Today is the THREE YEAR anniversary from the date I was baptized [as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints] !!!
It actually seems longer. That time... me... who I was three years ago-- seems long ago when we fast forward to today. I guess time pass always seems to fly by, right?
So much has changed in three years though. When I met the missionaries I had just moved back home [to California from Rhode Island] and was back in school, finally feeling a little back on track after a 3 year hiatus on the East Coast. I think that the time I spent on the East Coast really helped develop me as a person and contributed a lot to my conversion. [Whether I knew it at the time or not, I was really grooming myself for the major lifestyle change I would soon make.]
I originally moved to the East Coast to live with a guy I didn't really know, which turned into a thing. A brief, year long thing. When I broke up with him I had every intention of returning home; afterall he was the only reason I was on the opposite side of the country anyway. I had no strings keeping me there. Until Tabby. My friend Tabby told me not to go running home, not to feel like I had no reason of my own to stay and she invited me to live with her. I lived with her for a little over a year and a half and we had so much fun together! I learned a lot about people while I was in Providence. I also learned a lot about myself. I didn't really figure out everything that I wanted in life, but I did realize a lot of things I was missing. I needed to go back home in order to go back to school-- I just wasn't comfortable enough in a new environment to take the initiative and apply to schools out there. I didn't even know where to begin. I seriously get so overwhelmed when I'm in new places [even if it is for a few years!] I was working everyday and partying every night. I was "livin' the life" but not living my life. I was wasting my life.
November of 2008 I knew I had to move home. It was the right thing to do. December of '08 I packed everything I could fit in 2 boxes and a suitcase, drove with Tabby, Brian and Zach to the airport and tearfully boarded a plane [as the car I drove cross country was now out of commission!] It was hard leaving the friends who had become like family especially because they didn't understand why I felt I needed to go. But I did. Nothing was happening for me. Maybe it was even me-- I wasn't making opportunities for myself. But I had to go home.
After having lived the lazy lifestyle for two and a half years, I came home, enrolled in school, rented a room in a house... I attended classes, did most my homework. Was on the right track at first, then it started happening again. I found myself living life very mindlessly; lacking any real goal or motivation...
...and so it goes...
I was in the park one sunny afternoon, mid January maybe. Two intensely adorable [one in particular!] missionaries approached me and started talking. Very simple conversation at first. They asked what I knew of God, what I thought of God, rather; what I knew of them and the church to which they belonged. We talked for a little under an hour or so when they extended an invite to come to church with them the following day.
I attended.
I sat with them in Sacrament Meeting and absorbed and enjoyed a church meeting for the first time in my life. I sat with them for the following two hours asking every question I could think of. Answers lead to more questions and so on for 3 months. Until April-- when I was made fun of by my then roommate for having the "Mormon Missionaries" over so often to "preach to me." She had been very callous in her jokes all the while I spent time with the Elders. I had grown to care a lot for the two missionaries and the members of the ward I attended, all of whom taught me the gospel and helped me learn more about God, so I really took it to heart this particular day as she poked fun at my Elders. They were more than my missionaries, they were my friends. I hated to hear anyone talk bad about them and the work they were doing. The help they were providing me, the love and friendship they extended me.
I ran out of the house to the same park I had met them and where we often shared afternoons playing a heavy game of "What Questions Has Amber Come Up With Today!?" I called my missionaries and cried to them about how personally hurt I had been by my roommates words. "What is different about today?" Elder Rowley asked, as this was not the first hostile encounter I'd had with her about my lessons. I couldn't explain it but to cry.
I realized I loved who I was when I was with them. I loved who I was at this church. I loved how I had grown and changed over the three months I had spent investigating the gospel of Jesus Christ. I was changing and that scared people close to me. "Mormon" has a certain stigma to it and for me to become one must surely mean I would be changed forever....
and I was.
But not in the way some feared.
I was baptized April 26th 2009. My friend Keely [mormon], Carp [has-been mormon] and Natasha and Molly [no affiliation] were there. Elders Rowley and Stevens, The Snells, The Duvalls, The Waldrons and Munoas were there. The chapel was so full of love. Aside from ward members, I invited only 4 people to my baptism. I didn't want negative feelings around me on this day. I hadn't wanted to have to explain or defend myself against the misconceptions others had about what I was 'getting myself into.'
It was a bold step, I think.
One of the best I've ever taken though.
So yeah-- my life was forever changed, in that I'm now a pioneer for my future children. To know that there is a God in Heaven who loves them every single day. Who longs to bless their lives in such that they don't have to make the mistakes I made. I'm changed in that I'm a happier person, but I'm not so different that I'm not me. I'm the girl you knew three years ago--
Just happier [and with purpose!]
