Car antics. Learning to listen. Pics!

Howdy friends! :)

It has been a pretty stressful week. But super fun.

The first part of the week was spent driving all over the city so Elder Peery could say goodbye to everyone. The second half of the week was spent driving all over the city again so that Elder Blackwelder could say hello to everyone. It's been kind of insane. The most crazy day was definitely Wednesday. Let me give you the run down.

So Elder Peery's bus left at 8:30. We got ready and left at 7:45 to get to the Sainte-Foy bus station by about 8. Nice and early and on time and everything. As we were pulling off the freeway near the station, all of a sudden Elder Peery said, "SHOOT." Naturally, I assumed we were about to be totaled by an incoming semi. So I tensed up and prepared to go into evasive maneuvers. Only to find that he was just looking at his ticket with a very confused face.

See, normally, when missionaries leave/arrive in Quebec City, we meet them at the Sainte-Foy station. It's super close to the bridge across the river, which is pretty much the only way to get to Quebec City within a long distance. There is, however, another station, called the Quebec Centreville station, right in the middle of downtown. The office had bought the ticket to leave from the Quebec Centreville station. And we both had only just then noticed this rather important fact. So we picked up the Sainte-Foy elders at MacDo and hopped back on the freeway... just in time to hit traffic. We were still a good 20 minutes away from the Centreville station as the clock ticked past 8:30. So we decided to flip a U turn and fly back down the freeway to the Sainte-Foy station, just in time to catch the same bus as it stopped by the station on its way to the bridge. So Elder Peery ran in and hopped on the bus just before it left. Craziness.

After he'd left, we drove up north about 30 minutes to help our bishop move some furniture (turns out he's moving to Arizona... like 10 minutes away from my house! What?? :)). We spent the next couple hours moving couches and boxes and stuff. Elder Blackwelder was supposed to get in at around 12:15, so we went back to the institute in Sainte-Foy and for their correlation meeting. We stayed for a short time before we had to hop back in the car to pick up Elder Blackwelder. So where do we, as intelligent elders, go to pick him up? Obviously the Sainte-Foy station! :)

We're not very bright. :P

So we finally managed to get down to the Quebec Centreville station at around 1:00 to pick him up. He'd been waiting there for about 45 minutes. Don't I make a great first impression? :P

Anyways. Other than that, we've spent the majority of the week driving around introducing Elder Blackwelder. It's been pretty fun. He's a super chill missionary and works really hard. We're gonna have a great time! :)

One thing I've been thinking about this week is the importance of listening.

For those of you who know me well... you may have noticed (and been too polite to tell me) that I'm not really the best at listening. I've been known to hear problems and simply want to run in and fix them at the first moment's notice. When people have come to me to talk about a problem they have, my first instinct has always been to simply tell them how I think they should fix it. I rarely have been inclined to listen carefully to everything someone has to say.

I've been thinking about how our Heavenly Father communicates with us. When we speak with Him in prayer, it is pretty rare that in the middle of talking about our problems, an angel from heaven shows up to say, "Hey, look, all you have to do is this." (If this is what happens with one of you... please let me know your method. And maybe write a book about it. 'Cause that's pretty extraordinary.)

As I have prayed about my problems and questions and joys and failures and successes, the majority of answers that I've received have not been immediate. The only immediate response I receive most often is the feeling of love and care from my Father in Heaven. My most memorable and sacred moments, those times when I have felt closest to Him, have been those moments where I have felt simply that He is listening. Where I have felt as if He stood just beside me as I prayed. Where I have felt as if no matter how silly or foolish or guilty or annoying I think I may sound, He just loves me and cares about me and wants to hear everything I have to say.

I am convinced that one of the defining characteristics of pure love is the ability to listen. And if we desire to be as our Heavenly Father and His Son are, how important it is that we master this virtue.

God is our Heavenly Father. He loves us and He wants each one of us to talk with Him. We are never, ever so far from Him that He cannot or will not hear us. He is real, and He cares. I know it!

En avant!

Elder Bryan McOmber

Driving to Trois-Rivieres this week, Elder Peery got a hold of my camera, and this is what happened...

