My Friend Amy's Conversion Story

Ok, here is my story for inquiring minds:I took the missionary discussions when I was 16. I met my best friend Pricilla when I was 12, in junior high. Over the years, I stayed close to Cilla and I went to lots of church activities with her, especially when she turned 14 and we started going to church dances. I have memories of staying up late having religious discussions. Cilla would tell me all about church beliefs, book of mormon stories, etc. When I was 16 Cilla asked if I was interested in taking discussions. When I asked my mom she said only if we would have them at our house. Well, after the 2nd discussion my mom made it clear she did not believe it, and no longer wanted me taking the discussions. End of story.

So, went to U of O a couple years later. I was a music major (at least in the begining) and so my second year there, in my small music performance class, there were 8 of us. One of them, the youngest of the class, was Lauren (now Lauren May, hey girl!). There was on particular week where I had been talking to a guy online that went to UofO that wanted to meet me. he was a music major. I definitely didn't want to do this alone. I asked Lauren if she would accompany me, I was rather uncomfortable on my own. She agreed, but also said "Well, I do have a church dance to go to later"...so, I of course said "Oh really? What church" and of course discovered she was LDS. So, she invited me to tag along to the dance with her that night, after my "meeting". That was exciting. I hadn't gone in a long time to one, so I was excited! She went with me, I met this guy, it was overall a wierd uncomfortable situation and she TOTALLY bailed me out by saying "Well, we have to run. I have to get to that dance Amy" So, I went to that church dance with her that night.

The next day I was rather bored, it was a Saturday, and since I had my car there decided I wanted to go home for the rest of the weekend to Portland. So, when I got home that night I called my good friend Robert (Bob Slattery) to see what he was up to that night. He was working at Fry's Electronics at the time as a software rep. He says "Finney! Got a guy I want you meet! His name is Leonard, he is tall, a red head. I think you will like him. Hold on, I will go get him"! So, he puts Leonard on the phone. He and I talk for about 15 minutes, and then Leonard says "I would like to meet you. Can I come pick you up?" SOooo, he picks me up that night after he gets off work. He took me to Shari's for dessert. In his mind he figured "Eh, so I will buy her dessert. That way if it doesn't go well, I am out a few bucks, and there we go" But turns out I was better company than he imagined. Later we called Bob again and invited him to go Cosmic Bowling (I want to go again!). On our way to bowling in a discussion, I discovered Leonard was in fact LDS. Crazy coincidence, right? ;-) So, that date went well, he dropped me off.

The next morning, which would have been Sunday, it just so happens that Pricilla was home. I don't remember if she was living at home at the time, or just home for a break. I can't remember. For the next 30 minutes of the conversation she proceeded to talk me into going to the singles ward with her. I was thinking "Ugh, 3 hours of church, really??" lol. She didn't want to go alone, she didn't really know anybody. So, finally, i give in and agree to go to church with her. This would be at the Westlake branch in Lake Oswego. So, sitting down in sacrament meeting, before the meeting had started, I felt quite an overwhelming peace and assurance. While the sacrament was passed I felt that I had was I considered a vision of sorts. I felt without a doubt that I would be joining the church, and that this is the man I would be marrying. Cilla reminds me that while sitting there I had grabbed her hand and squeezed it. She tells me "I Knew there was something going on when you did that" :-)

The next week after I went back to school happened to be finals week. Leonard called me that Tuesday I believe, and we agreed to a date that weekend when I got home. At that point I had 3 weeks of winter break before heading back. During this time Len and I had several dates, and quickly decided we had become a couple. During those few weeks I made the decision that I wanted to start taking missionary discussions again. So, went back to school in January. During the first month or so, not much happened with missionaries. Then Leonard and I hit a rough patch and we had broken up. This was a hard time in my life, I got quite depressed. I had a hard time being an hour and a half away from friends and family. I was a bit lonely. Then, discussions finally got together. The relief society president at my local singles branch, Julie, and I also become good friends. Her and Lauren came almost every time to my discussions. There were a couple others too, but can't seem to recall. Len even came to Eugene once to partipate in one. I think it was after my first discussion that I was really depressed and uncertain what I wanted to do. In a phone conversation Len had challenged me to a Book of Mormon reading challenge. 30 minutes a night, pray about it to decide for myself it I truly believed it. After the 2nd night, I was SO overcomed with emotion and the spirit that I knew without a doubt what my answer was. So, I agreed to getting baptised. My missionaries were great. I think I knew more than they expected. remember all that time with Cilla in junior high? I remembered a lot about the church. I wanted Pricilla's dad to baptise me, however. Papa Arave. :-) So, I made the date for the baptism set for March 20, during spring break.

During my rough time that winter, I had had a lot of phone conversations with my family. Len and I broke up during the discussions, though we stayed in close contact. I was still unsure if I was truly making the decision for him or or me. So, when we broke up I was even more confused. That is why he gave me the reading challenge, which made the decision for me. My family however still saw it as me joining the church for Leonard. They were against it, and were not supportive whatsoever. The day of my baptism, I asked one last time for my mom and my older sister (who lived with mom) to attend the event. My sister wouldn't because she always stood behind whatever mom said. My mom confronted me and made it very clear, quote her, that I was "ripping out her heart". So, needless to say I showed up to the church a wreck, rather upset.The baptism was wonderful, and I had a lot of friends there to support. I have pictures to share, I should really get them scanned and posted in a blog.

One year later, on the 1 year anniversary of my baptism, after Len and I had gotten back together officially 6 months prior, he proposed to me. We got married 6 months later at his dad's house in Keizer, and we were sealed in the Portland OR temple a year after that, September 18, 2001.Anywho, I think thats the short of it all! Now you know my story.