Conversion Stories

Ronnie Buckley:

When my family was young I felt they needed for some kind of organization with good values and a youth programs as the world was getting very rough.

I  attended many different churchs for some time. None seem to  have what I felt was needed by our family.

One afternoon there was a knock on the door and when I opened it two young men in suits greeted me with Hi, we are from the Church of Latter Day Saints and have a message for you.  I was cautious as we where having frequent visits from the Jehova Witnesses and I had listened to them, asked questions and did not feel that was the church for our family.

I was prompted to listen to the young men and when they asked to come in and share more I told them to come back that evening when my husband was home ,which they did.  It did not turn out well as my husband said he would not listen to two wet behind the ears kids telling him what he should believe and do. 

The next day they returned and I asked them if there where any Senior Missionaries who could come teach us as I think my husband might listen to them.

I felt something when those young Missionaries spoke, that I had found the right place for our family.

Within a week a older Missionary Couple knocked on our door one night and my husband let them in. So the conversion process began and went on for 2 years and three Senior Missionary Couples.

It was Elder and Sister Stone from SLC who helped my husband turn the cornor.

We were baptized at the Quadra Chaple, the only church at the time here.

I have never looked back since then as I know the Gospel is true with all my heart. It has been about 40 years now and the Gospel still shines a brightly in my soul as the day I had the honor of becoming a member of Gods Kingdom here on earth.

Amen

Karen Diane [ Moyer ] Aspinall:

In 1986, My husband , David Aspinall and I went to Japan to teach ESL. We were searching for religious truth. While there , we met some Elders from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when we were on a train on our way to work. [ side note: in all the 9 months we were there, we never again just 'happened' to meet missionaries on the trains, which we travelled on every day. We were all so guided by the Lord. We invited them to come and visit us each week. Every time they visited, I immediately recognized everything they told us. I knew it was all true. It was not a matter of agreeing with new truth - I was recalling truth I already knew from before I came to this earth. They of course, gave us a Book of Mormon to read - took me all 9 months to receive a testimony of it. However, they felt prompted to give us a copy of The Doctrine and Covenants almost immediately.

I read the entire 138 sections very quickly and knew it was all true. I had deep and great joy reading about the visits of the ancient prophets to Joseph Smith. It was totally amazing to me. When we went for our Baptismal interview in Ibaraki City, I remember walking down this long hallway with the Elders in front of us. I felt that I was surrounded by some strong force along the sides of the hallway; that even if I wanted to say , no, I couldn't.

I knew later that it was the spirits of my family guiding me to keep going. 

When I started doing my genealogy, I found that there were hundreds of my family 

whose work had been done by extraction. I was the one to link me together to all my ancestors  - no members of my immediate family were in the Church. I know it was the Spirit of God that led me to the Lord's church.

Katherine (Kath) Lees Murray

Born, Vancouver, BC, March 7 1957

kath@lifeanddeathmatters.ca

Currently live in Sidney Ward, Victoria Stake, BC

History

I was raised in West Vancouver, but graduated from Cowichan High in Duncan, went to UBC for Nursing in 1975. I was hit by a car, riding my bike home from university on June 21 1976, which led to a number of things happening, including me deciding to take a year out of nursing.

Sept 14 1976 I traveled on the BC Ferries from Vancouver Island to Prince Rupert, and then on the Alaska ferry to Skagway Alaska. I met two Mormon missionaries on route. They were moving to Whitehorse. We were on the same train, The White Pass train going from Skagway to Whitehorse.

When I got to Whitehorse, I checked into the YWCA and then walked into town. I passed a construction site, and figured that I would ask if a friend of mine was working there. He was not. But the guy asked if I wanted a job. I said, “Sure”. It turned out that his boss did not like women on the job, and he did not like his boss, so he hired me right away.

Over the next few days we poured concrete. My job was to vibrate the concrete to get rid of the air bubbles , and a fellow named Larry LeCheminant – his job was to finish and smooth the concrete. While the other guys were pouring the concrete, Larry showed me photos of his kids – his many kids and told me stories. Larry was a big Idaho Farm Boy – he was born and raised in the LDS faith, and he was currently serving as the Whitehorse branch president.

I went further north to Dawson City, but came back to help pour concrete a week or so later. I then stayed with Larry and his family, shared a room with RaeLynne, and met with the missionaries. On October 23rd, down the hill closer to the Yukon River, I prayed about the gospel, and received an answer to my prayers. I was baptized on October 30th 1976 at 0630 in Tequini HotSprings. And that started a new journey in my life.

I returned home to Vancouver and Duncan to see my family for Christmas. They were not pleased – at all. And, it was sad and lonely for me, that they did not approve of, or support my decision. Having said that, I was not estranged from the family. They did try, and they continue to try, to understand… some of them with more success than others. This January, in a very very sweet and sacred time, I finally felt the forgiveness from the one family member whose forgiveness/acceptance I had desired for years. Her acknowledgement of my value, and of my life, was so important to me. It took just about fifty years for that to happen. Her message meant so much to me. In life, we try to find meaning in suffering – and I decided that the gift in that struggle was that I had to choose and make my own decisions, and could not make my most important life decisions based on what someone else wanted for me.  In many ways, my sacrifice was bigger, and my commitment is stronger, because of this sacrifice.

The Duncan ward welcomed me to church when I was home with my aunt and uncle (my parents). Sonja and Ted Baker from Salt Spring Island were part of the branch, and over the years have become wonderful and dear friends.

I went to BYU for one semester of school in January 1977. Within days of being there, I was called to teach Spiritual Living for the RS. That experience caused me to reach deeper than I had before, and led to some particularly incredible, deep, strong, experiences. I knew that I was forgiven of evertying that had happened in my life prior to baptism. I knew of the truthfulness of the gospel in a deeper way. One particular experience gave me the strength to receive a most difficult letter from my dear aunt, that arrived the following week, expressing her disappointment in me and grave concern about my membership in the church. Because of the experience I had just had, I was able to cope with this letter and move forward.

I returned to Vancouver/ UBC to nursing in April. Over the next three years I studied nursing, savored the Institute lessons by Dennis Wright, and enjoyed the young adults. On occasion we would meet the YSA in Victoria, including Ginny Lepite, and Pat Nash, and Linda Redd,…. They were a great group, and seemed to have more strength and unity than the Vancouver YSA who lived further apart from one another.

In 1980 I met and then married my dear Ted Murray. We moved to Salmon Arm, then Lillooet, then UBC for another few degrees for Ted. Upon completion of that, Ted landed a job in Victoria!!

And, here we are!

Miracles

Earl Smith showed me our home, and we wrote up an offer, and purchased the house –

We arrived April 21 1988?

We have lived in Sidney Ward since that time.

We have been privileged to know many of the pioneers, Bishop and Vera Isfeld, Dorothea Evans, Vera Lee,.. 

Ted served as a counsellor, and later as a bishop in the Sidney Ward.