More of Elder Peery's antics...

 

My personal favorite...

 

WE ALSO DROVE BY A TANK. Like what??

 

My new comp! Two soaked but happy Elders...I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!! Pics!

Hello dearest and darlingest people of mine! :)

It's been a hectic week! My companion is going home in 2 days and so we have been visiting lots of people so that he can say goodbye! And suddenly EVERYONE wants to feed us so I feel about like I'm going to explode. We've had crepes, homemade brioche, grilled pork, more grilled pork, bacon-wrapped grilled cheese (SO not good for you), and in the next few days we are to have even more food. Kind of insane. I don't know if I will be capable of eating anything for the next few weeks.

Fun fact! Did you know the best way to eat a crepe is to just put butter and a light amount of sugar on top and then roll it up and eat it and smile? I do now. :)

Other fun facts. Well, I'm receiving a new companion! His name is Elder Blackwelder and he will be joining me in this lovely city of Quebec for at least the next 6 weeks. So this should be a wonderfully joyful time. It's also kind of insane because during this next transfer (6 week period) I will hit my year mark and that means I will have less time left in the field than I've spent in the field and I am SO not ready for that point. But hey, it hasn't come yet so I will content myself in ignorance. :)

Another fun story. We had two exchanges in a row this past week, which was kind of fun! But also crazy. Anyways, in the first exchange, I was with one of the Ste-Foy elders, Elder Obering (who happened to be in the MTC at the same time as me, but he was called in Spanish). He's serving in the same city as me, but his area is downtown so he doesn't have a car. So I took his companion's bus pass and we bused around my area of Quebec for the evening. Sounds fun, right? Well, kind of.

It started off all right. We went to do some service in his area, and Elder Peery and Elder Noorda dropped us off and left with the car. We did some gardening with a member's friend for a couple hours, then the member took us back to the Ste-Foy elders' apartment. We had appointment soon, so Elder Obering changed into his white shirt and tie and we planned on stopping by our apartment on our way to our appointments. Except the buses took like a million years to get back to our apartment, so we were already late and I ended up just going to our appointments in my service clothes. Which, honestly, was kind of fun. People were a LOT more willing to talk to me when I wasn't wearing a white shirt and tie. Anyways, we went to our appointments and everything was going great. It was lightly raining when we left our last appointment, and we were feeling good. But as we walked a couple blocks over to the bus stop, suddenly the angels in heaven started a gigantic water balloon fight. We started walking much quicker to get to the bus stop, only to find that it was the ONLY bus stop in Quebec without the slightest covering. So we continued to get soaked. The only other man at the stop was wearing a rain jacket and he was laughing at us pretty hard. We were laughing too, and it actually helped us have a pretty great conversation with him. He gave us his phone number and name and we're planning on going to see him sometime this week. It was definitely interesting pulling out my planner and pencil in pouring rain and trying to write down his number. In a heavenly miracle, the one spot on my planner that didn't get wet was the part where I had to write his phone number. God is good. :) It was super funny watching people's faces as we got on the bus that night, one wearing a white shirt and tie, one in a t-shirt and shorts, both wearing name tags and both soaked straight to the bone. Honestly, it was super fun. :)

Man, I love being a missionary. :)

All I can say this week is that the Lord loves us. It would have been really easy for me to have been depressed and angry that while I was trying to serve God here in my mission, I found myself shivering in freezing rain at night in the middle of a foreign country, being made fun of in a foreign language by foreign people who don't even know my name. And yet honestly, I was incapable of wiping the smile from my face that entire night. I am not who I used to be. The Lord has taken my heart and changed me for the better and I owe everything good I do and am to Him and His love. I am so grateful that He loves me enough to let me struggle, to let things not go right in my life. I am so grateful that He loves me enough to catch me when I fall, to inspire me when things get rough and when I feel like I don't want to take another step. I'm not perfect, and I'm not always happy and optimistic. But I am different and I love the Savior for helping me to sacrifice what I want for something better.

Missions are amazing!!! :)

En avant!

Elder Bryan McOmber

We stopped by the fleuve while on exchanges in Montreal.

