Coming Back!

I'll give you a little history as to why I decided to start going back to church. When I was 19 all of my friends had left on their missions. I felt all alone, deciding that I wasn't prepared to go on a mission, so I moved to St George and helped open Ruby River. I started working with some great people, all whom were 4 to 6 years older than me, but most of whom would go out after a long nights work and have a drink or two, or go to someone's house for a party. I got caught up in the whole party seen and had fun at the time. Or so I thought. I wound up getting a DUI at the age odf 19. I started smoking cigarettes and became a chain smoker for the next 3 years. After doing some serious damage to my health due to the drinking and smoking and my type 1 diabetes, and after countless relationships that wound up going nowhere and always ending with me getting hurt, I felt there was something missing in my life. Most of my friends had returned from their missions and some of them were getting married, but all of them had one thing in common. They were happy and confident. I felt embarassed to be around any of them because I smelled like smoke and hadn't finished school. I knew I wanted to be happier and my family could tell that I wasn't myself. It was about this time that I met Ekaterina (Katie). She was a co-worker of mine and a sweetheart. She had moved here 5 years ago from Russia with her family. From the moment I met her I knew that that was the type of girl I wanted to marry. I decided the first step was to quit smoking. After many failed attempts I finally was able to kick the habit. The drinking was much easier. I was never addicted to alcohol and was really only doing it because other people at work were doing it. After getting my health back on track, Katie and I finally started dating. After a few weeks we were driving by the St George Temple one day and she wanted to get out and walk around. As we were walking she started asking questions about the temple and about the LDS Church. I answered her the best that I could. Afterall it had been 6 years since I set foot in church. After that night we decided to attend church in my mother's ward, mostly because she was curious and wanted to get to know my family. We were married a few months later on Nov. 23rd 2009 by our bishop. We continued to attend church and we both felt much better about life and ourselves. We felt like we were doing something right. The following January she agreed to meet with the missionaries. They would attend once or twice a week and after the first visit my wife wanted to read the Book of Mormon, but it was a little difficult to understand some of the passages in English for her so I took it upon myself to or a Russian copy through the distribution center. By the second visit she had finished the whole book and was anxious to learn more and to be baptized. I was thrilled. I knew that our lives would be blessed if we would both be worthy to be sealed in the temple. I decided to read the Book of Mormon and try to become worthy to exercise my priesthood again. I was a priest when I became inactive. I met with the bishop once a week and after a few weeks and much repentance he informed me that I could perfrom the baptism if Katie wanted me to. She said yes and I was so happy. I remember having my nightly scripture study a few days before the baptism, while Katie was at work and I remember feeling doubt and fear. Would I mess up the prayer? Was I worthy to perform this after all the things I had done? I closed my scriptures and knelt down and prayed and as I prayed there was only one question on my mind. " What am I meant to do for you, Father?" I felt I had turned my back on him when I was younger and decided not to go on a mission and stopped attending church. I just wanted to know what my purpose was and what he wanted me to do. AFter a few minutes of pleading with extreme guilt, I had this great uplifting feeling come over me. It was like nothing I've ever felt before. I became calm and the words just filled my head, " Baptize Ekaterina." I knew instantly that this was the spirit. There was no denying it. My testimony had grown a great deal over the past few months, but that was an undescribable experience. I had never felt more sure of something in my life. We performed the baptism a few days later and continued going to church after that. 9 months later we had our first little boy, Conner Ashton Harvey. I was still a priest and knew that I should be ordained an Elder. I felt that I would be a much better father if I had the spirit more invlolved in my life. I worked hard and was able to be ordained an elder 30 minutes before we gave Conner his baby blessing. My wife and I are currently working to be sealed in the temple with our son. If there's one thing I know it's that the spirit is real. Christ is real and he does live. God answeres prayers. If you truly believe and let them into your lives you will be blessed. After years of struggling and feeling down I put my life into the Lord's hands and the Lord has blessed me in everyway. I urge anyone who is in need of some guidance to do even the simplest thing. Read the scriptures and pray. Your life will be blessed in ways you can't imagine.