An Inspiring Story--I Must Join the Church

在傳教的時候，我遇到一個年輕的女孩子，她是位教友，加入教會三年並曾擔任三個月的全職傳教士； 我問她：『 你的傳教的日子過得怎麼樣？ 』她回答說：『 還可以。 』我可以感覺她的口氣似乎想多說些甚麼，所以我又問道：『分享一下妳的經驗吧，為什麼妳會說 “還可以” ，而不是 “非常好” 呢？』她回答：『 回億過去所做的決定性的選擇，有時候令我感到心痛。』

正當我有意想知道更多時，她告訴我這個故事。 我不得不作出一個選擇，在成為耶穌基督後期聖徒教會的教友和母親的愛，我的見證與內心的信念告訴我教會是真實的，必須接受它。當我與母親分享心中的渴望和感覺，她卻告訴我：『 你要是加入摩門教，你就沒有我這麼個母親了！ 』

艾長老，這實在是不容易對我的母親說：『 我一定要加入教會，這是真實的，我不能否認，希望媽媽您不要決定，但如果必須做選擇，我必須選擇教會。 』然後她總結：『 沒有的母親支持，的確不是個愉樂的。然後她總結：『 沒有的母親支持，的確不是個愉樂的情況，但我知道天父會幫助我讓她再回來。』

不是每個人都必須在教會和雙親之間作選擇，我們不得不佩服某些人，不單是加入了教會，真正的歸信，並且現與他人分享福音，有勇氣立下這重大決定之後說： 『我知道天父會幫助我，讓我的母親再回來。』

“I Must Join the Church”

(Marvin J. Ashton)

In the mission field I once met a young woman who had been a member of the Church for three years and who had been serving as a full-time missionary for three months. “How is your missionary life going?” I asked. “Quite well,” she said. I could tell by her tone that perhaps she wanted to say more, so I said, “Share with me. Why do you report ‘quite well’ instead of ‘very well’?” She replied, “Sometimes my heart aches when I look back and realize what a decisive choice I had to make.” When I probed further, she told me this story:

“I had to make a choice between membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and my
mother’s continuing love. My testimony and the conviction of my heart and mind told me the Church was true and that I must accept it. When I went to my mother and shared with her my desires and feelings, she told me, ‘If you join the Mormon Church, just remember you don’t have a mother anymore.’ Elder Ashton, it was not easy for me to say to my mother, ‘I must join the Church. It is true, and I cannot deny it. I hope, Mother, that this will not be your decision, but if I must choose, I must choose the Church.’” Then she concluded, “It is not a pleasant and happy situation to be without a mother, but I know that with God’s help I will win her back.”

Not many of us must choose between church and parents. We have to admire a person who not only has joined the Church, accepted it fully, and is now sharing with others, but who also has the courage, after having made this important choice, to say, “I know that with God’s help I will win my mother back.”

(Sunshine for the Courageous Latter-day Saint Soul, [Salt Lake City: Eagle Gate, 2001], p. 134–5.)