Here’s the story about the Book of Mormon in the church.

My mom felt inspired to write her testimony in a Book of Mormon and give it to one of the ladies she visit taught.  The person she wanted to give it to had not been to church for a long, long time.  This lady decided to stop attending church before I was even born.  And we all know that truly is a long, long time ago.

So, my mom decided to give her a Book of Mormon and invite her back.

Her plan was simple.  She wrote her testimony in the book and gave the book to her visiting teaching partner.  She asked her partner to write her own testimony in the book.  Then they would give the book to the good sister they had been visiting teaching for years.

My mom just wanted everyone to find happiness.  She knew true happiness comes from the Gospel.  But it still took courage for her to take action.

Mom gave the book to her visiting teaching partner before church one Sunday.  Then she waited nervously.

Her partner spoke to mom after church.  She explained that she left the chapel after Sacrament service and forgot to grab the book.  As soon as she realized the missing book, she hurried back to retrieve it.  The book was gone.  Despite a thorough search (I mean, it’s a chapel with pews – how thorough does a search need to be?) she gave up.

Mom’s partner felt horrible.   Mom lost her courage and became sick again before writing her testimony in another book.  She never gave the book and testimony to the lady she wanted to.

This is such an incredibly odd story.  Things don’t usually go missing from the chapel like that.  If anything is left behind it usually waits until somebody returns to pick it up.  Especially inanimate objects such as books.  If the object has legs and can move around, however, then it can run or crawl out of the chapel.  Like toddlers.  But a book?

I always wonder what became of that book with mom’s testimony.  Whenever I see a copy of the Book of Mormon in the church building I open it.  Always looking for a handwritten testimony.  I have never found it.

My hope is that it found the place it needed to be.  It found the heart that needed to be touched.  That something good came about because of the Book of Mormon with mom’s testimony.  I guess I will never know.