And when the missionaries helped me understand and go into Scripture and be able to find confirmation for that and really pray about it – I thought that makes so much sense! That in this day and age, in such time of trial and trouble, that we would be guided and have inspiration through a modern-day prophet. And the first time I heard the prophet speak was the day that I decided to be baptized.

And that was the most amazing experience I ever had. And I thought he is a prophet of God and he is living with us in this world today and I thought – Of course he is! With a loving, Heavenly Father, of course he would have somebody living with us today that could help and give us the inspiration that we don’t have on our own and that these truths will continue to be revealed as time goes on and as we are obedient. I thought that that was amazing – to have a modern day prophet.

Man: Noel and her husband Christian, live in Mission Viejo, California and they’re expecting their first child. She was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in August, 2004.

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It just was like this weird feeling that I knew that I was lost – you know what I’m saying? Like I couldn’t find my way home, it was the strangest… I just wanted different. This was not it. I felt confused, lost and I was in my own home but I felt like I needed to go home. You see what I’m saying? It was crazy.

So I got up and turned the TV on and there was this guy on TV, his name is Joel Olstein, I don’t know if you ever seen him before. But he’s a pastor that does TV type of deal from Huston, Texas. And he has like the friendliest eyes ever. But that same day, I sat and I listened. So the guy came on and I normally would change, but today the church channel was really holding me to not change it. And I sat there and I listened and then I started crying. I wanted to feel the feeling that I felt that moment when I started crying and I was listening to his words. Cause he was reading from the Bible, he was doing Scriptures. And I was feeling him – the words meant something different this time when he was reading.

So I wanted to feel like that in that moment. And when he quoted, I wanted to hear more. So I began to pray. And I prayed like my life depended on it. And then he said to find a good Bible-based church. He always says that at the end of the show. And then, at this point, I’m starting to ponder. I’m crying and pondering on that I needed to find a good church. Is that what’s wrong with me? I need to find a good church.

But I thought about it and who really wants to be around a bunch of pushy people in your life? Who needs that? I was sitting, thinking about that thought and there was someone knocking at my door. And at that moment I dried my tears up and I peeped out the window and I saw what I thought was some Jehovah’s Witnesses. So what I said was “Jehovah’s Witnesses? Darn!” – that isn’t what I said.

So I looked up, right before I opened the door and I said “Christ, I asked you for a sign, but you sent them!” And so I opened the door with no clothes on and tears on my face and a nasty attitude. But then, a sister said “Nicole, how are you?” and I’m looking like this. She says “Are you doing okay, sister Nicole?” And I knew at that moment, when I looked at her face when she said that, I just had to unlock the door. I knew Heavenly Father had sent her, at that moment.

I needed a sister and kind spirit, a person to listen to me. Tell me the directions to the nearest temple – and that was her. That, on the other hand, the view from my bedroom is the Mormon temple. Every day and every night. He is watching me from up the hill. So I’ve been curious for a while about the temple, I just never really pushed it, you know? And he sent the right people to me. So we prayed, me and the sister that day and I learned about the right Gospel, the right one.

Day one, I felt like I found what I’ve been seeking. And prayed for the truth and the real, not fake people to be around me. And you bet, I cried, but everyone there is real. They are nice and decent people. And my real fellow brethren. I feel complete now and a little scared because my prayers are being answered and that’s not normal for me. The more I learn and pray and follow the commandments, my life has been improving in such a short time that I was wondering where has this church been my whole life. Right up the hill. At the very top, right out my barren window, lid up every night like Motel 6, the light is always on. And now that’s in my heart.

I just wasn’t listening or really looking in the right direction. So my sisterhood and my sister prayed with me and I started a new life that day and never looked back. Pushing forward and enduring to the end. He is the Life and the Light to the world. A light that is endless and can’t ever be darkened.And also, a life which is endless that there can be no more death. Even this mortal shall put on and flip on immortality and this corruption has put on incorruption and shall be brought to stand before the bar of God to be judged of him, according to their words.

Thank you sister, you taught me that. And you awakened my love to read again. I haven’t read anything in 2 years. Now I’m reading 4 books at once. The Book of Mormon, D&C, True to the Faith and a little bit of Gospel Principles. I love my new family and my new life. So that’s how I came to know that the church was true and that the Gospel is really real. And you can’t tell me any different. And I say this in the name of my saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen.

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The only thing is, they never really told me one little small thing and that was that two young men in suits were coming to deliver that book in person. So, one day I get a knock on the door, here are these two young guys and they said that they’re representatives of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and they had my copy of the Book of Mormon. They actually came back on several occasions and we talked about quite a few things – a lot of things that I found to be interesting and we talked.

I basically told them eventually that, even though I was interested in what they were teaching me and I appreciate their time and everything, I had decided to leave home and join the military. So I went into the military and one day, while on station in San Diego, I came across a book store and being a lover of books, I went inside to take a look around, not realizing it was a LDS bookstore. But that didn’t take too long to figure out.

And I bought some things there. One of the things I bought was a set of conference tapes. I bought another copy of the Book of Mormon and I also bought a book that was entitled “In the Lord’s due time”. What’s so interesting about that book is that, I did not realize that at the time, but it was that that book was actually written by a black brother of the church and he, the person who wrote the book was Joseph Freeman, who actually was the first black to receive the priesthood after the 1978 revelation.

