My conversion

This story was requested by Sister Charity Robinson, and is shared here with the permission of Elder Ray Robinson (Grandpa).

 

My conversion:

I have never really thought of myself as a convert to the Church, however I was not a “child of record” and I was not baptized until I was ten years old, so by definition, I was a convert baptism.

My earliest memories of the Church started when I was about four or five years old. My father was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day- Saints but he was ”less active”. My mother was not a member of The Church. We lived near my dad’s brother and his family in Los Angeles, California. My uncle, Jack Robinson and Aunt Ellen were active in the church and had about six children all of whom were older than my sister Sheila and myself. Aunt Ellen invited us to go to Primary with her. Primary was held during the week and I think that we went several times. We attended Sunday School too on occasion. All of the meetings were held separately and so I am not sure if we ever attended Sacrament Meeting. I remember the bishop’s name was Bishop Astel of the Manchester Ward.

My family moved to Covina California when I had just turned seven years old. We had a neighbor family, the Miners, who were members of the church. Brother Miner was a member of the Bishopric and the family had several children. Ronald was close to my age and Ruth was close to my sister Sheila’s age. We became good friends with both of them. The Miners invited us to go to Primary with them during the week. They may have invited us to go to Sunday meetings also, but I can’t really remember. I do remember that my father took us to Sunday School quite often and dropped us off at the church. I did not know that there was a later Sacrament meeting until two or three years after that.

My sister Sheila and I really liked going to Primary and Sunday School. We made many friends at the church. I enjoyed the boys primary program of “Blazers, then Trekkers, then Trail Builders".

My sister and I were soon old enough to be baptized and we were taught in primary and Sunday School about Baptism. We wanted to be baptized but my mother thought that we should be older before we could make such a decision. I do remember attending a Sunday School and having the teacher talk about baptism and then asking how many in the class had been baptized. Everyone was able to raise his or her hand except for me.

We must have asked our mother several times if we could be baptized, and when I was ten years old and my sister was twelve my mother consented. We had a few missionary lessons and then on November 29, 1958 my sister and I were baptized. We asked our Uncle Jack to baptize us and for our Uncle Boyd to confirm us. We were baptized in the Pasadena, California Stake Center because our Covina Stake Center was in the process of being built.

I always valued my activity and my membership in the church. I felt like the church was my friend and the gospel made me feel good. I had many wonderful friends in the church. I received the Priesthood when I was twelve years old and advanced in the Priesthood as the years progressed. We did soon discover that Sacrament Meeting was held in the evening. In Sunday School opening exercises we did have the Sacrament administered each week.

My mother was taught missionary lessons and baptized when I was about fourteen years old. My mother was only part-way active for some time even after she was baptized, but then became very active later.

One story about activity in the church:

Right after I graduated from high school our family moved to Malibu California. My sister Sheila had moved away from home and I was the only one at home who was interested in going to church right away. I reasoned to myself that if I did not go to church right away that I might become inactive. I told my father that I wanted to go to church. I was a little too shy to just call someone. My father looked up the phone number for the nearest ward and found that it was twenty miles away in Pacific Palisades. My father called the phone number and found that the Pacific Palisades Ward met in the Woman’s Club building there. We got the address and I drove myself to the Woman’s Club building and was welcomed to the Ward like I was something special. I was the only active Priest in the ward. It was a great ward and we soon had other Priests who moved in, got baptized, or became activated. I was later called to serve a mission from that ward. During that year I attended Santa Monica College and also attended the Institute there.

There is more to this story because everything good in my life I attribute to my membership in the church and my testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel.

Love, Dad