The beginning of my conversion story is a little….awkward. I grew up in a small, Middle Georgia town with a graduating class of 65 or so students. It was a military school and yes totally awesome. Well at this school were 2 Mormons, that’s it 6th-12th grade and there were only two.
During high school, I ventured out and visited multiple churches in my community. I was raised by two Presbyterian parents, but attended Catholic and Baptist churches with friends growing up. In high school, I felt a real need to find where I belonged. My ex-boyfriend (see kinda awkward to always have to speak of an ex when telling your conversion), who didn’t know much about the church besides how beautiful the Terrestrial kingdom was, directed me to his parents when I had random questions. They were the ones to talk to me the most, to answer all of my questions. And oh, did I have a ton of questions!
I was attending a non-denominational church at the time and decided to ask a leader and a friend what their thoughts were about Mormons. Wow did I get an earful. Mormons are not well liked in the South. One of the leaders in particular sent me a rather lengthy e-mail with all kinds of information on what these crazy Mormons believe, which led me to my ex-boyfriend’s house to confront them on what I had learned!
So, his parents sat me down, advised me to not “bible bash” (I had pen and paper ready for my reply to this friend). Through their example of what I call “not buying eggs on Sunday” I was able to see that Mormons weren’t weird, just regular people with a really awesome belief system!
The Sunday I first visited the ward, I’ll never deny or forget the feeling that came over me when I first stepped into the building. Wow. I was in the right place! I attended a friend’s baptism and before ever meeting with the missionaries I wrote in my journal “I wanted to raise my hand and say me next, me next!”
It just felt so amazing, how else can I put it into words?!
That summer, I went off to a tennis camp with a paper back copy of the Book of Mormon that the missionaries gave me.
Here’s where I feel my conversion really happened.
In the dormitory, a girl approached me when she saw the BOM on my dresser. She said “are you a Mormon?!” I said “No, but I’m looking into it.” She then proceeded to tell me that her family goes to other countries with their church to “save” Mormons.
During this time, twin girls were standing in the hallway. They walked over to me, rolled their eyes at the girl and said, “You are doing the right thing”. The spirit those girls brought with them was so overwhelming, I couldn’t deny it.
That night I read the BOM until I fell asleep, their spirit and countenance stayed with me the rest of the camp.
So when I got home from camp, I wrote a letter to my parents explaining why I wanted to become a Mormon. I couldn’t speak about it, just needed to write it all down for them. They were very supportive and still are to this day! When I got their approval and after many discussions (the plan of happiness was by far and still is my most favorite of all the discussions), I told the missionaries, “I want to be baptized before my senior year, I need this in my life to survive senior year.”I was baptized on August 2, 2003.
I was a “golden investigator” the type that studies before the missionaries come over, I wanted to know what lesson to read and highlight before they ever walked through the door. I was so excited to learn something that was new to me, but felt like something I had heard and felt before.
I went on to attend BYU, which is a whole other story for another day. My testimony faltered while in Utah, but I found the right group of friends and later married my sweetheart on December 29, 2009 in the Washington D.C. Temple.
Life has been hard; whenever I meet with investigators I always warn them that the adversary has everything going against them to keep them from the joy that is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He does not want to see us happy, he will put every road block up to keep us from what we feel in our hearts is right.
But the joy it brings…. oh man is it worth it!!
~ Whitney Brown ~
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Whitney! What a beautiful story. Thanks so much for sharing. I’ve always had the gospel in my life and have often wondered what I would be like without it. I could only hope to be as sweet and good as you. What an honest and humble heart you must have to have been so receptive to the gospel as a teen. Thanks for your example!
You are so very, very kind. Your words meant a lot to me, I really appreciate that. Your words are too much praise for me! I think sometimes as converts we beat ourselves up (at least I do) thinking we don’t know as much as someone raised in the church…. But the Gospel is simple to understand, the rest is trying to flow into Mormon culture haha!
