Wow, it's here early!

See that button over there to the right?  It looks just like this:

If you click on it, you'll go to the blog of my awesome blogging pal Middle-aged Mormon Man where he's celebrating the Second International Hug a Convert Day with terrific conversion stories.

Go there.  Go today.  Go tomorrow.  Go all week, because he promises to be sharing these inpiring stories all week.

(To go there, click the button over there to the right.  You can click the one above all you want, but because I'm lame, I don't know how to link it to his blog.  Click the one up there on the right.)

I will participate in this week of sharing on Thursday by sharing my own conversion story here at A Latter-day Voice.  (Yep, I'm a convert.  Feel free to hug me, virtually.)

Before I let you go there and soak in the conversion story goodness, let me echo some themes of MMM's whole point.  Being a convert to the church is not easy.  It is wonderful, awesome, cool, yes.  But it's also hard.

I love these verses of scripture from Matthew because they do such a terrific job of pointing out the challenge a new convert to the church faces:

When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none.

Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it‍ empty, swept, and garnished.

Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state‍ of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.

When a new convert feels the influence of the Holy Ghost, prepares himself and is baptized, he is clean, swept and garnished.  When, shortly after baptism, old temptations return, they often come not alone, but with reinforcements. 

So hug those converts.  And hold them close to you.  They are precious.

And thanks, MMM.

I won! I won!!

Ok, I can’t contain myself. I actually won something.

Ardis over at Keepapitchinin had a little contest around a Utah alphabet primer . She invited her clever readers to imagine what the alphabetized list might be. And with eight correct answers, I won.

Ok, so ignore the fact that I got 8/26. And focus on the fact that I got more than anyone else! No, wait, that’s not right.

Focus instead on the cool contest that Ardis sponsored and get on over and check out her blog if you’re not already a frequent reader.

I should point out that in pondering this self-congratulatory post, it occurred to me that this is not my first win in an LDS blog contest. I also won a haiku contest at Jeff Lindsey’s Mormanity a while back. (We wrote haiku about tattoos. Cool, huh?)

I might think that I had a streak going here, except that I lost the contest at Middle-Aged Mormon Man’s blog last week. I tell you that lest you all think I had something going on. Of course, MMM’s contest involved no skill; it was a luck of the draw. As opposed to Ardis’ contest that required significant higher-level thinking to remember the order of the alphabet.

Anyway, now you know some of my favorite blogs (and they’re not just my favorites because they give stuff away). Check them out.

And while you’re at it, my latest post at Real Intent is up: “Jared, His Brother and Spiritual Gifts.” Read it here.