When I was growing up my family were not religious and did not go to any religious gatherings. In elementary school I was fascinated by the Catholics, not their teaching but the way little girls dressed up(little dainty white dresses and crowns or headgear). I pestered my mother to allow me to be baptized (sprinkled) also, sure enough she did not mind me being sprinkled. I attended classes religiously though not understanding, throughout the tears I was in elementary school. In High School I was even less committed as I went to a Methodist boarding school and the Salvation Army boarding school. The interesting point is that I still had a deep longing to know God.

When I got to the university I revived my religious roots. There is one thing that bothered me a lot, that was to confess to someone hidden in a confession room, the one confessing is outside and speak through a hole to an unknown person, who will after listening to your confession tell you to go and pray using the rosary (chain made of beads). This bothered me so much that I questioning the origin of this kind of confession, was it in the bible? where exactly in the bible was it? No one answered these questions and I decided to leave the Catholics alone.

The deep longing to know God intensified and my search spurn over a period of four years. I finished university studies in a neighboring country and returned home. One day I read an advert in the newspaper that invited anyone interested to study the Bible with some people in the USA. I filled in the required information and posted it. After two weeks I received a letter from Bill Smith who was a preacher for a congregation in Murfeesborough, Tennessee. He wrote me a letter of introduction and informed that he will study with me through WBS.

I had many questions to ask and what impressed me was that every answer came from the Bible i.e a scripture or verse. This encouraged me to read my bible and the more I read the more I found answers to my numerous questions. I studied with him for about 6-8 months then he introduced me to the missionary who was in my town and I studied with him some more until I was baptized twenty years ago.

My religious friends used to discourage me not to join the Church of Christ as they believed they were the only church. Anyway to cut a long story short I did not come to Christ to please anyone but to fulfill the deep longing to know God which had began when I was a little girl of about 12 years and obeyed his commandment when I was a woman of 22 years. In my Christian walk I have been disappointed, had let downs and discouraged but what has kept me from falling away is that I obeyed the gospel not to please people nor was I pressured to be a Christian, but to do what is right and took full responsibility for my decision. Its not an easy walk but Christ has assured those who come to him that he will be there and will help them.

This is my story from deep within me and its a pleasure to share it.

In Christian Love,

Dollina