and walked out of the room. As I did that, I told myself, the first person that crosses my path is the one I'm going to talk to and if no one crosses my path then I guess it wasn't meant to be. As I started to truck across the church a man walked right towards. When he got close to me, I stopped him and I told him that if he was willing to take the time to set it up for the missionarys to come to my home, I would be willing to listen to them. He was stunned but he pulled out a pen real quick like and took my name and number and then pulled out a stack of tickets to the concert and handed it to me and then he invited us to come. When I walked out of the church that day, I was so filled with the Holy Spirit, I felt like I was floating on air. We did go to the concert and the whole time the Holy Spirit stuck with me so much so that I cried thru the whole concert. Right there in the stands, I decided that this was the church I was going to join and I gave my heart over to the Lord right at that moment.
My family had the lessons along with the elder that I had approached who is now the new bishop of our ward. They had asked me after being baptized to go and give my testimony and I said that I would. After some thinking I realized that I didn't have a testimony. I didn't know if this was the true gospel, or if Joseph Smith was a true prophet or that the doctrines were even true and I wasn't about to go up in front of the whole congregation and lie, no way. So that week after fasting and much prayer and seeking, it was late friday night after not receiving my answer that I looked up towards the ceiling and asked the Lord to show me what was so special about this church. What was the big deal that every one was seeing and I wasn't? And then ...all of a sudden I was no longer in my room but instead standing on high mountain cliff that jutted out and as I stood there I felt the wind blow thru my hair. And as I stood there, I looked below me and from the left side of me to the ride side, I could see the whole valley below. As I stood there, the whole valley turned into like a blue print and in this blue print it explained why this gospel was started, the ordinances, every question that saught so hard to find answers to but couldn't was answered in a second. And at that moment I understood everything about the gospel and when I realized it, I was back in my room and my vision had cleared. I was stunned at what just happened and when I realized what the Lord had just revealed to me, I fell to my knee's and I bawled my eyes out as I thanked the Lord profusely. As sat there bawling, I thought of all the years that I had been searching for the true church and here it was right under my nose this whole time and that's when I said to myself, this is the true church of Jesus Christ. Needless to say, I was able to go up and give my testimony of how I came to my testimony and my family and I have thanked the Lord everyday for loving us so much that He lead us to this true gospel. Joseph Smith was a true prophet and the 4 books are indeed true.
I love you my Father in Heaven!
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