April 6, 1830 - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was organized. What a long way it has come since then! From 6 members to 13.8 million. Happy 180th Anniversary!
I joined the church 13 years ago in April of 1997. I had been dating Ryan for about 6 months when his mom Jammie asked me to go to church with her. I said yes to be polite, but then I got scared and asked Ryan to go with me. At that time Ryan was lets say "less" active. So at first he said no but I wore him down, and he went with me. We were sitting in Sunday School and the teacher asked for someone to give the prayer and Ryan's dad looked over at Ryan and the teacher thought he was looking at me so the teacher asked me to give the prayer and I had never given a prayer out load before so I politely said "No Thank you" Later at the house Jammie told me "I've never seen anyone say no before" so I told her I had never done it before and I didn't even know how, so she taught me. I asked her a question at dinner about church and she was tricky and said you know the missionaries could come teach you all about the church, I had no idea what a missionary even was so I thought that sounded great so we set up an appointment for the next Sunday to meet with the Missionaries. So that was the start of my journey in the gospel, and Ryan's return to the gospel. I took the discussions for 6 months. Which is not normal for a convert. My parents had asked me to wait until after I was 18 so I honored their wishes and a month after I turned 18 I was baptized. I love the gospel so much. I am so thankful to the missionaries who taught me so much. I hold a special place in my heart for each one of them. Even after I had taken all the discussions they continued to meet with me while I was waiting to turn 18. We would meet them at the temple, and watch a movie, or meet at the Ward mission leaders house and just talk about the gospel. As I took the discussions they asked me to pray about the gospel and I did. In fact I begged the Lord to show me that the church wasn't true so I would have an excuse to not join a church that would make me different then the rest of my family and that I would have to give up tea for. But in fact It had the exact opposite effect. As I learned more about the gospel I knew that it was true and the right thing for me. So I resigned my self to giving up tea. As I learned about Joseph Smith and all the sacrifices he gave for the Gospel I gained a testimony that he was truly a prophet of God. After all he went through, the violent mobs, being tared and feathered, the loss of his baby because of a mobs carelessness, the constant prosecution, Even when his would be murders were at the prison doors preparing to murder him and his brother. Any other man would have thrown his hands up in the air and Said "OK I give up I lied, I made it all" but he couldn't he was a prophet of God and with stood all he went through to share the gospel with the world. I love the gospel and I love having it in my life and my children's. I had a great childhood, but I am so thankful that my kids have the gospel in their lives.
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