Elder Caine! He's from the island of Mauritius off the coast of Africa. Super cool elder! :)

Le Super Berger! :) (super bear-jay) In English, super shepherd! We taught Primary last Sunday and he played a very important part in the lesson.

That moment when you get wrecked by a Quebec rainstorm...

Stillllllll smilin' though! :)

Trip to Montreal. Change is difficult for me...so I came on a mission...HA! The Refiner's Fire.

Hi everyone! :)

It's been a pretty great week. We spent what felt like forever driving to and from Montreal this past Wednesday and Thursday, but apart from that, it's been great! We had a good deal of rain come in, so that cooled things down and it's been very pleasant outside for the past few days. :) I love the rain. My companion thinks I'm crazy, but hey, I'm from Arizona. I'll take every drop of rain I can get. :)

We had some interesting experiences while in Montreal. I was on exchanges with another missionary while there and we were just walking down the street when two teenage girls started yelling at each other and arguing a little ways in front of us. They were walking ahead of us (there weren't too many people on the street) and we were just kind of awkwardly listening in to see what they were arguing about. It's possible that they weren't speaking French, but if they were they were speaking way too fast for me to catch anything. Anyways, they kind of stopped arguing and kept walking and we just figured okay, no problems. Then like a hundred feet farther down the road, one of the girls all of a sudden leaned over holding her stomach. We got closer to see if she was alright, but kept a couple feet away just in case she had a tendency to projectile vomit. :P But after a few seconds she looked up and said in French, "I can't breathe." And then just fell over on her side. Her eyelids were fluttering a bunch and I thought maybe she was having a seizure of some kind... I'm no doctor. Another man happened to be walking by in the opposite direction and so he was standing there with us. The other friend, this man, and us all just kind of stood there watching her for a solid second or two, not really sure what to do. Then the man turned to us and said, "Hey, we should probably call 911." So we called 911 and then everything went into super speed. The cops showed up, then an ambulance, then some other friend of theirs, and a bunch of convenient medical personnel happened to be passing by. We were kind of unsure what to do after that... she recovered quickly though and was able to get up and walk around before we left. The whole time I was just thinking, "I SHOULD HAVE LISTENED MORE CLOSELY WHEN I GOT MY FIRST AID MERIT BADGE DANG IT." Go to Scouts kids! You're gonna need it one day! :)

In other news... my trainer is getting married this summer to a sister missionary from France that he met while serving here in Quebec. You know that feeling when the people around you all start getting married? Yeah it's a weird feeling. I kind of don't like it. XD Mewage. Mewage is vut bwings us togevah today. And wuv. Twoo wuv.

For the record... that is an amazing movie.

Anyways. Things have just seemed a little hectic lately. Our mission president is going home in about a month and we're receiving a new mission president and that change is throwing me for a loop. Elder Peery is going home in about a week and that's just weird. In two weeks' time I will no longer have any companions in the mission field. I will be left all alone to write the sad story of my people. :(

With all of these changes and new situations and other stuff, I've been thinking a lot about growth. I'm usually the kind of person who really likes to have a good plan in place and to know what's going to happen. And changes are kind of difficult for me to handle. (hahaha. so I came on a mission. Equivalent to being claustrophobic and moving into a beaver dam.) But I realize often how much I have learned and grown with these changes I have experienced.

Sometimes changes can be really hard. Four months ago when I was transferred to Quebec from Victoriaville, I was pretty shaken up. There were a lot of new people, it was a completely different atmosphere, and everything was just very very different. Really, adjusting to missionary life in general has been one of the hardest changes I've ever had to make in my life. My heart and mind have been twisted and turned and molded throughout my time here, and I am no longer the same person that I was when I walked into the MTC. I don't think I could go back and be the same person I was before, or do the same things I did before. 

