Today is special day to me. It’s been 5 years since I have been a member of the LDS church and boy has it been a long time. Exactly on this day, I was confirmed into the church as well as yesterday being my baptism day. It’s crazy how these are the exact same days as 5 years ago. In sacrament meeting, I was thinking about these past 5 years and how I’ve grown. I’ve come to realize that I still have a lot more growing to do. So I hope through this blog I can share my experiences with my life with you guys and be less shy. I want to start with my conversion story. This story is very personal to me so please no hard feelings to me or to anyone I mention because like I said before I am a very shy person and just sharing this with you is hard.

I was originally Catholic and grew up with an all Catholic family. Then I met this boy. (Yes it all started with a boy). In middle school, I did not know anything about mormonism or the LDS church until I met a boy named Alex. He was very willing to share his faith with me and I was with him. I did not think about it that much then because I was to focused on just being a Catholic all of my life and I was preparing for my confirmation which was going to happen in a few years. As I was preparing for my confirmation, I knew then without a doubt that I wanted to be a Catholic. I was told I would feel the spirit as soon as I was confirmed. I remember feeling so ready and excited. Once that day came and the priest confirmed me with oil, I didn’t feel anything. I was surprised and hurt a little but I just thought well maybe it will come later or that something was wrong with me. I decided that it was just that it was going to come later. I did go to church with Alex once and out of the 3 hours I was there, the only thing I remember was what I felt there. I felt something different, not a bad different, just different. (I couldn’t describe it then but as I think about it now it was a feeling of peace) After that, I just went through high school not thinking much of it and following my family and believing that what they were doing was what I was suppose to do.

Now fast forward to my freshman year of college. I went to Colorado State University and studied Environmental Engineering and hoped to become a veterinarian. I didn’t have any friends or family in Colorado and it was very hard for me to make friends because of my shy nature. I was still friends with Alex, the mormon boy, although he was attending Brigham Young University. There have been times where I felt very alone. I tried going to a Catholic church near the school but it just didn’t seem the same. So I tried going to different churches and nothing seem to work out. I then decided I just needed to go home and be with family and in the middle of my first semester away from home, I started applying to transfer to Texas schools. I was in a group on Facebook with other freshman going to CSU. There was one post asking people what churches are around the area that people were attending and asking for recommendations. Then one person commented that she attended a LDS church and that anyone was welcome to come with her. When I saw that, I thought I remembering going and wanted to go again because of a good experience before. So I facebook messaged her asking if I can go with her. Weeks passed and I never heard back from her and I thought well maybe I am not meant to go. It was then that I tried going to a nondenominational church that a few girls in my hall were going to. Tried that, didn’t work as well. One day Alex invited me to watch General Conference. (for those who don’t know what that is it is like a huge meeting where all of the LDS members are invited to watch church leaders speak to them about several different church topics.) I watched it and I don’t remember who spoke but I remember loving what I did watch. That night or maybe it was some night during the week. I don’t remember exactly which night. it was 5 years ago! I can’t remember everything. Anyways that night, I prayed asking what I needed to do spiritually/religiously and where I needed to go to church. Soon after that I received a message from facebook from the girl, Kalisha, I messaged a few weeks back saying that I can go to church with her. I got so excited whenever I heard back from her and that following Sunday I went to church with her. It was fast and testimony meeting that week and when I went I thought “well I’ve never seen this before where people from the congregation go up and bear their testimonies. That’s so cool!” I felt the spirit so strong then. Then the sister missionaries, Sister Davis and Hernandez, went up to me and asked if I wanted to take some lessons with them and I said yes. I took a few lessons with them and the only one I truly remember was when I cried. I didn’t cry because I was sad but more worried. I felt so much peace and happiness learning the things from the missionaries and I was so worried about my family. I wasn’t sure how they were going to react and that worried me so much that I just teared up when I gave the closing prayer. After a few weeks of taking the lessons, the sisters asked me if I wanted to be baptized. I hesitated at first because of my family so I took some time before I decided if that was something I wanted to do. I then decided that what I believed and thought was true even though my family wouldn’t think so I picked a date in December to be baptized and confirmed (December 3rd and 4th to be exact). I did not tell my family about this until after because at that time I thought it was the right thing. I believed it was the right thing because I didn’t want any doubts of what I knew in my heart was right.(Now I wish I told them before because I should share all good things with family).

From my baptism until now, I feel like I grew a lot in my faith but I still have a lot of things to learn. I went back home to Texas for a year of school, transferred to BYU, got married and now I’m working. I can not imagine my life without the church and without a doubt know I am were I am suppose to be. I love my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I know our Heavenly Father loves everyone (that includes you). 🙂 I also love my family and would do a lot for them to help them be happy. And if you are reading this and I do not know you, I hope you know I care about you even though I don’t know you. I hope this helps someone in one way or another.

Until next time,

Stephanie

*The picture above is from my wedding day 2 years ago. With me are my wonderful missionaries who came! Left is Sister Hernandez (now Des Gonzalez) and to the right is Sister Davis (now Sarah Maxwell). They mean the world to me and I appreciate all the things they have done for me. Love you yall!