I joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as a young lad along with my parents in the year 1999. I grew up in the LDS Church as a shy young boy. Of course I attended sacrament meetings, seminary and other Church activities, but I never really knew the truth for myself. I never really wanted to go on a mission because I was afraid of the fact that I didn’t know any truth of myself; therefore, how could I testify of the truth to other people? My fear was especially based on my lack of a testimony of the Book of Mormon.
I used to like the stories of prophets like Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, Wilford Woodruff and Spencer W. Kimball, but I was always afraid to defend the truth. When my dad asked me to go on a mission, I hesitated and made up all kinds of excuses, saying that I didn’t want to go because I didn’t want to walk in the sun until my shoes got spoiled. However, my dad and mom never stopped asking me to serve a mission. Fortunately, I was called as a part-time missionary to serve for six weeks. I began to start enjoying missionary work, but I was still afraid of proclaiming the truth. During most of my part-time mission my companion was the one teaching.
Ultimately, I decided to send in my mission application. A few months passed before my call letter finally arrived. I was called to serve in the Nigeria Lagos Mission. After a period of more than three months on my mission, I was still afraid to bear testimony.
One day during our companionship study, I asked my companion (Elder Myers from Ghana) if he really had a testimony of what we are doing, especially of the Book of Mormon. He responded with an enthusiastic “Yes, now I do! But before, I was leaning on my parents’ testimony.” I felt a chill on my skin as he told me of his personal conversion. He told me to pray and that I should not stop until I get my own conversion of the gospel.
After our companionship study, I felt the Spirit telling me to go and pray. I knelt down in our room and offered a sincere prayer. I had a most remarkable experience that I will never forget. After the prayer, I felt like I was being encircled and someone was touching my shoulder and whispering in my ears saying, “All is well.” I started crying. I narrated the experience to my companion and he was so pleased to hear it that he began to cry along with me. I will never forget that day. I vowed at that time to spread the truth to anyone, anywhere, without being afraid anymore and to do this until the day I die. I know that God loves his children and knows each one personally. This knowledge has made all the difference.