30/04/2026
“I grew up in a big family and didn’t spend much of my youth in church. I always believed in God, but He felt distant, like someone I used to know.
“In college I fell in love for the first time, and when that relationship ended, it broke something deep in me. I had never felt that level of sadness. One night, in complete desperation, I knelt down and said the simplest prayer. I didn’t know if anyone was listening. I just said that I was hurting and I didn’t want to feel that way anymore.
“A few days later, I felt this pull to go home, so I drove across the country without really understanding why. When I got there, a friend invited me to a sacrament meeting. I hadn’t been to church in years, but I went because she asked.
“During the sacrament, something happened that I still struggle to explain. It felt like love wrapped around me. It felt like someone saying, ‘I see you. You are mine. You’re going to be okay.’ The sadness that had been crushing me just… lifted. Peace rushed in all at once.
“At the end of the talk, the speaker encouraged anyone thinking about a mission to go. I wasn’t active, I didn’t have it all figured out, but the feeling was so strong. I knew I had to share the love I had just felt.
“After church, I went straight to the bishop’s office and told him I wanted to serve. I didn’t miss a single Sunday after that. A year later, I left on my mission.
“Looking back, everything since then—even law school, even moving across the country—feels guided. What I thought was the worst heartbreak of my life became the turning point that brought me back to God.
“He met me in my loneliness, and He was in every detail.” —Madisson
