BOOK OF MORMON: DAY 142: BEAUTIFUL CONVERSION -

Today’s Reading: Mosiah 18:28-19:29

30 And now it came to pass that all this was done in Mormon, yea, by the waters of Mormon, in the forest that was near the waters of Mormon; yea, the place of Mormon, the waters of Mormon, the forest of Mormon, how beautiful are they to the eyes of them who there came to the knowledge of their Redeemer; yea, and how blessed are they, for they shall sing to his praise forever.

As I read this verse, I couldn’t help but imagine the tender feelings that those who were baptized must have felt for this place called Mormon. Here was the sacred place where they heard the testimony of Alma, confirmed by the Spirit, that touched their hearts in such a way that they entered into baptism–those waters and forests forever becoming a beautiful reminder of their initial conversion.

I hardly remember my own baptism at age 8, but I do remember other significant moments along the path of my own continued conversion. One such defining time was the summer prior to my senior year in high school. I had been called to serve as a member of our seminary student council for the following school year–an experience available thanks to an abundant LDS population in Mesa, AZ.

As members of this council, we were asked by our seminary principal to prayerfully study the Doctrine and Covenants over the summer. This was the book of scripture to be studied for that academic year and from it, together we were to choose a verse for our seminary theme. The catch was this: our seminary principal had already gone through this process and was so confident in what the Spirit had led him to, that he had already had it pre-printed on a large banner which he was NOT going to show to us until later. It was up us to come to know on our own and agree as a group without any guidance other than the Spirit. No pressure!

At 16, I was incredibly inexperienced with anything having to do with personal revelation. It just hadn’t been an active tool in my life at that point yet. This experience became the catalyst that changed that for me. After having spent the entire summer reading the D&C with real determination, our council was brought back together with the charge to choose the theme. There we sat in that seminary building for hours. We had agreed to a lock-down of sorts, with nobody leaving until we were all in agreement as to what we felt the Lord had in mind for our seminary theme that year.

As each of us brought our suggestions to the table, we began to whittle them down. Several hours, much debate, and many collective and then private prayers later, we were down to two final options, one of them being a verse that I had initially offered to the group as a possibility. I was not a debater by nature, so defending my choice was an uncomfortable experience, but the stronger the Spirit bore witness to me that morning, the more confident I became in my decision.

We finally reached an agreement as a group and it was the verse that I had been championing. As we shared our results with our seminary principal, he brought in and then unrolled that pre-printed banner that had been tucked away in his office all summer long. I still remember holding my breathe and suddenly experiencing some anxiety as he began the great unveiling. Had we chosen the same verse? Had we been inspired? Had I been inspired? Had those new-to-me feelings that came like small waves of peaceful knowing been the Spirit or wishful thinking? I suddenly realized that there was much on the line in that moment.

And there it was. The verse that I had felt prompted to choose and then we, as a council, had agreed upon:

D&C 90:24: “Search diligently, pray always, and be believing, and all things shall work together for your good, if ye walk uprightly and remember the covenant wherewith ye have covenanted one with another.”

I don’t remember if I cried at that moment, but I do now every time that I think of it. What a tender experience at a tender age to be able to experience and recognize personal revelation to the convincing of a dozen other youth on that council that day. When I think back to that seminary building, that room in which we sat, and to all those youth and the inspired teacher who trusted in the Lord to give us that defining experience, I’m filled with a kind of spiritual nostalgia that I think that those early saints in the land of Mormon surely felt. This time and this place became a beautiful part of my own personal conversion story.