Late Saturday night, I finally made it to Shanam's grandmother's house, where he was living at the time. I had worked until 11:00 pm and was exhausted by the time I pulled up to their house at about 1:00 am. Shanam showed me to the guest room and after a nice foot rub and back rub, I was ready for bed :)
"Wake up, sleepy head." Shanam said as he peeked inside the door the next morning.
My alarm had woken me up a few minutes before and I was trying to muster the strength to get out of bed. Seeing me in that helpless state, Shanam came in and jumped on top of me, giving me a tight squeeze. I laughed, but instead of pushing him off, I held on to him so he couldn't let go. We laid and cuddled for a bit, before realizing we really did need to get up and start getting ready. Shanam was one of the speakers at church that day and had invited me to come listen, then spend the day with his family. We quickly got ready and jumped in the car.
"So, what is your talk on?" I asked him.
"Testimony." He answered without giving any more information. I could tell he was deep in thought.
"That should be good. Are you all ready?"
"As ready as I can be." he answered. "I don't really write out what I'm going to say. I usually just jot down a few bullet points and see where it goes from there."
"Well, I'm sure you'll do a great job. I'm excited to hear what you have to say." I said.
"Haha. Don't set your expectations too high." Shanam was always saying comments that downplayed his talents.
"Whatever! Don't try to be humble. I have no doubt you'll do a fabulous job." I assured him. I did enjoy his humility, though. It showed he knew that the success of his talk wasn't all up to him, but that he needed the Lord's help to guide his words. I looked forward to this opportunity to see his spiritual side.
We entered the church building and found his parents already sitting in the congregation. I went over to join them after letting go of Shanam's hand with a good luck squeeze. I watched as he made his way up to the front and warmly greeted the men and women already seated on the stand. He looked confident and happy as he sat next to his friend, Matt, who was also speaking that day. They both wore black suits and red ties. That made me smile :)
"He is so wonderful. Thank you once again, Heavenly Father, for bringing him into my life. Please give him strength and guidance while he speaks." I prayed.
The meeting began and every time our eyes met, I smiled with happiness. He truly brought joy to my heart with just one glance :) Just as I expected, his talk was excellent. He spoke about how a person gains their own testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel and used examples from his own life. He was not raised in the church but was converted and baptized at age 19. He shared the experience of when the Holy Ghost first bore witness to him that the church was true as he watched the prophet speak during General Conference. He said it was a pure and true feeling that he could not deny. He then bore his testimony of the reality of God and Jesus Christ with strength and conviction. I felt the truthfulness of his words in my own heart and gained a new love and admiration for him, one that grew from the fruits of the Spirit.
After the meeting, he introduced me to some of the members of his congregation and we continued on to our Sunday School class. The day at church was wonderful and I loved sitting by him and holding his hand through the various meetings. I couldn't have been more proud, once again, to be seen with this amazing man. We left church in good spirits and drove over to his parents house to spend the afternoon eating and relaxing.
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