When I came home on Sunday night close to midnight, I turned my computer on to check something before I went to bed. When I went to my facebook account, I noticed that I had a friend request. I clicked to find out who it was. It was a familiar name, a name that I will never forget. It belongs to someone whom I owe so much. He is one of the missionaries who taught my family about the Church (the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints). I haven't seen him since he left Madagascar almost 10 years ago.
The next day, I got another friend request. It was from the other companion. I have only met him once since I came to Utah. It was when I first got here over 5 years ago. He moved around out of the country and I lost touch but we are back in touch now. Thanks to facebook :)
I have always wanted to write down how I became a member of the Mormon church.
My family and I started investigating the Mormon Church over 10 years ago. It was around September 1997. 2 foreign missionaries came to our house because my brothers had given them our address on the road few weeks before. My brothers never thought that these guys would really come to visit us. We didn't expect their visit and to be honest, we weren't interested in what they had to say. However, we let them in as part of our culture. We gave them something to drink and listened to their message. We told them afterwards that there is no need for them to come back as we already have a religion and we didn't want to waste their time. They left a blue book called the Book of Mormon.
I took the book with me and read the introduction just out of curiosity. I was in my second year of College at the University and I studied history. I started to read the book and for some reasons I couldn't explain, I was drawn into it. One thing that will always stay as an anchor for my personal tesimony is that "I have never been so close to the Savior until I read this book", I felt that there is something special with this book. I started to have questions and want to know more about the book and the religion it claims. My brother and I found the way to get in touch with the 2 foreign missionaries again. We didn't have to do anything, our 'vazaha' friends came back a month later after their first visit.
My brother and I then committed to learn and explore. I did a lot of studies about the Mormon religion. I read books, looked up stuff on the internet. I found some stuff but they weren't from reliable sources. I didn't find anything disturbing. The most amazing part was that I realized that I had a better source. The missionaries asked us since the beginning to pray and ask God if what they were telling us is true. I prayed so hard to find a confirmation that this religion I was about to follow is from God. I was raised in a religious family and were taught to trust God. I had a good start as far as spiritual life. This helped me to follow through.
I learned a lot about the purpose of life and the meaning of our existence through what the missionaries taught us. I found a good path for my personal life and I found something that I didn't know I was missing before. I have grown since. I did serve a mission to share what I know to be true to find happiness in this life and in the life to come. I went to Durban, South Africa for 18 months. It was the most honorable thing I've ever accomplished. I am glad that I was part of it. I helped a lot of people to embrace the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
So if it weren't for those two missionaries, I wouldn't be here today writing this great story. Thanks Judd and Chad.
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