Dec. 30, 2012

This morning (Dec 30), Eric and I went to the Candy Mountain Ward sacrament meeting to listen to Casey Garland's farewell talk before he leaves for his mission next week. Casey was a student of mine at Richland HS. He joined the church 3 years ago and has decided to serve a mission. He has been called to the Congo.

His talk was so powerful. His conversion story reminded me of my story 30 years ago. It was actually a lot like my conversion. He was 19 when he go baptized; I was 20. He got introduced to the church through a girl and friends. Me too. His family was mostly indifferent to his decision. Mine too. But, he knew the Church is true and couldn't deny it. Me too.

I spent most of the rest of the day reminiscing about those early days when I joined the Church. I had so many questions; some of them I still have. But through it all, I knew that the Holy Ghost had borne a deep and abiding witness to my heart and soul that I could not deny, and I knew that as long as I remembered that then everything would work out.

After Casey's talk, we attended our ward. Anthony Muai spoke about the Spirit of Elijah--basically the sealing power that binds families together for eternity. It's significant to note that I don't believe in coincidences. It's not a coincidence that I was reminded of my conversion by Casey and then 2 hours later I'm reminded by Anthony of the promise that families can be together forever. That's why I joined the church--the promise of an eternal family.

I wish I could say that my conversion was motivated by my intense desire to strengthen my relationship with my Heavenly Father. But it wasn't. I wanted an eternal family. That's what drew me to the church. Now I know that in order to have an eternal family, I need to build my relationship with God and accept His son Jesus Christ as my Savior. I understand and accept that the fulness of the Gospel was restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith. Part of that includes temples and the sealing power. It all fits together.

How did God bless me yesterday? He reminded me of why I joined the Church in the first place--my eternal family.