A Budding Testimony

Dallin's spiritual maturity has really shown since his baptism.  He takes the gospel very seriously and loves to learn from the scriptures.   This morning before church, he was watching a lot of the illustrated scripture stories on lds.org and learning about everything from Joseph Smith and the Gold Plates to Moses.  I love how he just has the drive to do that without any encouragement from us.  It has been really beneficial for our family to only watch church movies and use the church website on Sundays.  The kids seem to be more drawn to the church materials that way so that helps.

I think that is what got the spirit going in his little heart.  When we got to church, we only had about 5 minutes before it started so Peter dropped Dallin and I off at the door to go save a bench for the family.  We sat down together and I could tell that Dallin was feeling extra reverent.  Then he leaned over to me and said, "Mom, I KNOW that the church is true."   followed by, "If there were 5 million bad guys trying to get me to do bad things, I wouldn't do them."  I thanked him for sharing his testimony with me, and told him that because it was fast Sunday, there would be an opportunity for people to go up to the podium to share their testimonies.  I told him that if the spirit made him feel it in his heart to go up and share, he could.  During the songs, Dallin followed along with the words and started singing with gusto, which he has only just started doing the last couple of weeks.  It makes me smile to hear him sing the Hymns. 

During the meeting I was out with Lily most of the time, but Dallin whispered to Peter that he wanted to write a song.  Peter got paper out and dictated for Dallin and what came out was a very mature little page long testimony of Jesus and the gospel.  Peter told Dallin that if he wanted to get up and share his testimony, he would go with him.  Dallin decided to go for it.

So they went up and sat in the stand to wait their turn.  Dallin started to cry a little bit and told Peter he didn't know why he was crying because he wasn't sad.  Then he said his heart was beeping (beating) really fast.  Peter told him that it was because he was feeling the spirit and because he was nervous.

When it was his turn, Dallin very reverently stood at the microphone and said very simply that he knows the church is true and that he was so glad that he got to be baptized and closed with that.  It was a perfect little testimony from his heart. 

I wish so much that I could have heard him instead of dealing with an hour long tantrum, although Peter did a good job in relaying it to me afterward.  I got choked up just hearing about it.  I am so proud of this little man and who he has become.  He will be a great spiritual leader for his siblings and to those around him.  He is a very special little boy.  As his mother, it is an amazing feeling to watch his spirituality grow. Joy would be the best way to describe it.