Sheri's Conversion

Please see The Reason I Came.

I will never forget the day when I stepped into the office of Sheri Heffelfinger. I still remember perfectly how she looked up from her desk and smiled. The Spirit flooded the room, and we felt such an excitement. It's a good feeling, when, as a missionary, I meet someone for the first time, and the Spirit is that strong. It means something amazing is about to happen.

And something amazing did happen.
In the last few articles, I've written briefly about the conversion process of the two Heffelfinger Daughters.
This is my perspective of the conversion of their mother.

I had been prepared to meet Sheri long before our meeting.
The first area in which I served in Montana was Livingston. Just south of Livingston, in beautiful Paradise Valley, live a group of people referred to as members of C.U.T., or Church Universal and Triumphant.

Yellowstone River and Emigrant Peak

Yellowstone River in Paradise Valley

I'm not going to attempt to describe the beliefs or lifestyle of this group of people, but suffice it to say that I became somewhat acquainted with them as I met with several and discussed life and religion.
These visits prepared me to meet Sheri, who had formerly belonged to C.U.T. When She was eight, she was baptized as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Her father was a strong member of the Mormon church. Shortly after her baptism, her parents divorced, and she went with her mother to California, where they joined C.U.T.
For twenty years, she was raised in their beliefs and practices. Finally, she removed herself, when the feelings in her heart could no longer allow her to accept what she was seeing and experiencing there.




When we began to teach Sheri, she was naturally apprehensive. She had come from a background where a prophet dictated much of her life. There was a lot of control, and fear. Of these apprehensions, Sheri said, "Because of my experience there (in C.U.T.), one of my biggest fears was about commandments and all the 'rules' of being Mormon.  How would I know that I'm following the commandments of the Lord and not the dictates of a false prophet?  How can I be sure that I would be following the commandments out of love for the Lord and not out of a desire to conform and be accepted and viewed as a 'good member'?  What happens if I can't keep the commandments perfectly, will I feel guilty or ashamed?"
I can still remember the feelings in those lessons. Often, when teaching as a missionary, the Spirit helps us to feel a portion of what our investigators feel; to understand some of what they understand, at least for a moment.
It was amazing, how the lessons would progress. Each day my companion and I would prepare our lesson for our evening lesson with the Heffelfingers. Very often, as we prayed to know what we could share, nothing would come to mind. We knew on those days that we would need to rely on the Spirit to tell us what to say.
The lessons would begin. We would just open our mouths. And somehow, the things we shared were exactly what Sheri and the rest of her family needed to hear.

She had many questions.
We answered them one by one, as they came.

We talked about faith.
Can we really let go of our fears, and follow Christ? What is true faith? How do we strengthen our faith? What do we have faith in?

We talked about priesthood authority.
What is the role of the leaders of the church? How can we trust that our leaders are inspired of God? Why do we need to be baptized by proper authority?

We talked about prophets.
How can we distinguish between the true and the false? How can we know if Joseph Smith was truly God's prophet? How can we know if Thomas S. Monson is the Lord's prophet today?

We talked about trials.
Trials cannot overpower us if we center our lives on Jesus Christ. (Helaman 5:12)

We talked about listening to the Spirit.
One of Sheri's strongest desires was and is to follow the Spirit so that she can be sure she is following the will of God.

We talked about the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Moroni 8:25-26 became one of Sheri's favorite scriptures

Jesus Christ- The Christus Statue at Temple Square

We talked about Jesus Christ.
He is the Savior of the world, the Source of light and truth, the only person who understands us, and the only One who can love us perfectly.

Each principle fell into place, in the perfect time, in the perfect way. As the weeks passed, the Heffelfingers I first knew were gone. They had changed so much. There is nothing but the power of God that could have caused such a transformation.  Sheri gained a strength that has helped her family immensely as they have passed through many trials since their conversion.
I love that family.
I cannot express how grateful I am for the timing and love of my Heavenly Father for sending me to find Sheri that day, at the capitol building in Helena, Montana.