In my mind I was going: first of all, what is the priesthood and what is the revelation? What does all that mean? I went back to my ship and I actually listened to the conference tapes, I read the Book of Mormon, read brother Freeman’s book but I decided once again, I’ll just tuck those neatly away and I’ll get back to those someday.

It wasn’t really until the Lord sent me, years later, down the line. He sent me to Kflavik, Iceland of all places in the world. And when I was there one day in my room, I was doing a search of the Mormon Church and I decided that I was going to ask for a subscription to the church news, just to see what was going on in the church at that time. Much to my surprize, I get an email back from one of the editors of the church news. He asked me, first of all: What are you doing in Iceland? And second: What is your interest in the Mormon Church?

And I told him that I just want to know what the church is doing at this time in Iceland because I’m stationed here with the United States Navy. He said “Well that sounds great! Now, don’t get upset with me, but I’ve contacted missionaries on your behalf”. And thinking to myself that since I’m on a secure naval base, that they would never find me. I agreed to allow him and go ahead and contact the missionaries and let them try to find me. Much to my surprize, I did get a phone call and that phone call was from the missionaries. And to make a long story short, I met with those missionaries for over a year before I finally made the decision of the baptizing.

One of my requirements, before I became baptized, I told the missionaries I would not be baptized until I had the Book of Mormon in its entirety. And anyway, I did that. I was inspired to develop a 40 day reading plan and so, for 40 straight days I read all 3 of those and then called the missionaries and invite them over. And on March the 10th, 1998 I was baptized and the rest is history.

I know that the Bible and the Book of Mormon are both the book of God. I know that God lives and that Jesus Christ is our saviour and that he loves each and every one of us. He loves each and every one of us so much that 2000 years ago he willingly gave his life and he became since the final sacrifice. He paid a debt that he did not owe and a debt that none of us could ever pay. He is my Lord, he is my saviour, he is my King and I bare that testimony in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

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And then, one day I remember they came to my door and they said they had a couple of friends they wanted us to meet. So we went upstairs, as I lived on the first floor, they lived on the 3rd floor. So we visited with the missionaries and they asked if they could come by. I was only 12 and I said “Sure!”

So a week later, they come knocking on our door. My dad was home, my whole family was home and they introduced themselves. So we sat down through the visit for 10-15 minutes. And then they gave us the very first discussion. And my dad was impressed and my dad, for a while, had been going to the Baptist church. He was quite had with the Baptist church, but he wasn’t a very active member. As a matter of fact, I don’t think he was ever baptized.

And so, the missionaries left a very good impression. A week later, they came back. They taught us a second discussion. Now this time around, our friend came with them. So it was a very interesting thing cause we felt very comfortable having our friend, our neighbor with the missionaries. So my dad started to get really interested in what the missionaries had to teach. And another week went by and they came back with a third discussion – but this time they said “Well, we want you guys to come to our church to see what it’s like, I’m sure you guys will have a very good impression”.

So we went to church. And the church, of course, was located about an hour away from where we lived. Bus ride would take at least an hour and 10 minutes. And there was another member that lived nearby, he had this huge car and he said “I’m sure I’ll be able to accommodate all of you guys in this car”. So, there was all six of us, the driver and sister Ozeta, the friend that referred the missionaries to us.

We get there and a huge, absolutely big coincidence happened. The branch president back then, his name was Milo Campanello. My dad knew him from back in the early 50’s. So my dad worked for a lifeboat factory called GE and this man, he used to sell shoes. He used to own a shoe shop and he an idea to go to this factory and offer this shoes to the employees, for all the workers for a very good price. And he sold a bunch of shoes. He even sold the shoes to my dad.

So my dad knew him and, of course, he knew my dad and they chatted a little bit and he said “Yeah, I’m a branch president and I’m so happy to see you here”. So that left my dad extremely excited about the fact that he knew someone in the church and that pretty much kept us going to church. So another 2 weeks and the missionaries came to our house and gave us a baptism challenge. We all accepted a baptism challenge and I remember, back in those days the church was very small in our home town. There was only one building if I remember correctly – just one building.

The church was packed that morning because a family of six – which was kind of new back in those days – was being baptized. And so, it was an extremely interesting story and I’ll never forget that day. My mother was extremely touched by the Spirit – she was crying all the time. My dad was crying and it was a very uplifting moment. This was back in ’68. Back in ’75, seven years later, I was ready to go on a mission. So I was a full-time missionary for the church.

But before going on a mission, I wanted to have the opportunity of going to the temple. So I flew to Washington D.C. There were no temples in Brazil. And the very same missionary – Dale Roberts – who has baptized us on May 12th, 1968, was the young man that took us through the temple. He and his wife Linda – and it was quite of a unique experience. Extremely touching experience. Two months later I was sent back to Brazil to serve as a full time missionary.

So it was an extremely interesting experience. And I want you, if you’re not a LDS member, to listen to the words, pay attention to the missionaries. Maybe one day you’ll run into them on the street, maybe you’ll have the chance of them knocking on your door. Listen to their message just like I did, just like my dad did back in May 12th. And the great impact and change that has caused in our lives – we’re really happy, we are a very happy family. And I challenge you if you’re not LDS or if you’re not longer an active LDS to return.

I know this Gospel is true and that Joseph Smith was a prophet used to restore the Gospel.

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