#exmo stuff

I was born and raised in the LDS faith. Both of my parents were raised in the church. My family is very active in the church. I never questioned if the church was true. I attended weekly meetings and seminary faithfully. I served in a leadership capacity in Young Women's. I didn't balk when we moved to another country for 3 years so my dad could lead a mission. I was happy to be a Mormon forever and ever, and, personally, I had a fantastic experience growing up in the faith. Honestly, I was very content and happy, totally locked in, and the last person anyone would expect to leave the church.

I liked helping the sister missionaries teach lessons to investigators (people learning about the Mormon faith). I enjoyed hanging out with them and spreading the faith. I have always loved evangelizing my faith, and spending some of my formative years with my dad as a mission president solidified that.

On this particular day, the sister missionaries were teaching a girl close to my age and her family wanted to be present for the lesson. The only issue was that her family primarily speaks Spanish, and while she could translate, the sister missionaries wanted her to be able to focus on the lesson. So, I was brought along to not only befriend the girl, but also act as a translator.

When we arrived, I learned the girl lived with her grandmother who was obviously Catholic by the decor in the house. That didn't surprise me, and I wasn't surprised when her abuela was a little hostile toward us. She spoke better English than I thought she would, but she mostly still looked at me, and conversed with me, very intensely the whole time.

After a little while the grandmother excused herself for around half an hour, and then returned looking even more intense. She interrupted what we were talking about, sat right across from me and her eyes were like lasers into me. She told me to tell her what we believed about the Virgin Mary, so I did. I told her that we believed in the Virgin birth, that we didn't believe in the immaculate conception (I had no idea what that was, just that we didn't believe in it lol), and also explained that we believed her and Joseph had a normal marriage and many other children.

But as I was telling her all of this, my throat began to hurt. It felt like hot battery acid was bubbling up in my throat, and I was trying to keep my cool but it kept getting worse and worse. Eventually I had to pause and excuse myself, and I frantically made my way home. I was so ill, and in so much pain, and I knew it had something to do with that woman. I was convinced she'd cursed me, and while my family at first thought I was being hysterical, seeing me writhe and clutch my throat scared them enough that our bishop came over and he and my dad gave me a blessing.

The blessing didn't help much, but eventually it subsided enough that I fell asleep. Instantly, I was in what I can only describe as a very open area and in front of me was the Blessed Virgin. I knew it was her instantly and it's hard to explain how, and I also knew I wasn't dreaming. Once I realize I'm dreaming I always instantly wake up, and in this I was completely aware, in control of myself, and felt completely overwhelmed in her presence, so much so that I fell to my knees.

Honestly, I was petrified. It wasn't that she was scary, because honestly she was so beautiful and radiant and amazing, but being near Her was very powerful. I wish I could describe it better, but unfortunately I'm not much of a writer.

First, she told me I would be alright and comforted me. Then, she very seriously told me that I have to learn the truth.

And that was it.

So I started learning about the Blessed Mother, because I assumed (rightly) that what I had said was not only wrong but blasphemous (which it was lol). That led me to wondering what else the LDS faith got wrong, which in my opinion, most importantly, is the Trinity and the true identity of Jesus, but there are so many things to choose from 🥲

I went back to the woman's house and found out she'd prayed a rosary asking the Holy Mother to intercede for her granddaughter and for me. Which she did! I am a living testament to the power of the rosary.

I was also very lucky that she specifically interceded because I would have been left adrift except that only one church believes in the immaculate conception (and venerates Mary to the degree she deserves imo) is the Catholic church, so that made it really easy to decide where to go.

I spent all of Lent fasting, praying, learning more about the church and deep doctrine (which was awful and shocking), and the temple, and all of the things you aren't supposed to look up per LDS leadership. I went through the grieving process, thankfully while simultaneously deepening my relationship tremendously with God.

I reached a point of real acceptance right around Easter, because as much as I loved being part of the LDS church and was very happy being Mormon, just because you fit in somewhere doesn't mean it's where you're supposed to be. And you can't pretend to know something is or isn't true just because it makes your life harder.

We have a hymn that we sing a lot that says:

I'll go where you want me to go, dear Lord,

Over mountain or plain or sea;

I'll say what you want me to say, dear Lord;

I'll be what you want me to be.

I have always tried to live up to this hymn. I have always tried to be a faithful servant of God, and I knew God was now asking me to leave the church I'd grown up in, under goodly parents, and become Catholic.

That brings us to now. I went to mass recently which was amazing. I'm going to start OCIA. I'm learning so much, and so many of you encourage me daily, answer my questions, and teach me. I'm grateful every single day to the Blessed Virgin Mother for interceding and saving me, which is why she'll always have a very special place in my heart. I hope to bring my friends and family with me on this journey. Even if it seems impossible right now, our God is the God of making the impossible reality.