one giant step for...me.

so i was meeting with the missionaries twice a week. once with my mom and once by myself... i liked talking with them and looked forward to learning about the church...

the missionaries have a set of five lessons that help guide them in teaching fundamentals about the church...if an investigator is struggling to grasp a concept, or doesnt agree, or has reservations they will continue to teach that person more about the topic until that individual is ready to move on...

meeting with the missionaries twice a week meant i flew through the lessons...but i was still not ready to take the giant step and be baptized. i had no confidence to help me make that decision and so i kept meeting with the missionaries, only now it was just once a week and without my mom.

those poor missionaries. they had to come up with so many games and things to teach me that it was probably a nightmare for them. but they kept coming back and coming back and coming back.

they finally, and i will say it was very bold, asked me if i would just pick a date to be baptized. nervous, i agreed....BUT i said it had to be after my 21st birthday which was 3 months away.

i had a trip planned to go to vegas with my mom for my birthday...i didnt want to have any regrets about going there and not being able to drink...and i thought that it would hurt my moms feelings a lot if i didnt drink on our trip for my 21st birthday!

it was planned that i would be baptized the second week in june 2008(...after my birthday, after my trip.) i was really nervous, and not at all confident with that decision...but it was set, and i figured i could always change the date or cancel it...

because i was so uneasy, i decided that i was not going to tell anyone...

at least not yet.

a little catch up... and more.

so i forgot to mention...after two years living the sorority life i dropped out of the whole greek thing and moved into an apartment. this made life so much more simple and less stressful. not to mention i could do what i wanted to do without the nagging voice of 30 girls telling me what i "should" be doing (in their opinion)...

( i was living in my apartment for about 2 months before i went to church for the first time. )

now back to where i left off....

anyone who knows anything about the LDS church knows that there is a very strong missionary force... anyone who goes to the LDS church for the first time, or has questions about the church, or is new to anything..well... mormon, is usually introduced to the missionaries within, oh...30 seconds of entering the building. they are there to teach and inform "investigators" (those who are interested or "investigating" the church)...

...i however managed to go to church for about 2 months before i began to talk with the missionaries...i am guessing that since my attendance at church was so regular, they most likely assumed that i was already a member.

after going to church for that long, it was actually myself who decided that i wanted to meet with the missionaries. my boyfriend and i have a very honest relationship so i asked him any questions that i had, but i had the desire to meet with the missionaries because i felt like they could teach me and answer my questions better than anyone.

...i made the plan that i was going to start the missionary discussions (lessons that are taught by missionaries to further someones knowledge about the church) after the new year started in January....

i also decided that i wanted my mom to take the discussions with me... so that she would know the basics about the church...just in case.