My first talk

On Father's Day I was asked to give my first talk in Sacrament meeting. The topic was my conversion story and I was to be the first speaker... which in general should be an easy topic, but I was still extremely nervous. I thought all week about what I would say, I thought about making notes... I even typed up some notes. But none of the notes seemed to be exactly right so I left them all at home and figured in this case, I would just wing it.


All while the sacrament was being passed, I could feel my stomach tying in knots and myself getting more and more nervous. I prayed and prayed and prayed that I would have the Spirit and say what needed to be said... afterwards, I had many people come up to me telling me my talk was wonderful and asking how I managed to do it without notes. It felt really good to hear it.


Here is a brief summed up version of my conversion story ...

• I first came in contact with the church when I was 6. My dad's best friend was an excommunicated member of the church and was working towards going back to church to be sealed to his family in the temple.
• When I was 10, the missionaries gave the discussions to my mom... as we prayed to find out if the Book of Mormon was true... I felt even then it was... but my mom said she felt lost so I trusted her instinct instead of my own.
• When I was 15 my brother joined cub scouts and I got involved so we met a lot of members.
• When I was 16, I was invited to a church dance and got tricked into a discussion where I was given a copy of the Book of Mormon
• When I was 17, I was given another copy and tricked into another discussion ... where I took it seriously and read some highlighted verses and prayed about the truth. I did not have any feelings good or bad so I assumed that meant that it was not true. I had a dream, the details I won't get into here ... and when I woke up in the middle of the night, I just knew that the Book of Mormon was true. Living at home I could not get baptized since my family didn't really support me and I wasn't a fan of hypocrisy in organized religion.
• When I was 20, my boyfriend at the time, left his family, friends, work, school, and me behind and went on a mission to serve the Lord and His church. This was the last bit of proof that I needed to take the discussions and really consider baptism. I found the missionaries the next Sunday at church and told them I wanted to take the discussions. And at that first discussion I was asked if I would be baptized and I said yes.

Ultimately, every member I knew growing up, every missionary that ever knocked on my door, every action that spoke louder than words had an effect on me joining the church and without every step along the way since I was 6... I would not be where I am today.