Stephanie Arrington’s
Conversion Story
Growing up, I always believed in God and Jesus Christ. My family has an interesting religious background (my mom grew up Quaker, my Granddaddy is an Anglican Reverend Canon, my uncle is a Lutheran Minister and my brother is Catholic) but one thing that everyone strongly believed in was our Heavenly Father and our Savior. I went to various churches of different Christian denominations every Sunday when I was little but when I was about 12, I started training seriously in figure skating and had practices every Sunday. I decided to stop going to church and focus on my sport. Shortly after that, my parent and my brother stopped going too. I remember my mom being upset about it but I was adamant that skating was important and as long as I believed in God I didn’t need to go to church for other people to tell me what I already knew.
This attitude continued all through middle school and most of high school. I knew what I believed and that was that. When I was 13, my mom wanted me to be confirmed to the local church that we had gone to previously but I refused. I continually told my mom I knew what I believed and I didn’t want to go take classes at the church, be told what to believe, and then tell everyone there in a church meeting what I had learned and that I agreed with them because I didn’t. I didn’t like that church and I didn’t agree with their teachings so I wasn’t going to be confirmed just because everyone else my age was. It wasn’t until my senior year of high school that I started becoming interested in religion again.
Senior year is a time of change for most people and I was planning to move far away from home. I was accepted to a couple of schools in the United Kingdom and was set on going to St. Andrews in Scotland. My parents weren’t so thrilled about me leaving the country so they suggested I apply to some schools in the states just incase I change my mind. I didn’t want to so I applied to only two in state schools and did a bad job on the application on purpose so I wouldn’t be accepted and then I applied to three schools in Boston. My family had lived near Boston before, I loved the north, and my dad traveled there a lot on business and I could tell he wanted me to go to school there. Picking schools to apply to was hard though. I had already been accepted to St. Andrews so I didn’t actually care where I sent the application in the states because I wasn’t going to go anyways. I knew about Boston College and had visited previously so I applied there and Boston University. The last school I applied to was Northeastern University, it was a school I had never heard of before and knew nothing about, but for some reason I thought I should apply. Looking back, I know that was Heavenly Father trying to point me in the right direction.
In March, right before decisions had to be made for the US schools, I found out my dad had cancer. For people who have experienced this, they know finding out someone you love has cancer is one of the hardest days of your life. Hearing that news, all I could think about was how I was going to lose my father and my world shattered. I didn’t know how to deal with it and I didn’t know what to do since I was moving in less than six months. I quickly decided to go to the only school I was accepted to in the city I could tell my dad preferred, Northeastern University, and I declined St. Andrews. When times are hard, we often turn to our Heavenly Father and this trial is when I started to do that for the first time in years. At school, I would talk to my friends of different faiths and I even stopped in the hallway with a friend so she could pray for my dad. I wanted everyone to know so they could pray for him and hopefully he would get better.
Two of my friends were LDS in high school and it was during this time I started asking questions. I still didn’t want to go to anything with them and I was still busy on Sundays but the church was no longer a mystery to me. My knowledge was minimal but I was beginning to learn. Actually, one of the first things I learned was the structure of church and church meetings and I remember telling my friend I didn’t think I could ever go through three hours of church on Sunday.
In the fall, I moved to Boston and was ready to start school at Northeastern University. My dad was still sick but I tried to not think about it and just get ready for college life. The first week of college was a lot harder than I had imagined. Classes hadn’t started yet so I didn’t have very many things to do and I didn’t really want to do what everyone else was doing. I quickly realized how much drinking goes on in college and while I had had alcohol before, I didn’t want to participate in the partying. I stayed in most nights by myself and just kept wishing things would change soon. At the end of that week, I decided to go play cards with someone who lived in my dorm. We went to a dorm across the street because they had a nice common room and he had a friend living there. It was a Friday night so most people were out and the halls were fairly quiet as we sat there playing together. Soon, a girl walked up and said hello so I invited her to sit down and play with us. Sister Petersen (she was not a missionary then but seeing as she is now, I will try to remember to say Sister rather than her first name) ended up being the best thing that ever happened to me. She told us she was from Utah so of course I made the connection between my friends going to BYU and her being LDS. I’m still not sure why non-members do this but I for some reason had to tell her I knew Mormons as if they were an endangered species and you rarely meet them. We continued to talk that night and we found out we had both volunteered to help people move in the next day. Some would say that was a coincidence but I know that Heavenly Father had inspired both of us to volunteer because of His plan for us.
