I posted a little while ago that i handed out my last BOM to a girl named Natalie. Previously I thought I shouldn't say anything about her story but it is incredible and I asked her if I could share it with you all. The other night I was chilling in my room, when someone knocked on my door. (which is in and of itself weird I'm a big fan of an open door policy, and if you are not comfortable with just walking in, well get to know me then it will not be an issue or maybe i'm just to lazy to open it with all the people that come through my room) Anyways I opened the door to a girl who asked "Are you Tia?" I nodded yesh and she then floored me and said "I know you are a Mormon I need to know what you believe." This floored me and mind you it was 11 pm when she knocked my suite mates were already in bed, so I picked up my Quad and my extra BOM and we took this conversation down stairs to the lobby.
Once we got there I asked Natalie why she wanted to know what we believe, and then Natalie told me her story; it goes like this. Natalie is a senior from Augusta, Maine and graduating in the next week or two she is an Art history and religion major and a philosophy minor. (I know right?) Natalie's mother died in a fatal car accident the night before this conversation took place. It was a head-on collision, she died on impact. Natalie who was leaving for her mothers funeral the next morning and bumped into Tara and didn't think anything about it. Then remembered later that Tara was part of a religion she didn't know much about, but she felt that she should go talk with Tara, so she did, and Tara sent her to me. (the smartest choice no, I believe Ellen would have done a much better job.) Hence why Natalie banged on my door at 11. :) after tearing up and crying over her story, I gave Natalie a hug, and she started asking questions.
She wanted to know where her mother was according to our faith. Which lead beautifully into the discussion of the Plan of Salvation. We talked for 45 minutes and I left her with that extra BOM; she started reading it before I had opened the door to leave. THE NEXT DAY I texted her to see how she was doing, and if she had read out of the BOM and what she thought. She said she had and she asked about the testimony of the 3 and the 8 witnesses and what the difference was. Curious I asked her where she was at in the BOM and she told me "page 370 or something like that" When I heard that I literally fell out of my chair and flipped open to ALMA 40 is to where she read in one night. She would finish the book the next day.
So that in and of itself is amazing but what truly blew me away was when I was sitting with some of my first year groupies and we got talking about my love life and I was telling them about Zack and something he did for me the other day, which lead to them saying the normal responses of "why can't i get a guy like that" "Does he have a brother?" and "could he find me a guy like that?" I responded by saying "Yes all you have to do is convert" ding ding awesome go me. their next question "Convert to what?" and then the flooring moment "Aren't you one of Natalie's friends? aren't you a Mormon?" I nodded and asked her how she knew Natalie, she said they have art classes together. But then she said "Natalie is converting to Mormonism she bore her testimony to all of us when we were hanging out the other night."
WHAT! So Natalie has officially blown my mind, she lost her mother right before graduation and mothers day, she read the BOM in 2 days, turned around and testified of the BOM to her closest friends and THEN gave the BOM I gave her to little Aryn who told me this story. She is absolutely incredible she met with the Elders a few nights ago and has started taking the discussions, when she returns home to Maine the Elders up there are going to finish the discussions and baptize her, her date is set for June 18th.
I'm so incredibly humbled by this experience to have this awesome young lady ask me to tell her about the Gospel. She testified of Christ and she admits she doesn't know everything but she knows that this Faith, this Gospel of Jesus Christ is true. It moves me everyday to think about how this will help her with the loss of her Mother, and with the rest of her life. Simply because this knowledge that we have changes people. The more I think about it the more I realize that we all have the potential to be instruments in the Lord's hands, instruments that will share, teach and guide others unto Him. When I was talking with Natalie that night all I had to do was open my mouth and the words just came out. Another reminder that the Lord knows us, and He is with us always IF we allow Him to be.
Once we got there I asked Natalie why she wanted to know what we believe, and then Natalie told me her story; it goes like this. Natalie is a senior from Augusta, Maine and graduating in the next week or two she is an Art history and religion major and a philosophy minor. (I know right?) Natalie's mother died in a fatal car accident the night before this conversation took place. It was a head-on collision, she died on impact. Natalie who was leaving for her mothers funeral the next morning and bumped into Tara and didn't think anything about it. Then remembered later that Tara was part of a religion she didn't know much about, but she felt that she should go talk with Tara, so she did, and Tara sent her to me. (the smartest choice no, I believe Ellen would have done a much better job.) Hence why Natalie banged on my door at 11. :) after tearing up and crying over her story, I gave Natalie a hug, and she started asking questions.
She wanted to know where her mother was according to our faith. Which lead beautifully into the discussion of the Plan of Salvation. We talked for 45 minutes and I left her with that extra BOM; she started reading it before I had opened the door to leave. THE NEXT DAY I texted her to see how she was doing, and if she had read out of the BOM and what she thought. She said she had and she asked about the testimony of the 3 and the 8 witnesses and what the difference was. Curious I asked her where she was at in the BOM and she told me "page 370 or something like that" When I heard that I literally fell out of my chair and flipped open to ALMA 40 is to where she read in one night. She would finish the book the next day.
So that in and of itself is amazing but what truly blew me away was when I was sitting with some of my first year groupies and we got talking about my love life and I was telling them about Zack and something he did for me the other day, which lead to them saying the normal responses of "why can't i get a guy like that" "Does he have a brother?" and "could he find me a guy like that?" I responded by saying "Yes all you have to do is convert" ding ding awesome go me. their next question "Convert to what?" and then the flooring moment "Aren't you one of Natalie's friends? aren't you a Mormon?" I nodded and asked her how she knew Natalie, she said they have art classes together. But then she said "Natalie is converting to Mormonism she bore her testimony to all of us when we were hanging out the other night."
WHAT! So Natalie has officially blown my mind, she lost her mother right before graduation and mothers day, she read the BOM in 2 days, turned around and testified of the BOM to her closest friends and THEN gave the BOM I gave her to little Aryn who told me this story. She is absolutely incredible she met with the Elders a few nights ago and has started taking the discussions, when she returns home to Maine the Elders up there are going to finish the discussions and baptize her, her date is set for June 18th.
I'm so incredibly humbled by this experience to have this awesome young lady ask me to tell her about the Gospel. She testified of Christ and she admits she doesn't know everything but she knows that this Faith, this Gospel of Jesus Christ is true. It moves me everyday to think about how this will help her with the loss of her Mother, and with the rest of her life. Simply because this knowledge that we have changes people. The more I think about it the more I realize that we all have the potential to be instruments in the Lord's hands, instruments that will share, teach and guide others unto Him. When I was talking with Natalie that night all I had to do was open my mouth and the words just came out. Another reminder that the Lord knows us, and He is with us always IF we allow Him to be.
Hey sorry I know that was long winded, but I didn't know how to shrink it and still get across how amazing Natalie is.
ReplyDeleteI loved reading this whole thing. Awe inspiring and very moving. I got chills reading it. Tia you are doing amazing things with the gospel. I believe you truly have a gift for sharing it. Keep doing what you are doing and sharing what you know. Even through this blog. Yes, I believe the same as you but reading someone elses thoughts on things can be very uplifting and really something to think about. Being in primary I spend all my time trying to teach these kids under my watch that we don't realize how bad we sometimes need to be spiritually fed by someone else too. Thank you for sharing this.
ReplyDeleteGuess I haven't read your blog for awhile...that's an awesome story! Have you talked with her since you got home?
ReplyDeleteYes i have she is loving the discussions and looking forward to baptism.
ReplyDelete