I love the terminology of the refiner's fire. We are placed into the furnace of affliction during our lives, usually more than once or twice. Our imperfect and mortal hearts and minds are cleansed and purified by the struggles through which we live, and we are gradually transformed and molded into the image our Master has designed for us. But I was thinking about this analogy and I realized something. The furnace into which the untempered steel or silver or gold is placed does not add new material or element to that which is being refined. Rather, it burns away the impure and imperfect elements from that which is most pure. In brief, the pure brilliant element was always present; it just took intense heat and the touch of the Master's hand to bring it out. Personally, I've always expected that the Lord will simply give me new qualities if I ask for them, pulling them from the heavens and infusing them into my soul. But I've come to recognize that we are all children of our Heavenly Father, created with the potential to become perfect and pure as He and our Savior are. He gives us struggles so that we can burn away the less pure elements of our divine spirits and shine brilliantly as a light unto the world. He does not give us struggles to make us unhappy, but to help us grow and to be literally purified of not only our sins but all of our imperfections.

I'm not saying I enjoy this process. But knowing why we must struggle and hurt and work so hard helps me to continue in faith and hope. And because I know that our Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ love each of us so incredibly much, it is much easier to endure the refiner's fire, knowing I am in Their perfect hands.

I love you all.

En avant!

Elder Bryan McOmber

Cocoa Puffs & Orange Juice. Sore but incredibly happy. Olaf and I have a lot in common... More pics!

Hey guys! :)

So it's been a very interesting week. As my companion and I visited the Montreal temple the Friday before last, we didn't have a normal P-day last week. And this week, our P-day was moved a day back because yesterday was a holiday here in Canada. So... IT'S BEEN SO LONG SINCE I HAVE GOTTEN A P-DAY. Today is glorious! :)

I had a lovely experience during breakfast this past week. I was pouring myself a healthy nutritious breakfast of Cocoa Puffs. I had the cereal in the bowl, and an empty Tostitos salsa jar next to it for my daily dose of orange juice. I had the milk and orange juice out on the washing machine (we don't have much counter space, so we use the washer and dryer :P). I was thinking about something else and wasn't paying attention. And I picked up what I thought was the milk to pour in my Cocoa Puffs. Elder Peery was getting out of the shower when he heard from the kitchen, "Awwww mannnn...."

Suffice it to say, Cocoa Puffs aren't quite as tasty when you eat them in a bowl of orange juice. (I wasn't just gonna throw any of it away... I'm a starving missionary! :P)

Other funny things... well, I'm incredibly sore. I don't know if that's funny to me... but maybe for ya'll. We went on exchanges with the Sainte-Foy elders on Saturday, and Elder Noorda took me to do a service project. "We'll just be covering the garden with some dirt."

Well. We drove up to the Sainte-Foy branch president's house to find a giant hill of dirt on his grass. Turns out, he wanted us to cover his whole yard with a layer of dirt. Also, fun fact! His house is on a hill! Do you know what that means? That's right! Elder Noorda and I spent five hours filling wheelbarrows with dirt and carrying them up and down a hill while the sister missionaries raked it level. Man we worked hard. But it was actually super fun. :) But we were super exhausted. And I spent the majority of the weekend rubbing Deep Blue on my calves. :P Then, yesterday, we had the immense pleasure of helping a family in our ward move from their second-floor apartment to a third-floor apartment across the parking lot. That was loads of fun. :) I'm pretty sure my legs may need to be amputated, but no problem!

Honestly though, we had a super fun week. I really love these people who I'm serving with. I love this gospel and I love the fact that I get to share it here in Quebec. Sometimes it's miserably hard work, and sometimes I really just want to crawl into a corner and curl up in a ball. Sometimes people can be really mean. But this is the best thing that I have ever done and I wouldn't give up this chance for all the world.

I am a witness of the truthfulness of this gospel. I know that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ live, and that They love us. And that fact gives me more joy than I can even begin to explain! :)

I love all of you!

En avant!

Elder Bryan McOmber

P.S. It's warming up here. I feel like Olaf singing about summer. "Put me in summer and I'll be a.... happy Elder!" :)

True table tennis! :) 

 This was a super sweet picture if I do say so myself. Voici, Le Chateau Frontenac! :)

 A view of Vieux Quebec from the Fleuve. On my exchange I got to cross the river on a ferry! :)

 Downtown Quebec with the setting sun.

