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Former Catholic Church Member
"We Haven't Looked Back Since"
By John Sowell
Would you believe that I was not looking for a
church? I just wanted to get Sundays off from work so that I could
watch football. My friend who is also Mormon told me to go tell my
boss, who happened to be Mormon that I wanted to investigate the
church and he would let me off on Sundays.
I believed my friend and did as he said. I look
back on it now and chuckle. He never gave me Sundays off. But he did
send the missionaries.
My wife Kami and I felt weird about having them
over at first, so we invited my friend to be with us during the
first discussion. I did not know what Mormons were. I had tried to
read the Book of Mormon once before. It was a hard read. I became
bored with it and put it down.
The missionaries gave me a copy. I did not feel
anything after that first discussion. Needless to say we dodged the
missionaries for months after that; however, I felt compelled to
read the Book of Mormon.
In fact I read the Doctrine and Covenants and the
Pearl of Great Price. I debated with my boss about the validity of
the religion and I highly desired physical proof that it was true.
My friend knew that I was a reader and he got me
other books, A Marvelous Work and a Wonder and Evidences of Christ
in the New America. These works brought better understanding of the
faith and they opened my eyes to some possibilities.
Several months had passed by and my newest desire
was to see what the inside of a Mormon temple looked like. I knew
that I could not go in and I respected that.
This was the hardest concept of the whole religion
for me to accept. My boss told me that the Snowflake temple would be
open to the public for a short while before it was dedicated. So on
President’s Day weekend 2002. My family and I took the journey to
see it.
We took 2 cars. There were 7 of us. My Father’s
car kept breaking down. It took nearly 7 hours to get to Snowflake
from Scottsdale. My Father’s car died right when we pulled into the
parking lot at the temple visitor center.
By this point we were determined to see the
temple. Nothing could stop us. We took the tour. I realized that
there was nothing lascivious or evil about the temple. In fact
looking back now, I laugh about the reservations that I had.
After the tour I had to figure out how to get
everyone home. I had to work the next day. It was a late Saturday
afternoon. Everything was closed. I was staring across the overlook
at the temple talking to the setting sun asking how will I get my
Dad home.
I turned around to see the sun glinting off of 2
BIG buses. I knew that was the answer that I was looking for. Long
story short, the buses were from Scottsdale and they were gracious
enough to give my Dad and daughter a ride home. I felt compelled to
write a "Thank you" note. From that note the missionaries visited us
again and our conversion began.
Still months past before I humbled myself. The
missionaries said all along, "Ask Heavenly Father in prayer
following the advice of Moroni 10:3-5". I finally did and my prayer
was answered.
The hardest thing to give up for me was coffee.
Kami and I were baptized on 3/15/2003. We have not looked back
since.
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