Subj: Re: JLC LDS LIST: Testimonies
Date: 98-08-25 23:06:42 EDT
From: migray@uswest.net
Reply-to: migray@uswest.net
To: Jlcarrol@aol.com
James
You asked for Testimonies perhaps you will find mine to be of interest. I was raised in the church, however, as teenager I rebelled and at age eighteen I found myself in the US Navy and totally inactive in Church. I had very little contact with the Church for six years and was discharged at age twenty three two months before my 24th birthday. On my birthday, I decided to come to Minnesota to see a Navy Buddy who promised me a job at the warehouse where he worked. I came out and my friend and his fiancé' (now wife) introduced me to a very nice young woman, Anita Marie, who was a young school teacher. Anita Marie suffered a blood clot in the lung shortly after we met and spent almost two weeks in the hospital. We spent everyday together from 10 or 11 O'clock in the morning till about 11 in the evening. We talked, played cards, took walks with her wheelchair etc. She was released on a Sunday and we spent the week together swimming, picnicking, dancing, going to baseball games and just being together. On Friday, Anita Marie was given a clean bill of health and told to go back to work on Monday. I asked her to marry me that day. On Saturday morning she died of another blood clot in the lung.
Needless to say I was devastated. I went to her funeral and went on a several week binge. My friends were married in October and I kept pondering what it all meant.
Even though I had been raised in the Church I had never read the Book of Mormon and I hadn't attended any church meetings in over six years. Finally, on the last Sunday in October I decided to go to church to see if I could find some answers there. I looked for a chapel in the phone book and found the nearest one about three or four miles away. My car was not running so I walked. It was a beautiful warm sunny late fall day. The trees were in their color and the walk was very pleasant.
When I got to the chapel, the building was open but empty. This surprised me and looked all through the building but could find no one there. So I walked back to my little apartment in South Minneapolis. During this walked I came to the conclusion that either what I had been taught about the Gospel as a boy meant something or that life was pretty meaningless. I decided that I had to know for myself whether or not the Church was indeed the Church of Jesus Christ and whether or not it was true. I concluded that I needed to read the Book of Mormon. When I arrived home I got out my Navy Seabag and dug out my Triple Combination. I threw out my cigarettes, beer and whiskey and began to read.
I consumed the Book of Mormon. I couldn't put it down. I read late into the night until I could no longer stay awake. On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I read every waking moment, while I prepared and ate my meals, on the bus to and from work, on my breaks, every moment when I wasn't working, I was reading. I finished reading on Wednesday evening and with the Promise of Moroni ringing in my soul I determined that I wanted to know of myself that the Book of Mormon was true. I went into my little bedroom and knelt down. I began to pray for a testimony of the Book of Mormon. As soon as I began to pray it was as if a bright and shining light came into my mind and I was filled with knowledge of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and of the Book of Mormon. I knew absolutely that the Book of Mormon was true. I knew absolutely that Mormon and Moroni were prophets and that Joseph Smith was and is a prophet of the Most High God and that he established the Church of Jesus Christ under the guidance of the Lord Jesus Christ. I knew without question that the Church was properly and truly established on the Earth for the last time. I knew that the church was led by a Prophet of God. And I knew without any question that Jesus was and is the Christ, the Messiah, the Savior of all mankind. I do not believe that anyone can know any more completely of these truths than I knew and know without a personal visitation from the Lord Jesus Christ.
After receiving this dramatic and complete answer to my prayer. I made some calls and found the Bishop of the University Ward in Minneapolis. He made arrangements for me to attend church that Sunday and I continue to attend and participate in the Church to this day.
Thank you for this opportunity to bear my testimony.
Your Brother in Christ Merrill I. Gray