This is our story

Everything began on Friday March 23 rd 2007 when I met Michael for the first time not realizing that my whole life was about to be turned upside down. Kika my friend had felt bad for a gringo she saw walking down the street early that day. She had stopped and given him a ride and invited him to a party that night. He had agreed to go. I was not going to go to the party but she convinced me to go along. That was the first time I met him. I thought he was very strange because he wasn’t drinking at the party (as I was not a member of the church that was very weird to me). When I asked him why he wasn’t drinking he told me it wasn’t good for the body and that he was a member of the Mormon Church. I didn’t pay attention to him that day. A few days after he found me at work and asked me on a date, so I went. We went on a second date and during the date he told me he wanted to show me place in Down Town Merida (where I am from). He took me to the temple. That day I thought he was the weirdest guy ever because when we got their he told me we couldn’t go in. I kept asking myself, why would he take me to a place and then tell me I couldn’t go in?
The more I learned about the church I realized that the time would come that I would be forced to make a decision whether to proceed or turn back. I had to face many fears. I think the first was persecution, I was afraid to have my parents and my social circle watching me becoming a different person. I thought they were going to reject me, or even worst, they were going to make fun of me. My next fear was going to church alone. My friends would not go with me, I was afraid to even ask my family to take me, I didn’t know anyone and I thought it was weird. I kept thinking “this is a weird church”, and what made the experience even more difficult was that nobody would talk to me, I know I wasn’t a modest girl, but I didn’t know I wasn’t. Anyway, I had to go because I had promised Michael that I would try to learn and understand his religion. I faced many more fears opposing my own religion, my parents, my social life, asking my boss to let me have my free day on Sunday. I felt so alone, sad, and scared. I started having the missionary discussions and they challenged me to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. I did pray and as I read it I knew from the very beginning that the book could not made-up. It was too elaborate to be something that someone just wrote. It didn’t take me a lot of praying to know that this Church was true but it did take me many prayers to get the courage to act upon the feelings that I had. Knowing what I knew I felt like living in a lie if I did not do something. I still remember the many nights in my room trying to pray and trying not to cry to loud so I would not wake up my sister, I thought the world was going to kill me if I dared change religions. I was soon to learn that when I acted on the promptings of the spirit the Lord would bless me and guide me. I had to go against my parents that I love very much. The Lord blessed me with great courage when I had to face my parents. I had that courage because I knew I was doing the right thing even though my parents told me I was not.
I was praying often to help me to find the courage to go against my parent’s traditions. As you might know I was born in a Catholic family. The time came when Michael asked me to come to Utah, he wanted me to meet his family and see how he lived. I had to make a decision again. The first horrible experience I had to face was going to the US embassy. The entire process took 5 hours and after they took mug shots, finger prints and had me remove my shoes, I faced a man that depending on his mood that day would determine if I could come or not. After all the process to get a visa I prayed to heavenly father to help me find the way to talk with my parents about coming here. They had thought I would be rejected at the embassy and they were not concerned until I got home and had the visa in my hands. I have always been a good daughter, I always ask for permission instead of just letting them know what my plans are, so I did what I thought was correct and they said no, “you can’t go there, we don’t know them and if something happens to you we can’t go there and help you, you are not going”. I call that the first round.
I prayed again, and the next day I went to my parent’s room and told them that I was going no matter what, I told them that I knew these were good people, that Michael loved me and that I needed to meet his family. They said no again. My sister called me frog eyes because I was cried so much that my eyes swelled up. I call that the second round.