So most kids that are my age and Mormon go on 2 year missions...yea, i just conquered living this way for 2 years. Let's begin shall we? Yea, so about 2 years ago i was just a little college freshman searching for purpose and decided that i could find more purpose in a church than in the bottom of a bottle of Jack Daniels. So it was about Oct. 06 and i was talkin to my nig kev and i was like, "hey man, whats this whole mormon thing all about?" and he was like, "you want a BOM (Book of Mormon)?" and for some odd reason i was like, "sure, thatd be cool." yea, so i didnt think much of it but of course...wait, step back a sec. during my senior of high school i was dating this girl that was mormon, but honestly, she really had no significance in my bit of curiousity besides "hey wonder why she digs this stuff......" we both left for school that summer, supposed to have broken up but decided to do the long distance dance and well, we know how that ends up. alright jump back to takin to kev. i didn think anything would come of that so i kept kinda rockin goin to parties and whatnot until one easy wednesday when i checked the mail and had a nice little post-it note inside from who else? the LDS missionaries. It read "Hi, Kevin! This is Elder Rebarchik and Elder Namgur from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and we tried to come by but you weren't home. Here's our number and we hope to hear from you soon."
I was a bit upset as one could imagine because i was in wtf mode when i called kev right after i opened it. i didn't call them. they called me the next night. it was a simpler conversation and i had agreed to come have lunch at the institute building and they were going to come by and walk me up there with them. we had lunch (grilled cheese and chicken soup...i just happened to be sick at that exact time) and they were teaching a lesson to some girl and they invited me to sit in and listen and whatever. so i did.......
Before i left we played some pool and ping pong and they invited me to come back on monday and have a lesson. I nervously said yes but i think they may have thought that i wouldnt come. well, i did, backpack, illegal pete's burrito and Book of Mormon in hand. Yea, i was freaked out too. we had a lesson. like full blown this is what God is about, this is Jesus Christ and a boy named Joseph Smith. Yep, Restoration video. It was so wierd because i was like paying attention but not thinking too much about it until the end. BTW, missionaries usually have a member sit in on the lesson, listen and interject when appropriate. well, the Elder's Quorum President sat in on my first lesson. His name was Garrett (miss you bro, hope everything is good!) he bore a testimony of the Prophet and Jesus Christ and God's love so strong it was impossible to walk away without feeling anything. The Spirit of God is so powerful. It sucked tho because part of me wanted to believe and part of me didn't because it wasn't what the cool kids were doing. oh well, so i went home that night and started reading the BOM and came back a couple days later to just hang out, no lessons or anything. Until sunday night when i got the briefest lesson on the Plan of Salvation ever. 5 min. primary room while one of my missionaries was tuning his guitar. the crazy thing is a few days later they asked me to draw it on the board at institute....and i did! perfectly! WTF!!!!!!! that was pretty much it for me. i was a dunzo. by the way, the girl i was dating still didnt know until after this event. so yea, some more detail, i got asked to be baptized about a week later and declined because i didnt think the time was exactly right. but of course, the next weekend i was reading in Mosiah 2-4 and i felt something unlike anything ever. i knew it was time. i went to the missionaries the next day and told them i wanted to be baptized however, it had to wait til february so that people could come such as friends and family who came only because i wanted them to not because they wanted to be there. anyway, i made good friends during that time and the baptism was sweet except when pete and brett came drunk (guys, my mom still hasnt forgotten that). yea, good times.
anyways, the next 6months were ridiculously tough for a plethora of reasons, feeling of abandonment from missionaries b/c they couldnt spend time with me as much as before, the girl i was dating started acting wierd and rumors were flying about this and that and the eventual break-up, lame ward during the summer when i was home and too much work for my own good. Once i made it to Utah things got better, made some friends that i will never forget or leave behind, having some fun, doing awesome things, sweet support and help from Bishoprics, roommates and friends, and i could go on for days. well, if anyone reads this i hope that you can know that i do not regret anything that went down with me becoming LDS. im proud of it, my real friends stuck thru it with me, and i know that its true! find out for yourself! ill help if you want. never be afraid to feel something different and step outside of the norm, itll be the best thing you ever do.