It actually seems longer. That time... me... who I was three years ago-- seems long ago when we fast forward to today. I guess time pass always seems to fly by, right?
So much has changed in three years though. When I met the missionaries I had just moved back home [to California from Rhode Island] and was back in school, finally feeling a little back on track after a 3 year hiatus on the East Coast. I think that the time I spent on the East Coast really helped develop me as a person and contributed a lot to my conversion. [Whether I knew it at the time or not, I was really grooming myself for the major lifestyle change I would soon make.]
I originally moved to the East Coast to live with a guy I didn't really know, which turned into a thing. A brief, year long thing. When I broke up with him I had every intention of returning home; afterall he was the only reason I was on the opposite side of the country anyway. I had no strings keeping me there. Until Tabby. My friend Tabby told me not to go running home, not to feel like I had no reason of my own to stay and she invited me to live with her. I lived with her for a little over a year and a half and we had so much fun together! I learned a lot about people while I was in Providence. I also learned a lot about myself. I didn't really figure out everything that I wanted in life, but I did realize a lot of things I was missing. I needed to go back home in order to go back to school-- I just wasn't comfortable enough in a new environment to take the initiative and apply to schools out there. I didn't even know where to begin. I seriously get so overwhelmed when I'm in new places [even if it is for a few years!] I was working everyday and partying every night. I was "livin' the life" but not living my life. I was wasting my life.
November of 2008 I knew I had to move home. It was the right thing to do. December of '08 I packed everything I could fit in 2 boxes and a suitcase, drove with Tabby, Brian and Zach to the airport and tearfully boarded a plane [as the car I drove cross country was now out of commission!] It was hard leaving the friends who had become like family especially because they didn't understand why I felt I needed to go. But I did. Nothing was happening for me. Maybe it was even me-- I wasn't making opportunities for myself. But I had to go home.
After having lived the lazy lifestyle for two and a half years, I came home, enrolled in school, rented a room in a house... I attended classes, did most my homework. Was on the right track at first, then it started happening again. I found myself living life very mindlessly; lacking any real goal or motivation...
...and so it goes...
I was in the park one sunny afternoon, mid January maybe. Two intensely adorable [one in particular!] missionaries approached me and started talking. Very simple conversation at first. They asked what I knew of God, what I thought of God, rather; what I knew of them and the church to which they belonged. We talked for a little under an hour or so when they extended an invite to come to church with them the following day.
I attended.
I sat with them in Sacrament Meeting and absorbed and enjoyed a church meeting for the first time in my life. I sat with them for the following two hours asking every question I could think of. Answers lead to more questions and so on for 3 months. Until April-- when I was made fun of by my then roommate for having the "Mormon Missionaries" over so often to "preach to me." She had been very callous in her jokes all the while I spent time with the Elders. I had grown to care a lot for the two missionaries and the members of the ward I attended, all of whom taught me the gospel and helped me learn more about God, so I really took it to heart this particular day as she poked fun at my Elders. They were more than my missionaries, they were my friends. I hated to hear anyone talk bad about them and the work they were doing. The help they were providing me, the love and friendship they extended me.
I ran out of the house to the same park I had met them and where we often shared afternoons playing a heavy game of "What Questions Has Amber Come Up With Today!?" I called my missionaries and cried to them about how personally hurt I had been by my roommates words. "What is different about today?" Elder Rowley asked, as this was not the first hostile encounter I'd had with her about my lessons. I couldn't explain it but to cry.
I realized I loved who I was when I was with them. I loved who I was at this church. I loved how I had grown and changed over the three months I had spent investigating the gospel of Jesus Christ. I was changing and that scared people close to me. "Mormon" has a certain stigma to it and for me to become one must surely mean I would be changed forever....
and I was.
But not in the way some feared.
I was baptized April 26th 2009. My friend Keely [mormon], Carp [has-been mormon] and Natasha and Molly [no affiliation] were there. Elders Rowley and Stevens, The Snells, The Duvalls, The Waldrons and Munoas were there. The chapel was so full of love. Aside from ward members, I invited only 4 people to my baptism. I didn't want negative feelings around me on this day. I hadn't wanted to have to explain or defend myself against the misconceptions others had about what I was 'getting myself into.'
It was a bold step, I think.
One of the best I've ever taken though.
So yeah-- my life was forever changed, in that I'm now a pioneer for my future children. To know that there is a God in Heaven who loves them every single day. Who longs to bless their lives in such that they don't have to make the mistakes I made. I'm changed in that I'm a happier person, but I'm not so different that I'm not me. I'm the girl you knew three years ago--
Just happier [and with purpose!]
Last night we went to the Temple with my missionary
Elder Rowley and his wife, Shae, to celebrate!
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