 Elder Noorda et moi! Super fun exchange!

 The Fleuve St-Laurent with rain approaching.

 The Fleuve St-Laurent with rain approaching.

 Hahaha. Elder Peery ate this block of sucre a la creme in one bite. (Basically a block of fudge, without chocolate and with a bunch more sugar. It's a Quebecois thing)

 A river near our apartment. Just got this from the car window. :)

STILL SNOWING! Sight-Seeing in Quebec City...lots of pics! Leading is serving...especially when it's hard.

Hello my dearest loveliest friends and family! :)

Man. That was a long greeting. Sorry.

Anyways. Great week! And hey! Guess what! It snowed again this morning! In the smack middle of May! Quebec is insane! :P

Well, taking a look at life... hmmm. Well, we got the chance to go see Old Quebec this past Monday! That was super fun! I did learn a lesson though: if you're going to visit historic sites... don't take the sisters in your district with you, because they will take a picture of everything in sight. We had to stop about a million times so they could get the perfect shot of the river or the castle or the gate or the cobblestone or that dress in the shop window. Every time they made us stop, us elders just turned and looked at each other and grunted something about football. :P Don't get me wrong. Sister missionaries are the best. They're super fun and they work super hard. I just might hide their cameras next time we have a district activity is all. ;)

Funny story. So Elder Peery and I were getting ready to leave our apartment. I walked out into our living room and Elder Peery said, "Elder. I want you to look outside."

"Why?"

"Just... look outside."

"Okay..."

So I walked over to the door and looked out onto the balcony... and there was a squirrel. Sitting on the edge of the balcony. On the third floor. I have absolutely no idea how he got there... because there's like nothing for him to have climbed to get there. It was pretty cool. So Elder Peery threw out a bunch of almonds on the balcony, and our friend the squirrel just started eating them right up. I took some pictures of him and will send them later. When we got home later, he was gone, and so were all the almonds. So that was fun. A few days later, we found him (or one of his friends) chilling in the grass below our balcony. We haven't named him yet... we'll see if he comes back. :)

We had a call last night with our mission president in which he emphasized the importance of leadership. I've been thinking a lot about this topic lately and I've come to understand more fully something I didn't quite understand before.

Highly visible positions of responsibility are not the epitome of leadership. If we take the Savior as our Example (as we all should), taking a look at His leadership, we can learn much. The Jews believed that their great Messiah would come flying in as a great militant ruler, with trumpets and banners and swords, saving them from the Roman empire. They expected a Messiah to hold a highly visible calling, recognized by all who viewed Him as the great Savior of the people of Israel. In stark contrast, the greatest King this world has ever seen spent His time walking in their midst, a common citizen like them. Many of the very people He'd come to save were those who despised and rejected Him. During His most important moment, in those dark hours on the slopes of the Mount of Olives, when He was performing His greatest act of love and leadership, only three men were there to see it, and they slept. And yet He continued to give everything He had to His Father's purposes.

So should we.

“Father, where shall I work today?”

And my love flowed warm and free.

Then he pointed out a tiny spot

And said, “Tend that for me.”

I answered quickly, “Oh no, not that!

Why, no one would ever see,

No matter how well my work was done.

Not that little place for me.”

And the word he spoke, it was not stern;

“Art thou working for them or for me?

Nazareth was a little place,

And so was Galilee.”

-Meade MacGuire (quoted by President Thomas S. Monson in a talk, "Your Personal Influence")

En avant!

Elder Bryan McOmber

 

 Looking out over the river and a bit of Old Quebec.

 We have chosen a name. He shall be called SquirrelyMcSquirrelySquirrel.

 "Uh... so that's a long way down... I honestly have no idea how I'm gonna get down from here. HELP!"

 

A street in Old Quebec. Take note of the random French guy walking.

 

 Another street in Old Quebec. Even more French people.

 I am a French nautical captain. Can't you tell by my short legs and my clothing in popular primary colors?

 A giant mural. The Chateau Frontenac is back behind the trees.

 A very old French looking square. You can tell it's French because of the way it is.

 Another road in Old Quebec, with a view of the Chateau.