The next day, we met up in the morning and then we sat together in a parking lot for hours talking about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Once I started asking questions, I didn’t want to stop and for those of you who know Sister Petersen, once she starts talking about the Gospel, she doesn’t want to stop. It was a match made in Heaven. I learned so much that day and all I wanted was to continue to learn. That afternoon, we went on a trolley ride of the city together and continued to talk. If I remember correctly, we disagree on who’s idea it was but somehow during that conversation, I ended up agreeing to go to family home evening (FHE) with her on Monday. There I met many people who would become my best friends and help me through my conversion process.
That first week, I went to FHE, Institute, and a baptism. It wasn’t until the next week that I was able to go to church because of work. To my surprise, I made it through all three hours and actually enjoyed it! Shortly after that, I was introduced to the sister missionaries and I began taking lessons. At first, I was skeptical of the missionaries. All I could think about was that their whole purpose of being there was to bring people to the church and I didn’t trust them. Every time I met with them, I insisted on inviting everyone I knew to come to the lessons with me because I wanted to hear their opinions and have reassurance from several people that what was being said was true. I didn’t understand the reasons for missionaries serving like I do now. I love missionaries with all my heart and I’m really good friends with the sisters who taught me.
For me, I knew the Book of Mormon was true right from the beginning. That first day of reading, I made it to 1 Nephi 3:7 and knew it had to be true, “I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.” I read this passage and knew that the words in this book were of God. I was filled with a sensation in my heart that spread throughout my entire body as I lay there in my bed, holding the Book of Mormon. It was the strongest I had ever felt the Holy Ghost and I never wanted to lose that feeling.
My mom came up to visit me while I was meeting with the missionaries and I told her I wanted to be baptized. My immediate family, while they said they were supportive, were not fully there yet. My mom was prepared with hard questions for me and had done some research about negative rumors about the church. It was really hard sitting with her and trying to express how happy and excited I was to only feel like she wasn’t okay with it. However, she did agree to feed the missionaries dinner and meet them. During that dinner, we had a lesson on the plan of salvation and my mom was able to meet my friends and play games. She wasn’t too happy about the lesson but ultimately agreed to come back to Boston with my dad and brother for my baptism.
While I had accepted the Gospel and knew it was true, I felt worried about other people’s opinions of my decision. I didn’t want people to see that I was reading the Book of Mormon because I was afraid of being asked questions. I felt inadequate and I simply didn’t want things to become hard. I flew out to BYUI to visit one of my friends and tell her I was going to be baptized. The weekend was a lot of fun and on the way back I decided I was going to read my Book of Mormon on the plane and not cover up the name. I was terrified someone was going to say something rude to me and I wouldn’t know what to do. During my first flight, no one said anything. While waiting for my next flight, I read again and no one said anything. On my last flight, I had my Book of Mormon sitting on my lap as people were loading the plane. A man stopped in front of me, touched the cover of the book and said, “That is a great book.” He then continued to his seat and no one said a single thing to me the rest of the trip. It was in that moment I realized, I had been so afraid of expressing my beliefs and sharing the Gospel that I hadn’t even thought of the good. Heavenly Father inspired that man to encourage me to share the Gospel and to overcome my fears because He will always be there to help me keep going. If people didn’t share the Gospel, we wouldn’t have the wonderful missionaries we do and I wouldn’t have been exposed to the most important thing in my life.
Learning about the church and preparing for baptism wasn’t always easy. I still remember the hardest day for me and how, at first, I thought it would never get better. I was sitting in Sunday School one morning and the lesson was on death and what happens after that. For those of us joining the church later in life, it’s hard to hear this lesson because we don’t have family who are members and we aren’t sealed to them. It can make it hard when learning about what that means for the next life. My dad was still sick and I was suddenly overwhelmed with the fact that he could die and I wouldn’t be sealed to him. I immediately left the classroom and went to a dark, quiet place in the chapel and sobbed. I sobbed for what seemed like an eternity and then I opened up the Book of Mormon and I began to read. At first, it was a challenge to keep the pages dry and to focus on the words but, after a while, the tears slowed and I calmed down. I could feel the comfort of the Holy Ghost helping me and the calming power of the scripture.
