Paul: My Conversion Story

My conversion was rather interesting. Back in 1968, there was a family that lived on the same street I lived in my home town, Rio de Janeiro and they were really good friends. And I remember seeing the missionaries – those two guys wearing white shirts and ties – come to visit them once in a while. And I was only 12 but I always taught that it was kind of strange – didn’t know who those two were. They looked like engineers. I had no clue what they were.

And then, one day I remember they came to my door and they said they had a couple of friends they wanted us to meet. So we went upstairs, as I lived on the first floor, they lived on the 3rd floor. So we visited with the missionaries and they asked if they could come by. I was only 12 and I said “Sure!”

So a week later, they come knocking on our door. My dad was home, my whole family was home and they introduced themselves. So we sat down through the visit for 10-15 minutes. And then they gave us the very first discussion. And my dad was impressed and my dad, for a while, had been going to the Baptist church. He was quite had with the Baptist church, but he wasn’t a very active member. As a matter of fact, I don’t think he was ever baptized.

And so, the missionaries left a very good impression. A week later, they came back. They taught us a second discussion. Now this time around, our friend came with them. So it was a very interesting thing cause we felt very comfortable having our friend, our neighbor with the missionaries. So my dad started to get really interested in what the missionaries had to teach. And another week went by and they came back with a third discussion – but this time they said “Well, we want you guys to come to our church to see what it’s like, I’m sure you guys will have a very good impression”.

So we went to church. And the church, of course, was located about an hour away from where we lived. Bus ride would take at least an hour and 10 minutes. And there was another member that lived nearby, he had this huge car and he said “I’m sure I’ll be able to accommodate all of you guys in this car”. So, there was all six of us, the driver and sister Ozeta, the friend that referred the missionaries to us.

We get there and a huge, absolutely big coincidence happened. The branch president back then, his name was Milo Campanello. My dad knew him from back in the early 50’s. So my dad worked for a lifeboat factory called GE and this man, he used to sell shoes. He used to own a shoe shop and he an idea to go to this factory and offer this shoes to the employees, for all the workers for a very good price. And he sold a bunch of shoes. He even sold the shoes to my dad.

So my dad knew him and, of course, he knew my dad and they chatted a little bit and he said “Yeah, I’m a branch president and I’m so happy to see you here”. So that left my dad extremely excited about the fact that he knew someone in the church and that pretty much kept us going to church. So another 2 weeks and the missionaries came to our house and gave us a baptism challenge. We all accepted a baptism challenge and I remember, back in those days the church was very small in our home town. There was only one building if I remember correctly – just one building.

The church was packed that morning because a family of six – which was kind of new back in those days – was being baptized. And so, it was an extremely interesting story and I’ll never forget that day. My mother was extremely touched by the Spirit – she was crying all the time. My dad was crying and it was a very uplifting moment. This was back in ’68. Back in ’75, seven years later, I was ready to go on a mission. So I was a full-time missionary for the church.

But before going on a mission, I wanted to have the opportunity of going to the temple. So I flew to Washington D.C. There were no temples in Brazil. And the very same missionary – Dale Roberts – who has baptized us on May 12th, 1968, was the young man that took us through the temple. He and his wife Linda – and it was quite of a unique experience. Extremely touching experience. Two months later I was sent back to Brazil to serve as a full time missionary.

So it was an extremely interesting experience. And I want you, if you’re not a LDS member, to listen to the words, pay attention to the missionaries. Maybe one day you’ll run into them on the street, maybe you’ll have the chance of them knocking on your door. Listen to their message just like I did, just like my dad did back in May 12th. And the great impact and change that has caused in our lives – we’re really happy, we are a very happy family. And I challenge you if you’re not LDS or if you’re not longer an active LDS to return.

I know this Gospel is true and that Joseph Smith was a prophet used to restore the Gospel.