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The 'Travelling Book of Mormon'

Anasazi Whaanga is a guest contributor who lives in Auckland, New Zealand.  In this blog post she shares her story about a copy of The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ that has been handed from one person to the next over several years.  She explains how one copy of the book is touching the lives of an ever-growing number of people.  A 'ward' is a Latter-day Saint term for congregation.

Four years ago, the young women in our ward spent an evening with two sister missionaries while they shared the gospel message with investigators.  At the end of the evening, I let them know this experience had inspired me to share The Book of Mormon with Sophia, a friend of mine from school.  One of the sisters gave me a copy of The Book of Mormon and encouraged me to give it to Sophia.

The following day I carried it around school in my bag, but was unsure as to whether I should give it to her or not.  At lunch I met up with Sophia and our school friends, and I had the impression that now was the time to share it with her. As I grabbed the book from my bag, I said, "Sophia, I really want you to have this."  

She said "thank you," but I knew she simply thought it was just another book. 

At that time, however, the thought entered my mind to be patient, everything will be fine, and she will thank me one day.  At that moment I knew there would come a time when this book would become very important to her.

After leaving high school we went our separate ways and didn't keep in touch.  But then this year I received a text message from Sophia telling me she had been studying the gospel with the missionaries and she had made the decision to be baptised and join the Church.  I was overwhelmed with joy.

I witnessed Sophia's baptism in March of this year.  Afterwards, we talked about the effect this book has had on both our lives.  She thanked me for making the decision to share The Book of Mormon with her.  Later, she came to my home and shared her conversion story with my family.

She then told us that The Book of Mormon I gave her is travelling from one person to another.  She said her sister Gwendolyn read that same copy of The Book of Mormon a year earlier and was baptised.  Then the book was given to her cousin Lorraine who read it and was also baptised.  Currently, Lorraine's sister Crystal is reading 'our' Book of Mormon as part of her gospel study.

Sophia and I marvel at how this simple gesture of inviting a friend to read The Book of Mormon has led others to hear and accept the gospel message.  Sophia said that 'our' book is going far, and now we refer to it as the 'Travelling Book of Mormon.'

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