Just another day....

It is still silent in the house and most are asleep with the exception of my little boy...little ha! The poor boy is turning twelve and will be in young men in just a couple short months. He is still my baby boy and I am sure fits every single description of the phrase "Mama's Boy" He has always been that way. He loves hugs and kisses and has not learned that he is too old for them. May that day never come. Don and I snuck out on the kids with the pretext of going to Costco. We did indeed go where we said we were going to go, but we also headed over to the mall and ran into some ward members. It was interesting because we have never been close to this couple, but i have always admired their happiness and calmness. So, then the interrogation began. Now, truly it is not as dark as I painted, but the brother from our ward began asking questions about our business, how we first met and eventually into my conversion. it was like talking to Diane Sawyer!!! I actually avoided the entire story as we were standing in the mall with people rushing about, but he pressed on wanting to know exactly what it was that caused me to convert. I truly mean he wanted to know. I looked at Don hoping for a way out as I do not tell the story very often. It is special to me. That being said some of you are rolling your eyes as you have heard it, but in the end I shared it with him as Don shrugged and said: "He asked. Go ahead and tell him." So, here is the reason I ended up baptized:

I was twenty years old and I was hanging out with people who I really liked and admired except for one thing...they did drugs and drank alcohol. I put off my teenage rebellion years until then, but as I sat one day slowly sipping on my bottle I watched them after smoking their pot. I have seen them do it several times before and even saw my so called boyfriend smoke it and have a bad reaction. It was laced with something that caused him intense pain. me being a control freak I never did smoke pot because I did not like the idea of myself not having control over my body. So, i watched them. Int he group was a brilliant musician, studied since he was a toddler, an artist and singer and then a computer nerd who could have revolutionized the world with his intelligence....and they were smoking pot. I watched over the course of several months as they became more and more addicted to it and one by one the brilliance and shine of their minds in there chosen fields of study began to dim until they didn't care about it any more. i finally called it quits with them.

At first I used the church as an out. My parents had wanted me to get baptized, but as with everything I had to find my own way. So, I began the missionary discussions. I have always been interested in religion. I consider myself a philosopher of sorts. I think a lot about things and try to make sense of the crazy world we live in. So, when the Elder McCourt asked me to pray about it I agreed, but never expected the answer that I would get. Here is what happened.

After my prayer I went to sleep not feeling happy nor sad or any feeling at all. I was simply tired. Upon falling asleep I began to dream. In this dream I was sitting in a black room wearing a long white dress looking off into the distance, pondering a question. A bright light began to shine from behind and I remained looking off into that distance, but feeling the warmth of the light that was surrounding me. A hand reached down and fell onto my shoulder. I remember turning my head and looking down at that hand. It was my Elder Brother. I smiled knowing it was him, but not having to see his face at that time. I heard the words He spoke to me: "You are going the right way." and I woke up from my dream still feeling the pressure of that hand on my shoulder. Was it still there. I will never know because I didn't look, but I felt it. All I knew is that for some strange reason out of all the craziness in the world happening and those needing more comfort than I, He came to me. The good Sheppard came to find a little lost lamb and heard my bleating calls.

So, my friends. That is how I became a member of this church. I knew that if I was THAT special to me given a message that was so clear and so simple and beautiful then I must have found the true church on this earth.

What was it that brought your heart to convert to the gospel? Convert or not we all have to go through that process.