 This is the oldest street in North America. Or Canada. I don't know, the plaque was in French.

 The Chateau! It's a giant hotel! :)

 A view from the Chateau of Old Quebec and the Fleuve.

 Do ya'll see the cannons???? Sadly, they are not loaded. :(

 Apparently, Elder Peery and Elder Obering don't know how to smile.

 

At the bottom of the picture is the wall that surrounds the Citadel of Quebec. On the left is a statue of some French guy. I didn't get the chance to read his plaque. Stay tuned. :)

Snow...in MAY. Seriously?! Yay for family!! Forgiveness has never come free, but it brings freedom.

Well hey there ya'll! :)

I am slightly upset. It snowed this morning. Not a lot, and not for very long, but still. WHY MUST SNOW CONTINUE TO FALL. It's seriously MAY. People have been wearing T-shirts in my hometown for months, and I'm currently wearing my snow jacket. Quit messing with me Quebec! I just want San Diego weather year-round! Is that too much to ask?! :P

Okay. Rant over.

Aside from that, my week has been pretty good. The rest of the week has actually been pretty warm; so warm, in fact, that many rather overweight Quebecois men have decided it is a great time to sit outside on their balconies in short shorts and just tan while smoking. I don't know who invented this part of the culture, but they should be cursed to spend forever walking down a dark hallway littered with Legos.

Oh, and yeah. I got to talk to my family. That could probably be mentioned. You know that feeling when you haven't seen your favorite people on the planet for like 5 months and then you get to talk to them for an hour? No? Well, it's like the best feeling in the world. All you people who don't spend much time with your parents and siblings, STOP IT! Go hang out with them cause they're like the best people ever! Even if they steal all of your clothing while you're a couple thousand miles away freezing to death. :)

Funny story from this week: Well, it's better explained in pictures, which I will send, but during our weekly planning session this past Thursday, Elder Peery and I were getting REALLY bored of just sitting there (weekly planning takes FOREVER). So, in order to stay focused, we had to keep changing how we were sitting in our chairs. At one point, I was talking about an investigator while simultaneously adjusting my position in my chair until I looked pretty much like a human pretzel. I asked Elder Peery a question and he didn't answer, so I looked up from my notebook and he just said, "That can NOT be comfortable. Where is my camera." Sadly, I couldn't hold the way I was sitting so I fell out of my chair before he got a picture. But we did get a couple pictures to send.

This week, one of the biggest things I've learned is that forgiveness is real. Both in people with whom I've served and in my own life, I have seen the power of forgiveness change people's hearts. I promise that no matter what you may have done, no matter how many times you may have fallen, no matter how far you may have strayed, you have never gone so far that the Shepherd will be unable to seek you out and bring you back. Repentance isn't easy; it takes humility and courage and work. It takes a recognition of our failures, and an understanding of His chosen path for us to return to Him with "clean hands and a pure heart." Forgiveness has never come free; but it brings freedom. I promise that any regret or pain or guilt we might feel from past actions can be totally and completely removed from our souls if we are willing to let Him take it all; if we are willing to do what it takes to lay down our heavy burdens at His feet.

His path is an uphill one; but how beautiful the climb! His way is not without responsibility; but how light His yoke! I promise that the peace Jesus gives is worth all of the pain of repentance. I promise that He wants nothing more than for us to continue to accept His Atonement and let Him change us for the better. I promise He is real. I know He lives! 

En avant!

Elder Bryan McOmber

District photo! :) Left to right, back to front: Back row: Me, Elder Obering, Elder Noorda, Elder Pinkham, Elder Peery, Elder Perkes. Front row: Sister Clark, Sister Goaslind, Sister Calderon, Sister Sheehy, Sister Westover, Elder Westover.

Weekly planning...

If I...King Julian... :) My Conversion Story. My Anchor.

