Historia de Conversión

My name's Kattia, and I'm from Ecuador. I was born as a premature baby. My mom had preeclampsia where whether the mother or the child should live. It was impossible for the both of us to live. I was born dead but after 20 min they realized I was still alive. I was 1.5 pounds, my height was 6.2 inches.. Even though I was alive, doctors said I was going to die within. two weeks. My mom decided to pray to Heavenly Father and ask him for my life. As she did so, she promised to God that if I survive, she would guide me through the Lord’s path. My mom fasted and prayed a lot for me to live. After a year and a half I was still in the same condition and doctors were concerned about my situation so they told my family that it would be better if they let me die because I was suffering. Everyone was trying to convince my mom to do it, but I guess some kind of voice was telling her: you need to wait, there’s still hope for your daughter. In june, my mom fasted again, and prayed faithfully to God. One week later, a miracle happened. I was totally fine and doctors started calling me “Little Miracle”.

I grew up speaking kichwa,  a dialect from Ecuador. I learned Spanish when I was 11 years old. I also grew up in a christian family. I always had this huge feeling of love towards Heavenly Father. No one needed to tell me to believe in Him. When I was 5 I went to an evangelical church. I would sing and preach on the streets with them until I was 9 years old. When I was 10,  I searched for the missionaries. I wanted to go to church. I asked my mom but she said no. I begged her for a week. Finally, She told me I could go, but not every Sunday and getting baptized in the church was out of the question. I accepted those rules, but missionaries are persistent, so I started to meet with them in secret at church on Tuesdays. After two weeks, I wanted to be baptized, they were surprised but I just thought: I NEED TO DO THIS.

  

So I told my mom, “Mom, I want to be baptized”. My mom told me I was too young to make a decision like that. I was trying to convince her that I was mature enough to do it, even though I was just 10. She said, “ NO”. I told the missionaries and they said, “we need to talk to your parents.” I said, “no, they hate the church and missionaries.” I THINK THE MISSIONARIES WERE BRAVE. I said to my parents, “hey, there are two missionaries outside” and they said, “and???”. They want to talk to both of you. As my mom heard this, she took buckets full of water to throw at the missionaries; fortunately she didn't do it, but she closed the door roughly. Missionaries were waiting there for an hour  until my mom opened the door. As they were talking with my parents they allowed the missionaries to come into the home but not to baptize me yet. Long story short, missionaries kept coming to my home for about seven years and they were always setting baptismal dates. Somehow they didn’t get tired of me. I mean I already knew all the lessons so every new missionary would think I was smart but I wasn’t. In 2016, My mom prohibited me from going to church so I stop going for almost a year. I also decided to stop being persistent and wait until I turn 18 years old but things weren’t the same. Reading the scriptures was hard when I was not going to church.

    One morning when I was praying I felt a strong desire to go to church, so I did. I decided I would attend  church but not talk to the missionaries. While I was going to church, I remember I saw the missionaries and it felt as if they were waiting for me. Again, they told me to get baptized. They told me they felt a really strong impression when they saw me. They told me that I should be baptized on May 20th, but of course I didn't believe them. I thought, liars they say the same things to every investigator(I already knew all of their strategies).  So I said do you know how many times missionaries have said that? Don't even try. They called me, “woman of little faith.” So I decided to asked my mom. I prayed, fasted, and asked my mom. Surprisingly, they were right. My mom said yes and she actually apologized for being an obstacle for me. After my baptism my next goal was to help my family to also be baptized in the church, which was the hardest part. They were not married so their first goal was to get married and then be baptized. After a year, my parents reached their goal of getting married and they finally got baptized in the church while I was in Utah. I couldn’t believe it! It was a dream come true. Now they feed the missionaries every week and they are preparing to be sealed in the temple as an eternal family. I can’t wait for this moment.

Finally, after two years of being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints; I’ve decided to serve a full-time mission at my 19 years old. I’ve done some wonderful things in Utah that have helped me to grow as a person and disciple of Jesus Christ. I had the opportunity to serve a part-time service mission at the Conference Center, receive my own endowment, and submitted my mission papers.

Growing up I always wonder why I was the only one in my family who wanted to be closer to God. As a child, it’s hard to make your own decisions because you depend on your parents. I couldn’t make my own decisions regarding what church to go to or which faith to practice. Even that was hard for me. I’m so grateful for always having the desire to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, for always reading my scriptures since I was a child, and for always praying. All of the following pictures reflect a little bit of what my conversion was based on. Missionaries, I was always with them while I was preparing to go on a mission. Nowadays, I just cannot believe that I am going on a mission to Peru Lima, where I will also be able to teach others and invite them to come unto Christ. Investigators, were a crucial part of my conversion. Being able to teach them and learn from them was amazing. Everytime I finished reading the scriptures, I would give away the copy to a new investigator(I felt like I was serving a mission). Since I have been in Utah, I’ve been able to help some non-members such as Ricardo and Laura.

    I’m grateful for this gospel, for my Savior, for the eternal blessings I’ve received. I am learning to accept his will. I know with all my heart He has always been there for me. He has heard all my prayers. I love my Redeemer, I love the Temple and I love those around me. I know that the Savior loves us, I know He lives, We can live with him and our Father in Heaven eternally because He gave us the ultimate sacrifice. Sometimes it is hard to understand His will. It was for me. I couldn’t understand his will at that time, but now I am amazed by how much He cares. We must have faith to look up, look ahead, and remember what our ultimate goal is. THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER DAY-SAINTS IS TRUE.