My name is Martin and I'm from Norway.
I grew up in an environment where God
wasn't talked about very much.
I didn't really know anyone that were Christian,
so when I moved to Utah as an exchange
student at the age of 17, the concept of
church and faith were already foreign to me.
I visited Temple Square for the
first time and the sister missionaries there
asked me if I wanted missionaries
to come visit me at my house, I said
"Yes, I'd love to."
But unfortunately, my family
and I had planned to stay in the States
for three more weeks to do a family vacation
before we returned home to Norway.
So I assumed the Norwegian
missionaries tried to contact me several times
without any luck. So when I finally
got home again, I didn't hear from them
for the longest time and I was
kind of disappointed, but then one day
a senior couple finally called me, and
I assume it was the one last time
before they would give up on this
reference, and they asked me if I wanted
the missionaries to come by.
I said, "Sure, send them over."
However, the missionaries were not working in
my town or any town close to it.
They lived an hour and a half away by plane.
But they came anyway and they taught me
and they bore testimony and I really
felt good about what I learned.
But one night with all those things in mind,
I knelt down and I prayed about the Church
and I prayed about The Book of Mormon.
I prayed about everything that I'd learned.
I felt an immense happiness.
I felt happier than I've ever been before and
I knew that happiness came from God.
I was just laying there not being able to
sleep because I was so happy, and I knew
at that point that I needed to be baptized.
On November 14th, 2010, I got baptized
and I received so many
blessings from it. I was able to serve a
mission a short time after.
I met my wife on the mission and
I now have a wonderful baby girl.
I often think back about what would happen if
God hadn't sent these people to me.
What would have happened if the Norwegian
missionaries had given up
while I was still out of the country?
If those wonderful Norwegian members
hadn't embraced me the way they did,
I don't know where I would have been
without all of those things. So because of
those experiences I know there are no
coincidences in God's plan, and I know that
He will do whatever it takes for all of
us to make our way back to Him.
This is the gospel to me.
