When your Convert becomes your Step-Dad

Three short months after Menley returned from her LDS mission, her new convert became her new step-dad. Sometimes God’s miracles come in surprising packages.

MTC Era

Menley Stewart was my MTC companion. The above picture was taken at the end of our first day in the MTC. As the picture testifies, we were already cozy and clingy despite the fact that we just met hours earlier. We just clicked.

I found it really easy to trust Menley, which is a huge deal for me. Looking back, I think I was willing to trust Menley because she was completely open with me. She was loving in a way that you only can be if you’re willing to be vulnerable. I wanted to re-learn vulnerability myself. So I watched her. I took her cues to be vulnerable. For the first time, I actively worked to chisel away at my walls.

Menley and I leaned on each other.

Right before our first lesson with our investigator, I panicked. I hadn’t studied all of the scriptures connected to the lesson. I felt totally unprepared. Menley wrote the classic Disney parody, “Colors of the Spirit” to cheer me up and it totally worked.

She occasionally felt overwhelmed, too. She knew she could rely on me. We took turns leaning and being leaned on.

Sharing our hardships was good, but sharing our hopes was even better. We both had big dreams for our missions. We talked a lot about the people we hoped to help and the miracles we expected to see.

Coming Home

Since we left at the same time, we returned home from San Diego at the same time as well. Menley went home to Texas, and I went home to Arizona. The homes we returned to were very different than the ones we left. Mine for the better, and hers for the worse.

Menley was very close to her grandpa, and he died right after she got home. He died when she was on her way to see him. She describes her grandpa as being most like her of her family members. And just like that, he was gone. Where were God’s blessings for His faithful servant in that?

Further, Menley’s estranged dad made her huge promises while she was on her mission. She came home and found he was exactly the same, if not worse.

The only bright part of her life came through reconnecting with her investigators and converts. One convert was Rick. Menley and Rick had become fast friends when she met him as a missionary. She was there throughout his entire conversion process, including his baptism.

One day it dawned on her: “Rick and my mom should date.”

With Menley’s blessing (and a little convincing) Rick and her mom, Wendi, started talking on the phone every day.

San Diego Trip

In June 2016, three months after Menley and I got home from our missions, Menley and her mom visited San Diego.

Menley’s mom and Rick had started talking a few weeks before, with Menley’s blessing.

Reunited

Whenever I see Menley, she talks about Rick as though he’s always been a part of her life. She calls him “dad.” She confides in him. She knows he takes care of her mom. And…she checks up on his scripture reading.

Menley still has that vulnerable and loving heart that I met in the MTC. Only now, she’s had a lot of growing experiences. Many times she’s felt abandoned by God, right in the moment she returned from serving Him. Bitterness and hurt and depression sunk in for a time. But now she’s even stronger.

A lot of hard led Menley to get Rick as a step-dad. She braved it all. Menley kept her loving heart, and God kept His promises.