What I have discovered is that you don’t just wake up one morning and say “I have a testimony.”
I do know that if I had stayed in Springfield, Missouri I probably would never have had contact with the Mormon church.
When Elmer and I were married at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri on 31 March 1944, religion was not important in the scheme of things.
But the Lord knows what we need and oftentimes makes a way for us to gain it.
We shipped to Camp Lee, Virginia and that’s where we met Bill and Genevieve Hansen. We were transferred by train to the Northwest and traveled for days with the Hansens as fellow travelers. They didn’t join in the carousing of the other soldiers and kept their tiny family close.
We were impressed with their prayers, their family prayers, their family home evenings etc. and thought when we have children, we will join the church and have that for our family.
It took us a while and it took the Lord several times before we got the message.
When we were living in Houghton Wa 1948 in student housing we lived really close to where the church was having their meetings at that time.
Sister missionaries knocked on our door and wanted Grace to go to Sunday school but I thought she was too young. I did have the lessons and tried to get Elmer to listen but he would duck out when they came.
We still wanted that for our children, but couldn’t make the commitment.
When we moved to Los Angeles we had neighbors by the name of Ayusos. She was very friendly and came over one day and wanted to know if she could take the girls to bible school with her boys.
That’s when I made the commitment. I said no ,we are going to take them to our church, the Mormon church.
So that Sunday we dressed up our cute little family and went to church. Of course we got there in the midst of wards changing. “Were we investigators” no we don’t think so. Were we members of this ward? No we don’t think so. Finally the missionaries rescued us and they started lessons that afternoon and never wavered until we made the commitment to be baptized.
We were baptized Oct 31 1953 in Los Angeles and were married a year later in the Arizona temple.
I have always known that Jesus is the Christ and the son of God so that part of the gospel was easy.
I have gained my testimony “line upon line, precept upon precept”
Some parts were harder than others, but it all makes the whole picture.
I am thankful for the blessings the Gospel brings into my life. I am thankful for the comfort the spirit gives when we lose a loved one.
I am thankful for my children and their families ,for the examples they are of the gospel in their lives.
I know that Jesus is the Christ and the Son of God and that he sacrificed his life for us. If we live worthy we will one day be with him. I know that Joseph Smith was a true prophet and that the Book of Mormon stands true today as it did in the beginning.
May we be worthy of our blessings is my prayer in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen