Tales From A Recent Convert- Part 1

Hey everyone. Life as a recent convert is great. Sure there are some days that I get judged for being a member of the church and being an Afro-Caribbean member  yet I know with all conviction that this is the church and the family I belong to. Here is the beginning of my story  found a forever home in the Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints.

Stepping away from my old church was one of the hardest thing I have done.

I was a member of the Methodist church from before I was born, coming to church long before my birth in my mother's tummy. It made sense that I would come up Methodist and follow in my mother's footsteps of teaching Sunday School.

From a young age, I remember feeling empty and constantly being compared to my cousin who was also a member of the church and who fit the mould of being the perfect Methodist-in-training. Matters were only made worse when I realized that I didn't have church friends while my cousin was the more popular one and everyone in her age group wanted to be friends were her.

Instead I spent time hanging with the older women in the church and trying harder than ever to focus my time at church,living the path which I knew would lead to me living in paradise with my Heavenly Father.

Still I wasn't happy. I should've been happy.

I threw myself into everything in church that would bring someone joy. I belonged to the youth choir and the dance troupe wishing and literally praying for the feeling that would overwhelm me so that I could feel the Savior's love.

I was growing up. Suddenly I was a teenager with a mouth and sass who suddenly was standing on the outside as I began to pull away from the church. I wanted to be myself and still love God but I was silenced whenever I tried to speak.

I know some of us converts who may have grown up in other churches have felt this way before but as a young teenager who loved God and with no other friends in the church I attended, I remember feeling alone.

Eventually I stopped going to church. I went cold turkey.

This continued for almost six years. I wouldn't go to church and under no circumstances would I talk about God. In many ways God was there but he wasn't there for me. I was sick with a disease I didn't understand which many specialists couldn't explain.

It was only many years later after months of classes with the missionaries that I thought about serving God again. In the beginning my conversion wasn't about being a Mormon or being a part of a church. It was about finding the peace I didn't find in any other church that I wanted to overdose on.

I wanted to be happy.

The happiness I found with my new church family and the fellowship I share not only every Sunday makes me so happy. It's a feeling you can't describe to someone whose never felt it before.

People always want to know why Mormons are always so happy. Sure we get dark days just like everyone else where we sometimes don't feel like existing but then we always remember that there is a whole world of family whose always there for us and we have the gospel which when we read it always brings joy to our lives and always makes our dark days seem brighter.

So here I am living the Mormon life and serving Heavenly Father with all that I have within me. And I can say with all sincerity that I am the happiest I have ever been.

I hope you find that happiness in your part of the world whether you are a convert like me or a long-time member. That's my wish for you

Love Momo