How it all began

Poeple often wonder how Reed and I met, since we were worlds appart! Well, here are a few pictures of our first days together, back when he was only allowed to shake my hand, and I called him Elder Niman! This is taken in Liege, Grivegnee in Januray 1991. I had been a member of the LDS church for just a month or so, Soeur Grenier and Soeur Rogers were the ones who taught me the gospel. I had met the church in Utah that summer, after staying 2 1/1 months with a family there (the Corrys) to perfect my English. I had just finished High School and was 17. I had the discussions and knew I wanted to be baptized, but I just wanted to wait and go home first. When I did, I went to church in Liege once, but it was weird and no one talked to us (Vanessa came with me as support, merci ma grande!) Then I even saw some Elders at the fair and my friend Yaya pushed me to go talk to them, but they were too busy looking at the bumper cars to pay attention to me (hello Elders, there is a chick there asking to be baptized, get your eyes OFF the bumper cars and LISTEN...anywayyyy). So one day, I was waiting for the bus (le 31) when two sisters saw me reading "Une oeuvre merveilleuse et un prodige" by LeGrand Charles, totally mormon book! They were totally surprised but barelly got time to get my first name. The had to run for their bus! I figured I'd never hear from them again. I was still studying the book of mormon and praying, just not attending chuch since it was a little strange to me and uncomfortable. One of the missionary sister, Soeur Rogers, really wanted to find me again though. She prayed and fasted, for 3 weeks, asking where I was. And then one day, an Elder called them and told them they had recieved a referral for them. She immediatly said :" I know, her name is Murielle". They had found me! They called me, I had the discussions, and I was baptized on November 25th, 1990. Reed was there, he took a picture of me and my parents, never guessing that this would be his family some day too. He was a witness at my baptizm. The day that I had seen those Elders at the fair, Reed's future companion was there and maybe if he had paid attention to me, I would have gotten to know Reed before my baptizm and have him baptize me. It's not a big deal, but it was the extra perk that we were supposed to get, I think. I don't hold any grudges against that Elder (Reed's comp) that ignored me, but it taught me a huge lesson. Heavenly Father will place special people in your path, don't ignore them. And also, if you won't do His work, He'll find someone else to do it. I'm glad He did!

I was just reflecting on my life today. Nicky likes to take my Spanish/French High School dictionnary and say they are his scriptures. He takes them out for family scripture reading at night and reads out of them "..fathzer...book'o mommon....yezus...amn". When I got that dictionnary, 20 years ago, if someone would have told me how my 4th child would use it and why and where, I would have never ever believed them. Gosh, I didn't even know what "scriptures" were (did I mention I was atheist?). My life sure didn't turn out the way I would have pictured it, not even close. I know everyone says that, but I think I beat the odds even more!