Second, this is an email my mom typed up and sent out to family and friends of her testimony and her decision to join the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
Yes, prayers are heard and answered.
"To My Family and Friends,
I have made the decision to get baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It has been a few years of study and prayers to come to this decision. I was baptized in a lake in Georgia when I was 16 years old with my best friend Melissa and felt very close to God at the time. Then life happened and we moved to a new town and I never found another church. My faith slipped away.
When the kids were small I tried a few different churches. I had to drag them kicking and screaming and I never found what I was looking for. I spent many hours out in our forest praying for help to find true peace and happiness. For a while I thought that Buddhism sounded cool. I prayed for teachers to come into my life to help me. Rita and Mike Barrett came into my life about the time they lost their eldest son Josiah. They have blessed my life in many ways. We started a Bible study together. I had strong opinions about the Bible, even though I had never actually read it. It wasn’t your typical study where everyone believed the same thing. We were a small group of non-believers, searchers and devout Christians. We had wonderful discussions, although heated at times. The more I read the Bible and learned about Jesus’ teachings the more they made sense to me.
About this time our daughter, Vicki, started to become interested in the Mormon Church. The initial interest was cute boys, but I watched her develop into this incredibly strong young woman with a very strong testimony of Jesus Christ as her Savior. She stayed true to her beliefs with her parents and many of her friends telling her she was wrong. I know we feared we were loosing her to some Bible thumping cultish like church which didn’t like black people or gays. Instead, we watched her thrive and love people around her and bring our family closer together with her spirit. I learned that the stereotypes of the Mormon Church were false. I started going to church at first just to spend more time with her, but eventually I felt the sincerity, love and goodness of the people at church and finally felt the peace and happiness I had been searching for.
When my niece, Veronica, suddenly passed away last September and my sister Cacia asked me to go and tell our mother in person, Vicki was our strength. She kept telling her Grandma that it was going to be okay. She knew in her heart that Veronica was okay and in a much better place.
So now, I’m taking a huge leap of faith and letting these young Mormon missionaries throw me into the water so to speak. I believe that the blessings to come will be great. I know it scares my husband to death, but all I can tell him is I know that I’m supposed to be with him and I love him. I truly believe having Jesus Christ as the center of my life will enrich our marriage, family and friends. I’m getting baptized this Friday, April 30th at 7pm at the church in St. Helens. Please come if you can."
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