Hi, Malia Belen! It’s good to see you again!
Let’s see. . .I’m a convert and I knew that I would become Catholic after spending time with a good friend of mine and his family, who were all Catholic. His father was also a convert, and I was at their house one day and my friend and I started talking about religion. I explained that I was raised Baptist for a few years, fell away because I felt I hadn’t really connected to that church, and tried to find God again in early adulthood. I went church-hopping and never really felt spiritually fulfilled.
I also wondered how his family were so wholesome, pure, peaceful people. They had something I didn’t, and I wanted that peace. He told me that they were Catholic and simply lived by the teachings of the Church. I had many misperceptions about the Catholic faith, so I was skeptical, but I told him to go on and explain what it was all about.
It sounded good, I had been feeling unfulfilled, and I saw and wanted that same peace and spiritual fulfillment he and his family members all had, so I agreed to go to a Mass with him and his family.
The minute I walked into that Catholic Church, I knew I was in a truly holy place. Watching how reverent the parishioners were, the reverence of the priest while celebrating Mass, even the reverence of the young altar boys, I knew that’s where my friend and his family got their pure hearts, their peacefulness. They were simply very holy and reverent people in a whirlwind of a sinning and anti-God world, and this was how they’d found it–through the true Church of Jesus Christ and living the sacraments.
I still remember my first steps that day into that Catholic Church vividly. I was 19-20 years old and never truly knew the difference between Christmas and Easter. I started RCIA classes and finally learned answers and reasons for the way that Jesus Christ really wants his people to live. I still find fulfillment in the sacraments and by visiting the Blessed Sacrament in his true Church.
It was not all roses, however. I did hit roadblocks: I disagreed with the Church’s teaching on divorce, or felt out of place at Mass because I was one of the few African-Americans in a predominantly Caucasian parish; but I have to remember that I didn’t find this peace by accident. I had to set aside my human thoughts and shortcomings to allow God’s wants and desires to penetrate my heart. When I do that, I remember that I am truly where God wants me to be; I am truly in His Church.
but I just wanted to share my little story. I just barely started getting involved with a Pentecostal type church in the beginning of 2008. I use to be Mormon as a child but I mostly had a secular upbringing. Anyway, by the summer of 2008, I was dating a Catholic (although he wasn’t practicing) and I was starting to get heavily involved in this Pentecostal church. According to this little church, Catholics weren’t “saved” so I was spending a lot of time trying to “convert” my then boyfriend. I kept praying for God to reveal the truth to me and then eventually I found Catholic Answers. All I had to do was read the Library tracts about things like Apostolic tradition, praying to saints, purgatory, etc. And then a light bulb went off in my head you know :newidea: 
