I'm starting this blog as a way to prepare myself for my mission. I'm a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, (also known as "Mormons" or more preferably "LDS") and I want to serve a mission. I have had the desire to be a missionary for years but never got the time to focus on it because of all of my University studies. Now that I'm finished with my degree and awaiting graduation in April it's high time I get my act together and I think a blog will solidify my goal whilst also help any person who reads this understand what I believe and why I want to go on a mission.
But in order to understand why it's so important to me I need to start from the beginning. When I was a kid a grew up going to an Anglican church in a little suburb called Strathfield. We attended this very historic but small church which I always was fascinated by because of its stained glass windows, but we never spent very long there. That was where the grownups would sit and listen to the Minister. My sisters and I had to go with the other church to the building next door which was not as old as the church itself, probably built sometime after and refurbished in the sixties. We were taken care of by at least four women. They would teach us Bible stories and then the rest of the time we spent playing games like What's the Time Mr. Wolf or this Crocodile game.
I remember one time the teacher told us about Daniel and the Lion's den from the church picture book. I asked her something, like whether if I went to the zoo to see the lions whether God would shut their mouths and she explained to me that God no longer performed miracles. Something didn't seem right with the answer in my heart but being a child I ignored the feeling thinking I would understand when I got older.
When I got to the age of seven, I was moved up the stairs in the same building but to a smaller room where the lessons were more intensive. I honestly can't remember any of the lessons but I remember them giving me a Bible to read. From then on my mother began looking into other religions. I remember travelling about forty minutes to a church were the preacher calls people up the front to be blessed with the spirit and they would push you and someone behind would catch you. Needless to say my sisters and I found it ridiculous.
My parents sometime later divorced and my Mum began dating my stepfather who was LDS. Dad didn't want the missionaries to teach us and I understand why. Michael taught us the lessons being a return missionary and I remember what he was saying was different. At nine I got my own Book of Mormon and read it. I prayed about it like I was told and I remember a feeling coming over me like it was the right thing. We had gone to church a number of times and I remember the peace I felt whilst in the chapel, I preferred the hymns they played on the organ and I liked the songs and the stories the teachers taught me in the Primary classes. It was at nine I decided to be baptised as a member with my mother and older sister.
My step-grandfather baptised me and I remember walking into the large font which was chest deep with water and Granddad was there. We had slightly rehearsed how it worked but the first time he put me under one of my feet came up and he had to do it again because you had to be completely immersed in the water. It was quick but I remember feeling like I was clean, like this was a fresh slate for me, a new beginning. My uncle then gave me the gift of the Holy Ghost as a guide to my life, forever by my side as I chose the right. It was overwhelming, I felt warm all over and tears swelled up in my eyes and I could feel that God really knew me and loved me. Most importantly I knew that the blessing that my Uncle David gave me wasn't made up by him because it wasn't from him. It was Heavenly Father speaking through him from the Holy Ghost, to me.
Since then I've had the natural up and downs of church life. My family fell into a bit of a bad business situation which went on the news and some gossip from the church we were attending upset my mother and stepfather so they stopped going. They still took us but it wasn't the same. Family home evenings just became movie nights and I was a teenager in my rebellious phase. Once that all passed I started coming to church again because of my faithful and fun loving cousin Tabitha. She was the greatest example to me and she was younger than me by a year. At eighteen I came back to church with my parents and got back into the swing of church life where I left off. I still knew the basics but I wanted to learn more. It was then that I began developing my true testimony of the church.
Fast-forward to now I search the scriptures for the most part on a daily basis. I prefer getting up early to study them and read them before I go to bed. I'm also studying Preach My Gospel which is the manual for missionaries in the field. I have had multiple callings in the church as an Assistant to the Visiting Teaching Leader, Faith in God Teacher, and Second Counsellor in the Primary Presidency. As my missionary preparation my bishop assigned me to teach Sunday School for the fourteen and fifteen year olds for four weeks and today was my first assignment teaching Sunday school for the sixteen to seventeen year olds. We've been going through the Book of Mormon this year and I've learnt so much and I can tell that my class has learnt a lot too.
The reason why I believe that this church is true is because no other church has made me feel total peace and happiness. When talks are given in our chapel the Spirit testifies to me of its truthfulness, but everywhere else doesn't have the same feeling and leaves me with questions.
I don't expect a lot of people to understand or believe in my words. One blog can't really convince anyone to believe it, but perhaps over time you'll understand why I believe what I do. This isn't a blog to make people to become members, this is a blog for me to share what I believe and for me to evaluate my progress and grow my testimony of Jesus Christ and His church.
~ Sis. H. Phillips
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