I’m glad you were able to hang on. Yes, the adversary does try to throw us off course. He will probably try again. 🙂 But what we have is so great! Thanks for sharing!
Yes, you are so right it won’t be the first or the last time! Thank you 🙂
I agree with the comments above about the south(and makes me embarrassed to be one)! There was a teacher that made it very clear she did not condone the Mormons at all. She would make comments, etc. and even went so far as to give my very gifted daughter ( yes, I’m Whitney’s mom, haha!) a bad grade on a beautiful essay. My husband got mad and sent it to the Macon Telegraph, who promptly published it and gave her The Golden Pen Award! The award was not given very often and certainly not to young people! We were always supportive of her beliefs, and glad she made her own spiritual choice after much prayer and without pressure from others.
Mom, you done good raising such a strong, faithful girl. She get that from you?
HaHa! Maybe a little but she was always surrounded by a very diverse group of folks, even though we live in a small rural town. Her dad was fiercely proud and protective of her, that included her independence, but always very subtle and in the background.
Lovely story. I tried to comment from my phone at lunch, but my phone was having none of it.
Thanks 🙂 the support today and MMM’s blog is so awesome!
Thank you Whitney for sharing your testimony of the church and also your testimony of the adversary!
Thank you!
Loved reading your conversion story, Whitney! Did you live in Milledgeville? I grew up in Byron, GA went to church in Perry and our stake center was in Macon. And yes, the south is not very kind to Mormons! In our middle school I was one of two Mormons until another kid in my grade was baptized. He is still a dear friend to this day. My friends all knew I was Mormon and so did my teachers. One even had me give a one hour class presentation on my beliefs. I was scared to death but after that my friends would tell me how they corrected their youth leaders when they tried to “teach” them about what Mormons believe.
Yes!! That is so neat,you are right around the corner! 🙂 One of our senior projects was to write a paper and make a presentation on a college of our choice. I chose BYU and it was a great experience for me to be able to share like that. I had no idea at the time that I would have the blessing of graduating from there!
Thanks for sharing your story. My seminary teacher warned me that my baptism day would probably not go as well as I hoped because the adversary will try to discourage me from doing what is right. She was right and she was also right in telling me that those who are with me will always outnumber those who are against me. Thank you for reminding me of that great lesson.
Absolutely!!! In fact, a month after I was baptized I had two really weird events happen in my senior year that taught me a huge lesson in “who to hang out with”. It’s almost like life gets harder as soon as you take that step, but like I said, it is so worth it.
I’m so impressed with your curiosity andperseverance at such a young age. Big old hug from me to you.
Thank you, y’all are seriously going to make me cry with all these sweet comments!
Hugs to Whitney! Your story is moving and you are inspiring.
Thank you, you are so kind!
What a great story! Thank you so much for sharing! My husband served his mission in the South and I’m always impressed with converts who are open and interested when the culture is so not friendly 😉
Hugs!
Absolutely! I was very nervous to share because of that exact reason. To be honest, I have always felt the South is where they send the STRONGEST missionaries, because their faith is battled everytime they knock on a door. So your husband must be pretty awesome!
I agree with the comment above! There was a teacher that made it very clear she did not condone the Mormons at all. She would make comments, etc. and even went so far as to give my very gifted daughter ( yes, I’m the mom, haha!) a bad grade on a beautiful essay. My husband got mad and sent it to the Macon Telegraph, who promptly published it and gave her The Golden Pen Award! The award was not given very often and certainly not to young people! We were always supportive of her beliefs, and glad she made her own spiritual choice after much prayer and without pressure from others.
LOL I’ll have to tell my husband this. He served in the Georgia Macon Mission. {{cough}} that’s how we met {{cough, cough}} Our branch in Perry was his first area.
Wow whitney!! You got the tears going for me on that last part. I hope that if I hadn’t been born into the church that I would have been just like you! {Hugs}
That is seriously the nicest thing I have heard today, thank you so much!!!!!
Thank you for sharing your story, Whitney! *hugs*
Thank you! I was nervous to share, but so glad I did!