My name is David. My dad is Malaisamy, my mom is Rosy and I have a younger brother, Daniel. I would like to share with you the story of how we came to know about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. My parents attended a church regularly but my brother and I were not interested. We didn't go to our previous church because the people there were not very good to us. My mom kept asking me to get baptized when I turned 18 but I always refused. In 2017 our father passed away. We all were depressed and left alone. I had just finished college at that time and my brother was still in college.
On a sunny day at 3:00 in the afternoon, someone knocked at my door. Since my mom was watching TV, I opened the door. Two men, Elder Bangari and Elder Prabhudas were standing outside. They introduced themselves as representatives of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I had not heard about that church before. They wanted to share a small message about Jesus. I let them in. They showed us a video about Christ, prayed in our home, asked when they could come again and left.
My brother and I went to see the Church. When the Sacrament meeting was finished everyone greeted and welcomed us. We thought they greeted us because it was our first day but they did the same even the next time. We felt bad for not treating them the same way, so from that day onward we started showing love to everyone.
Now it was Elders Bangari, Olsen and Murugesan who taught us all the lessons, principles and the Lord's plan for us. They started coming to our place twice a week, spending more than 2 hours each time they came. They showed the Savior's love towards us. Personally I came to know the importance of baptism and my family felt the spirit and love when they came to teach us. Our hearts were filled with joy.
When Elders Matheshu and Farley came to our place to conduct the baptismal interview, we felt the spirit. When he was leaving, Elder Matheshu was a little sad and I asked him the reason. He answered that when he came on his mission he was assigned to my area but we hadn’t met him even once or heard about the Church either. Hearing that I felt the spirit so strong and I realized that all thing will happen at the right time and through the right person.
At last all three of us were baptized on April 20, 2019. My Mom was baptized by Elder Olsen. I was baptized by Elder Murugesan. My Brother Daniel was baptized by President Billy Isaac. We missed Elder Bangari, but we had him in the group picture.
After our baptism Elder Bangari told me what actually happened on the day when we met. He and Elder Prabhudas were visiting our neighborhood and found many Christian homes with Hindu tenants. When they reached my place they thought it would be the same so they passed it up. Elder Bangari received a strong prompting that they had to come back and knock on our door. So they did and I opened the door and when I asked them to leave he was not ready to leave because the spirit wanted him to share with us about Christ and His Church.
I was inspired by the story of how Elder Bangari and Elder Murugesan came to serve a mission. The stories of the branch members and the missionaries changed me and the way I look at the world. Elder Bangari found me and planted the seed of faith in me. Elder Murugesan baptized me and made sure that the seed grew well to a healthy plant. If they had not sacrificed two years of their time to serve the Lord, my family would not be here. So I decided to serve the Lord and help the people in need who are like us.
Our testimonies are strong. My mother Rosy testifies, “The Restored Gospel gives us happiness and the Church has given us a new family. My sons used to behave like Laman and Lemuel in the past when I asked them to come to church. Now they are like Sam and Nephi. They go to church regularly and I have seen a lot of changes in them.”
My brother Daniel testifies, “We are so blessed. Our family has been together and we have improved our selves by reading scriptures. We feel the true love of our Heavenly Father. We are so grateful for the Atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ as we all have the opportunity to live in our Father's kingdom once again. Everyone in the Church is so loving that we feel like a whole family. We trust that we have a prophet who is guiding us in these modern days with the help of our Lord.”
Now I know the importance of the Gospel in my life. I have learned that our testimony must be based on Christ and not on people. Everything will happen at the right time by the right person if we have faith in Christ.
At last, we found the missing treasure in our life: the Restored Gospel and our Dad. We are happy to be a part of the true Church. We are also planning to visit the Temple soon, so that we can baptize our dad. I testify that the Savior lives and he loves us. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
The author has been called to serve in the India New Delhi Mission
