Guest Post: Letter to a new convert

Happy New Year's Eve! Tonight I have a snazzy guest post for you guys :) WhitneySue over at Feel My Sunlight has been a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints her whole life and I super love her blog.

Recently, she had this brilliant guest post idea that we write letters to each other. Her letter is titled "Letter to a New Convert," and mine is "Letter From a New Convert," posted over at her blog (see it here!). When she emailed me to tell me about her idea, she said it would be awesome to see different perspectives on being part of the LDS church. She's been a member her whole life, but admits that sometimes life-long members can take the church for granted - talking to new converts helps remind her of why she "first fell in love with the gospel" :)

On the other hand, life-long members can have valuable insights to share with new converts, plus reading her testimony is pretty amazing. Enjoy, and be sure to check out her blog with my post! :D

<3 Marie-Rose


Letter to a new convert

I'm so excited for you! I am so impressed by your willingness to commit to the gospel even when those around you might not agree with you. That's something that's different about our conversion stories since I have been a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints for my entire life.

One thing that I think some people don't realize is that even though you've been a member your whole life, you still have to have a conversion story. Mine when a little something like this;
When I was a little kid I was always told Jesus loved me. I never doubted this. As soon as I was able to sound out words I began to read the scriptures with my family. Although the only words I understood ranged from "I" to "and", I began sounding out words like "Atonement" and "Lamanites" even though I didn't know what they meant. 

I relied heavily on my parent's testimonies. I was baptized as an eight year old on October 9th, 2004. And with all the wisdom of an eight year old I wrote this in my journal that day;

"I got BaptiSd it gave me a good filing in my hart. I wish evreewun cod dow it. I loved it. it was worm in the woter. I'm glad I got Baptisd in the water. I noow evree wun that got baBtis with me. I was 2ekent to last geting baptised. I'm blad I got babtisd. Testimone I no my hevenly fother luvs me I no tis crc is croo. at activite days are scritcir is I no my havenle fother loves me and I love him I can pra to my havnly fother ene time ene wer."

Which, roughly translated, should be read something like this;

"I got baptized. It gave me a good feeling in my heart. I wish everyone could do it. I loved it. It was warm in the water. I'm glad I got baptized in the water. I knew every one that got baptized with me. (There were 4 people baptized on the same day as me.) I was second to last getting baptized. I'm glad I got baptized. Testimony: I know my Heavenly Father loves me. I know this church is true. At activity days our scripture is "I know my Heavenly Father loves me and I love him. I can pray to my Heavenly Father any time anywhere."

I continued to learn and grow my knowledge of the gospel, but it wasn't until I was almost 14 that I realized that I'd been living on a borrowed testimony. I could tell you how Nephi built a boat, I could tell you the story of Joseph Smith, and I could recite to you what I thought was my testimony because I had heard so many other people share theirs, but I didn't know if I actually believed it.

I was talking to someone I looked up to a lot when she suggested I pray and ask God for myself to know if everything I had been living was true. That night when reading my scriptures I flipped open to Moroni 10: 3-5 which says;

3 Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts.
4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.
5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.
So I knelt down in prayer and I asked God. I did not hear a voice, see an angel, nor witness any large-scale calamities, but I did learn for myself that the Book of Mormon, and everything that goes along with it was true that night. It came in the form of a “still small voice” known as the Holy Ghost, or in other words, a comforting feeling that let me know that the church was true and that I was on the right path.

In conclusion, I do have a conversion story, it was just in a different order than most people.

One thing that I’ve learned growing up in the church is that while you may not know everything, you know enough. And that even though you may not be a scriptorian when it comes to the scriptures, or you may not remember what all of the funny words mean, as long as you have a testimony and you rely on that, everything else will fall into place.


My advice to you as a new convert would be to never doubt your testimony, and to read your scriptures and pray every single day. Even when you don’t think you have enough time or when you get home late at night and are ready to fall asleep. In the words of Richard G. Scott, one of the twelve Apostles;

“Feasting on the word of God each day is more important than sleep, school, work, television shows, video games, or social media.”

Always take the time to read your scriptures and talk to your Heavenly Father.

My testimony has grown leaps and bounds since I was a newly baptized eight year old, but it still has room to grow. The Gospel has brought me unimaginable amounts of joy to my life. I know that the Book of Mormon is indeed the word of God and that it was translated by Joseph Smith who was a true Prophet of God. I know that my God loved me so much that he sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to atone for my sins so that I might be able to be forgiven, and that He also felt all of my pains and afflictions so that He might be able to know how I feel so that He can guide me in the right direction. I know that Christ loved me enough to die for me so that I might be able to return to live with Him and my Father in Heaven again. I know that He did this for every single person on this earth and that if I was the only person on this earth He still would have done it for me. I also know that He would have done the same for you.

Out of all your adventures in life I hope your adventure in coming have a love for the gospel is the greatest.

With all the love and joy I can summon,

WhitneySue

feelmysunlight.blogspot.com