"You Will Remember and Understand Everything"
By Kathleen Newberry
When I was 2, a lady slammed her front door on my
face and one eye went up into the corner of my eye.
So I had to be operated on and I died on the
table. Well my mum knew something was wrong and ran from one end of
London to the other, and as she was running she prayed that if
Heavenly Father let me live then she would teach me about Him.
As the years past she raised me into the Church of
England faith, but when I started school I found the kids didn't
like me for one reason or another. I was very slow in learning and, in
fact, the teachers told my parents that I was un-teachable. On the
way to and from school I was beaten and teased.
One afternoon after school a bus load of kids all
got off the bus and beat me the police found me. Then one day a gang
of girls found me on my way to church, I had always been active in
the Church of England, always went to church, and for this to happen
to me was very scary.
I Think I was 11 at the time and so I prayed to
the Lord and I still remember the words I said "Father this can not
be the right Church because if it was, I wouldn't get beat up on my
way, please find me the right Church."
For about 3 weeks on my way to Church this was my
prayer. Three Weeks later my mum told me that we were going to a new
Church.
What I didn't realize until years later was that
the missionaries had been to see my mum and dad, they were not meant
to be in our area but was prompted to knock on our door. I Do
remember the burnt dinner as my mum was reading the Book of Mormon
over and over again.
Anyway we were on our way to this new Church and I
didn't get beat up, this for me was it, I knew the Lord had answered
my prayers.
Because of a learning disability I have, I only
understand a word or two a person says to me anything else is
gibberish , I hear the words but my brain can not translate to me.
It was hard for me to understand what was being
taught, in both Church and school. But I basked in the spirit of what I felt
and I knew the Lord had send me to this Church. The spirit taught me
what I needed to know.
In this humble building, this building had been a
school house, a horse stall, and used for other buildings before the
women's lib took it over.
The floors were rotten, the roof was rotten and
had big holes in it, and if you know anything about England it
rains. So we had to get buckets to get all the water.
My dad had to make dividers for the primary
classes. Most of our branch was Americans, so they would move in and
out all the time, my mum was given the duty of cleaning the building
each Saturday evening and most of time I went with her and helped.
I would clean the back of the building where the
primary and nursery met, I would see big rats and pray that they
would be gone by Sunday.
The church bathroom was outside and the fisherman,
whose market was connected to our building ,would keep his feed in
the bathroom, well when you went to the bathroom you would see mice
in there. But it was ours and the spirit was so strong there.
Each Tuesday I would eagerly go to primary, each
Sunday I would eagerly go to Church and rely upon the sprit to teach
me what I needed to know.
Then came seminary and gosh what a time I had. I
got my patriarchal blessing and in that blessing was the word "you
will remember and understand everything you will be taught from now
on" and I did! My mind was open, I could understand everything
people told me, I learned not only in Church but in school, nothing
stopped me.
I Was still tested and made fun of, but I learned
that as long as I had my Book of Mormon or my Bible in my hand
nobody could come near me. The Lord would put an invisible blockage
between me and the kids. I Even graduated from high school.
But in Church it was wonderful! I was able
to understand and explain the stories and grasp meanings. The Lord
opened new doors to my mind. I came to have a great love for the
Book of Mormon and I have great faith in its teachings.
I Was baptized 2 weeks after my parents, and my
dad baptized me, but after a while my dad stopped going and told my
mum and I that we couldn't go to Church either. Well my mum said
fine because the Lord had given her a blessing that if she did as my
dad asked her to do then he would come back.
I couldn't do that, I felt I had something that I
needed I had to have the teachings in my life, it had to be apart of
me, I was afraid that if I didn't go then I would loss it forever
and that I couldn't allow. The Lord had sent me to this Church for a
reason, in answer to my prayer.
Then when I got married and came to the States I
lost my patriarchal blessing, the Church didn't have it, the
patriarch who gave me my blessing didn't have it, its like it went
of the face of the earth.
So I got a new one and this time it didn't say that
I would remember and understand, so that blessing was gone, but I
still remember. And to this day I struggle with everyday life, but I
have the faith that I will remember and learn what is being taught
in Church.
I think at the time the Lord knew I needed that
blessing, but now I need to rely on Him. And I'm finding that the
more I learn about the gospel, the more wonderful and simply life is.
We all struggle, but if I have the Church in my life nothing else
matters.
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