It was in that quiet moment that I finally came to terms with what it meant when you lost someone you love. That if it happened, it was because it was for the best and Heavenly Father had a plan. My favorite scripture that helped me realize this is Alma 24:27, “And there was not a wicked man slain among them; but there were more than a thousand brought to the knowledge of the truth; thus we see that the Lord worketh in many ways to the salvation of his people.” I finally understood that God doesn’t allow people to die unless there is a purpose in it, everything is thought out. A month after I was baptized, my father was finally cancer free and has been for over two years. I’m incredibly grateful that he is still here and my family has grown through that trial. It’s easy to see how trials were important when we look back and I understand the importance of that trial. If my father hadn’t been sick, I wouldn’t have picked Northeastern University and I would have never met Sister Petersen. I may have never joined the church and my life would have turned out very differently.
I was baptized on November 6th, 2011 and it was the happiest day of my life. My parents and my brother drove up from Virginia to Boston in order to be there for me and even brought food and drinks with them so they could host a reception. I was fortunate to have them there by my side. The rest of my family was not as supportive but have since, come around. My grandparents now support me and my decision and I know that was through the changes they’ve seen in me. Since my baptism, my life has changed in so many ways, and all for the better. My grandmother died the summer after my baptism and my mom had a hard time with that trial. I ended up moving home and not going back to Boston so I was able to help my mom through that difficult time. She was baptized on October 23rd, 2012. Going through the missionary lessons with her was one of the greatest blessings I’ve ever received. I was able to listen and get to know her better and watch that change in her as she began to accept the Gospel and move more towards Christ. It’s hard to see that change in ourselves but seeing it on someone else made me appreciate my constant conversion even more.
I’ve made the greatest friends of my life through the Gospel. The people I have met in this church have helped shape me to be the person I am and the person I’m continuing to become. They’ve provided guidance for me and help in the many decisions I’ve made. My happiness comes from knowing I have a Father in Heaven who knows me and is there for me. I now understand He has a plan for me and I trust in Him to take care of me. Things don’t always go according to plan and my life has changed in ways I never expected but as I look towards my future, I am excited. It’s hard to put into words the changes in my life since being baptized. But what I can say is that I have never questioned that decision. There is a direct correlation to happiness and obeying the commandments of God. During the past two years, as I have changed my life to match the life Heavenly Father wants me to live and to be more Christ like, everything has improved. Even when times are hard, if I’m studying scripture daily, being modest in all that I do, attempt to help others, be grateful for everything given to me, and so on, I am still happy through the tears that come with the trials.
There is no such thing as coincidences. If things hadn’t played out exactly how they did, I’m sure I wouldn’t have met Sister Petersen and been given the opportunity to accept the Gospel. It is important to remember that we all have a choice in how we live our lives. Heavenly Father laid the path for me but I chose to follow it. We can choose to go off course and not accept the plan in this life but we should try to remember that we accepted this life long before we are now living it. We were with our Father in Heaven before coming here and we knew it was going to be hard, yet we still accepted the challenge. That’s a powerful thought. We knew it would be hard but it was going to be worth it to come back to Him. When questioning the way things are happening, I try to keep to the commandments and remember I chose this life and this plan, I supported and put all my faith in Christ that he would be my Savior. It is that faith and knowledge I gained when learning about the true church and being baptized that has helped me be the happiest I have ever been and continue to become happier every day.
-Stephanie Arrington
I know that our Savior lives. He wants each of us to have the opportunity to come unto Him and through Him find peace and eternal and lasting happiness. I love this gospel and I am so excited to be a missionary sharing what I know about the joy it can bring. It is amazing being able to see the changes that the gospel can bring. I invite everyone to come closer to Christ this year through following Him. Learn about Him and His atonement and let the gospel work in you. I love my Savior!
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