MY GRANDMOTHER’S DREAM

On the long ride home my grandmother related her conversion story to me. It was rather lengthy and turned out to be quite spiritual. It made a large impression on me due to her earnestness and the visible faith with which she related her story. It did not change my mind about the church but it softened my heart and helped create a space there for the spirit to speak to me when the time was right. As a background for her story, it is important to know that my grandfather’s first wife died during the birth of my mother. He subsequently married again. His new wife, Pearl, was a non-member of the church. My grandfather wanted very much for her to receive the gospel and join the church. But she was adamant that she could not do this and the reason that she would not consider joining the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, or any other church for that matter, is the subject of her conversion story. 

It begins when my grandmother was a young child. She did not say her exact age but I assumed it was something between 8 and 12 years of age. At any rate, she was scheduled to be baptized in a protestant church that she did not name. But she had struggled with the desire to know which church was the right church. When I learned more about the story of Joseph Smith I was taken by the similarity of that desire. Just as Joseph had wanted to know, my grandmother as a young girl also wanted to know which of all the churches was the right one. Which one should she join. She had finally agreed to join one of them and would be baptized the very next day. But the night before her baptism she had a dream. It was a very vivid dream. She dreamed that she was sitting in a beautiful garden. There was a large lawn, with trees and flowers with birds singing. And there was a large beautiful building with a long line of people going into the building. She saw a man with a beard and long hair in a flowing robe. The man was carrying a large book and was talking to people in the line of people. The man saw my grandmother sitting there and came over to speak to her. He asked what her name was and she told him. My grandmother had the impression that this man was Jesus. She asked him what the book he was carrying was and he replied that it was the Book of Life. My grandmother asked the man if her name was in that book and he said yes that it was. So she asked him if her mother’s name was in the book and the man said, “Your mother will have to ask that question for herself.” Then he turned and went back to talk to the people in the line entering the large building. And my grandmother woke up impressed that this dream was the answer to her question about the right church to join.

My grandmother told her mother the next morning about the dream saying that it was the answer to her desire to know which church to join. But she said that she did not understand the dream because it did not mention any specific church. She told her mother that this was so important that she could not join any church until she understood the meaning of her dream. So she was not baptized. She continued wondering and searching for the meaning of her dream but it did not come. She grew up. Became a woman and married my grandfather. My grandfather was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He wanted her to join the church but she told him the story of her dream. She told him that until she understood the meaning of her dream that she had so many years ago she could not join any church.

My grandfather was persistent. His faith was very important to him. His own grandfather was an early member of the church who was tarred and feathered by the mobs in Missouri in the 1830’s and marched in the Mormon Battalion to San Diego. So he asked his wife to take the missionary lessons which she did. And she told the missionaries the same story of her dream and how she would not join any church until she understood the meaning of her dream because she knew that dream was about which church was true. One day after many lessons the missionaries came to the door with a movie that they told her had been prepared by the church to show to investigators. Would she like to see the movie? She agreed and they sat down to view the new church movie. As the movie opened it was set in Temple Square. My grandmother had been there many times. She was familiar with Temple Square and had also seen the temple many times. As the movie proceeded it showed a view of the temple that my grandmother had never seen before. It was from a completely different angle. And to my grandmother’s surprise it was exactly the view of the large and beautiful building that she had seen in her dream and that had been running through her mind all of those years. She knew immediately that she had finally found the meaning of her dream.

She agreed to be baptized and was a faithful member of the church for more than 50 years. Her story touched my heart. How many times she must have told that story in testimony meetings and to friends and acquaintances? How many other hearts did that story touch? I have never forgotten that long car trip and that wonderful conversion story. It’s my firm belief that conversion stories are as important as testimonies themselves. They are spiritual, informative, and understandable in ways that open minds and hearts. Your conversion story is important. It may be the link that opens a place in someone’s heart and mind for the Holy Spirit to leave the message that will change a life. Tell it, and tell it, and tell it!!!!!