Hey guys! :)

So this week has been pretty cool. The craziest part of the week was Wednesday; we had transfers and four out of the five teams in our district had one or both missionaries transferred. In total, five new missionaries came in. Crazy! But super fun. We spent a good deal of time driving around and calling people to make sure everyone got where they needed to go. A little stressful, but super cool to meet all the new missionaries! We got together with the Rimouski elders and the Ste-Foy elders and went to this really good poutine place (the first time I've had poutine in several months, for the record) called L'Intuition. I had a smoked meat poutine that convinced me I am not allowed to eat poutine ever again because I will end up like that girl from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory who turned into a giant blueberry. Anyways. It was a good day. :)

Well, I guess the funniest part of this week would be the fact that I have gotten Elder Peery to start speaking in the King Julian voice. That was pretty great. At random points in time we will just start quoting him and it's pretty dang funny. "No, thank you." "Um, yes, thank you, it's my plane!" And so on. We've had a good time. That is the second companion I've gotten to start speaking in the King Julian accent. For the win. :)

I was thinking this week about what to talk about in this letter home, and I honestly wasn't sure. Then I remembered a question a friend asked me in an email recently. She asked me if I'd share my conversion story. To explain, I was born into an LDS home; the missionaries never came to teach me the gospel and baptize me; I'm not a "convert" in the common sense of the word. But my conversion story is still real, because there came a time when I made the decision that this gospel I'm out here sharing is true. And that's my story; I'll share it with you all today.

I was always a pretty good kid. I mean, sure, occasionally I opened all the Christmas presents three weeks before the big day, but for the most part, I tried to be obedient. And all my life, I believed pretty easily in the things I was told at church and that I read in the scriptures. My parents knew it was true, so obviously it must be true. And I stayed like that through most of my younger years.

Things started to change when I got into middle school and high school. The people around me became less innocent, and I found myself in several situations in which I had to defend my faith. So I decided that if this were going to continue, I needed to know what I believed better than I then did. I began to study the scriptures much more in depth. I got into the habit of reading every night before bed, and I came to know the stories in the scriptures pretty well.

As I got into high school and life became slightly more complicated, I made some decisions in my life that I wasn't very proud of. I never did anything illegal or incredibly wrong, but I also wasn't perfect. This was the refiner's fire of my testimony. As I completed my junior year of high school, something clicked. Something deep down in my soul realized that it was decision making time, and I couldn't ride on what anyone else believed anymore. It had to be my testimony; it had to be what I believed, what I KNEW to be true. And at that point... I didn't know. I believed... but I didn't know.

And so the work began. I threw myself into deeper study of the New Testament and the Book of Mormon. I wanted to come to truly know my Savior, to feel in my heart that He was there and He cared for me. I read through every account of His life in the four Gospels as well as His ministry to the people on the American continent found in the Book of Mormon. I prayed like I never had before, seeking out quiet solitude and having very personal conversations with Heavenly Father. I begged, multiple times, to know. It was no longer enough for me to believe everything; I needed to be sure.

I wasn't illuminated in a ray of light. There was no vision that came to me to clear my soul. I didn't converse face to face with the Creator of Earth and Heaven.

But I did get my answers.

They didn't come all at once. But gradually, I would come upon my answers in the scriptures, or I would have thoughts come to my mind accompanied by powerful feelings of love and peace as I prayed.

I've been told that everyone needs to have an anchor; something that holds them firm while the waves of doubt and questions and accusations threaten to toss them about. Well, my anchor is the first thing I came to truly know for myself; the first thing the Spirit testified to me was an unchanging, doctrinal truth.

Jesus Christ is our Savior.

I can stand before anyone and declare shamelessly that I have been washed clean, and continue to be washed clean, through the blood of the only perfect Man who ever lived on this Earth. The Atonement of Jesus Christ is REAL. It applies individually to you and to me and to all of us. I know it, to the deepest part of my soul.

I have come to know many more truths through this same process of study and prayer; the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, the Restoration of the gospel through the prophet Joseph Smith, the individuality of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost, and many more. These are things I know for myself, and no power or influence can remove that testimony from my heart.

And so my conversion story continues. I grow and learn more and more each day. I know things now that I didn't know before and I will continue to become more and more converted to the Savior and His teachings as I serve and strive to be obedient to the commandments He has given.

I know He lives!

En avant!

Elder Bryan McOmber