I want to share a beautiful experience I had with sharing a Book of Mormon with my neighbor, Sara Alexander. In 2020, before the temples closed due to the pandemic, I was sitting in a session and had a very strong prompting that I should give Sara a Book of Mormon. I committed in my heart to do this but also felt intimidated. I had had a few conversations about religion with her before and got the impression they were pretty devoted to their beliefs. One time they invited me to come to a devotional type night at their church, when they were attending the Baptist church. During the video we watched, it said something negative about "Mormons" and I could tell she felt uncomfortable. We had a conversation after about grace - she feeling that everyone is given grace, even a murderer, and grace is enough, without us having to do anything on our part. I told her I believe in grace + work together - that we do have to do good works on our part to partake of grace. (I have since come to understand grace better and I align with her view or grace more than my prior view.) We have invited them to church activities, which they declined, but their son did attend Activity Days with Josh a few times. She invited me to read the Bible with her and others as a challenge several years ago and I participated in that. We invited her and her family to attend the Mesa Temple Open House a couple of years ago and the Easter Pageant. They wanted to attend both but weren't able to. All this to say, there is a little history with talking about religion with each other. But I had never wanted to come across as pushy so I left it at that. Then this prompting came and I couldn't ignore it. But I did push it off for quite some time. I started preparing a Book of Mormon for her a couple of years ago but I misplaced it. I started another but it was difficult to finish with the busyness of life and the fear that I was allowing to creep in. I asked a couple of sets of missionaries to hold me accountable and this last set were awesome. They texted me every Saturday for months to ask if I had done it yet. Because of their encouragement, I was able to finish marking my favorite verses and make notes in the book and write my testimony in the front. All I needed to do was give Sara the book. Two Sundays ago, I was at church early, waiting to be interviewed by a member of the Stake for my temple recommend renewal. I was reading scriptures while I waited and came across a verse (which I can't find now) which states that angels will give us words in the moment we need them. I felt the Spirit strongly confirm that truth. In Sunday School we talked about sharing the gospel and I shared about my plan to give Sara the Book of Mormon and shared the verse I had read. I knew I had to do it that day.
I had been fasting and that's probably what gave me extra strength. I rehearsed several times what I would say to her in my closet, pacing back and forth. I finally prayed, texted her that I had something to give her and asked if she could meet me out front in a few minutes. She texted back that she was out front and it was go time.
I had the book in my hand, down by my side. After some small talk I told her, "I have a Book of Mormon for you. We've been neighbors for a long time and I've never given this to you before now because I didn't want to come across as pushy. But I have felt impressed to give it to you and I follow those promptings. Sometimes it's difficult to share something so sacred but I want you to have this. It's not about trying to convince you to join our church. I sincerely love this book and want to share it with you, only out of love. Every good thing comes from God and Christ and this book is a good thing. It testifies of Christ, along with the Bible. If I didn't have this book, I would want someone to share it with me." She told me she is actually interested in reading it and even if she doesn't believe all of it, it would be interesting to read for the historical context, because Mormonism is the longest standing religion in the United States. She told me she toured the little Museum in Maricopa and there is a whole section devoted to the Mormon Battalion. I told her a lot of people have opinions about the Book of Mormon, both good and negative, but she should read it and form her own opinion. She thanked me sincerely for sharing it with her. She said she really appreciated me taking the time to write my testimony in the cover, highlight verses and write notes in the margins. I felt the Spirit and a strength beyond my own as I spoke, and it did feel that I was preparing what to say, words were given to me, as the scripture promised. The part about how every good thing comes from God and Christ - that was most certainly given to me.
It was a really good experience and I'm so glad I finally did it! I texted the missionaries after and gave them my happy report. This was their reply:
"Let's gooooooooo! That's epic! Glad she was receptive to it and the spirit was there to help, it sounds like she's been prepared. We'd love to stay updated on how she likes it."
