As a child my dream in life was to grow up, get married, have 10 children (that’s right, 10) and live happily ever after. Although my Dad was the greatest ever, my Mom suffered from mental illness and I only had 1 sibling. My Dad was Italian and Catholic. My mother was not and raised Christian Scientist. They compromised and joined the Presbyterians. I loved going to church. In Sunday School we learned all the Bible stories, sang songs about Jesus and were told how much He loved us. Then we went into the chapel to join our parents for the rest of the Sunday service. In this dark tomb of a room I can only recall the sermons on how we were all going to hell. In my finite mind I could not reconcile how Jesus loved me but I was going to hell. I knew then this could not be true.
Fast forward to my teenage years of extreme difficulty. I’m in high school walking to my next class. I can remember the exact spot, what I was wearing but especially the crystal clear words that came into my head. “You need to become a Mormon.” Stunned I stopped and leaned against the hallway wall. Mormon, there aren’t any more Mormons. They all died out or something. What an odd thought. To this day I marvel at my ignorance. It never occurred to me that the Mormon Tabernacle Choir was made up of….. Mormons? So I went on with my life, got into trouble in various degrees, but always and I mean ALWAYS I knew that God had something special for me. I purposely stayed away from drugs because I want healthy children.
Fast forward and I’m getting married to a Mormon. Ha! Who would have thought? But he is inactive and always has been. His grandmother pushed his parents into getting all the kids baptized. But these were not the nicest Mormons you would want to ever meet, unfortunately. They smoked, they drank, they told off color jokes and they would not answer the door when anyone came from the church. There was no love at home and my opinion of them was lackluster to say the least.
Moving along, I was ready to put into action my life’s plan. Let’s start our family now. Try as we did nothing happened. Finally we went to the doctor. Nope, not going to happen. No babies for me, ever. I can’t say that I was devastated. Confused maybe but not discouraged. I knew God had something special for me. I know! If I can’t have children then I will fill my life in other ways. I am going to find the true church! Someone at work recommended a book about religions in America. Each chapter was written by a member of each faith. So I started reading and attending. I went to the Catholic Church, Baptist church, Pentacostal (Wow!), Synagogue, you name it and I tried it. BUT, I didn’t want to go to the Mormon Church. I already knew about them and if they were like my in-laws then I wasn’t interested. But, the Mormon beliefs I read made so much sense. I always wondered why we didn’t have prophets in our day. Didn’t God love us enough to give us guidance in the here and now? Shouldn’t we practice our religion 24/7? Shouldn’t there be more scriptures than what we had in the Bible? Well, wouldn’t you know it but the Mormon Church answered all those questions in that little chapter. The more I read the more I realized that this was IT! I was supposed to become a Mormon! But how? So I opened the phone book and looked up the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Hummm, which one do I call. I picked one and dialed. Someone answered. Someone was too chicken to say anything and hung up. Well, I still knew it was true and I would just hold onto that.
Moving right along, now I am at work. A new girl starts working in our department. She comes in with a little red book and sets it down next to her. I walk over and pick it up. I know what this book is I tell her. It’s a Mormon book, the Doctrine and Covenants. She asks if I’m a member too. I say, “No, but I want to be one.” She smiles. I can fix that for you she tells me. She will send me some missionaries to teach me. Send me what? Oh sure, whatever.
Now it gets totally fascinating. I’m not feeling myself. I’m tired and my stomach is upset all the time. You guessed it. I’m pregnant! God was waiting for me to find the Gospel so he could send his choice children to me. A miracle you ask? No, remember, God had something special for me.
Now the “fun” begins. So the Elders come to my house to teach me. I say we don’t need to do all that. I already know it’s true. I’m ready to be baptized. Oh no, you need to hear the discussions first. So they show me Mans Search for Happiness. I ask, can I get baptized now? No, this isn’t the first discussion. We will be back in a week to teach you. So I wait and wait and wait. It’s been over a month. My friend at work asks me how the discussions are going. I tell her they never came back. She calls the mission office and gets me back on track. Come to find out both Elders were transferred (shot gunned as we say) and my info was lost.
Here come my second set of Elders. In the mean time I have heard that blacks can’t hold the Priesthood. I am curious. So before we start our 1stdiscussion I ask the Elders why. You would have thought they had ants in their pants and their mouths. They fumbled and stammered but never answered my question. They made a beeline for the door and never came back. Come to find out they thought I was a basher and threw my phone number and address away. I just wanted to know if there was a reason. I asked my friend and her simple and honest reply was that we just don’t know, that God hasn’t told us. OK, that’s all I needed to know. Moving on.
Again my friend asks me how the discussions are going. Once again I tell her it has been a couple of months now and no one has come back. She is a bit perturbed so say the least. She calls the mission office and gives them a good coal racking. We are now done with Elders. Here come my 2 new ward Seventies or Ward Missionaries as we call them now. By now I am considerably pregnant. We zip thru the lessons at lightning speed. The date is set. I am now 7 months pregnant. But it happens. I never doubted; I was never discouraged. I knew it would happen. My baby came a month early but he was healthy and of course, a miracle. I have had 4 more miracles since. Do I have a testimony? You bet!!!
~ Lynn Nichelini Davis ~
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What faith to know that God had something special for you and you didn’t give up. Thanks for sharing your story.
Hugs to Linda (and all her little miracles).
Thank you for sharing your story, Lynn. You have had a rough road leading to your baptism, I’m glad you didn’t give up after so many obstacles. The Church is true. *Hugs*
I don’t remember who said it, and it certainly wasn’t true about my elders, but if the Church were not true, (((some of))) the missionaries would have killed it long ago. Also confirms my experience that if you want to move a Priesthood objective along, the Relief Society also needs to be involved. Blessings upon your sweetly persistent friend!
Wow! I sure am glad you stuck with the lessons after all that. You are an inspiration.
Whew, I’m glad you didn’t give up. I can’t believe they “dropped the ball” so many times! So glad you shared!