So last Sunday, April 26 was the anniversary of my own baptism. It did not take place around my birthday because my dad was working in Libia (North Africa) and hadn't arrived yet so we waited for him to baptize me.

What a special day it was!! I was able to have my own day and enjoy the start of a new beginning!

My family had been baptized 4 years earlier when I was 4.

As I have mentioned before, my family lived in Africa for quite a few years before I was born. I was born in Carmona, Uige in the North of Angola, (central Africa).

Due to a civil war, my family had to flee and went back to Portugal. I was only 3 years old.

We lost everything we owned and my parents started from scratch once back in Portugal. We were spared our lives and that was all that mattered. I was 3, Samuel 9 and Paulo 8. We did have guns pointed to our heads several times and were miraculously spared. Little girls my age were being raped by the guerrilla in front of their parents as well as women in front of their husbands. Our family lost all that was material but we did not suffer one scratch.

For many years Portugal had been under a dictatorship which obviously did not grant the freedom of speech or of religion. The church had not been able to get in for a very long time. But by the time my family got there the church was just starting and my family met the missionaries shortly after we arrived.

My mother is originally from Coimbra and as you know that is where we settled.

My father was very knowledgeable of the Bible and had very tough questions which had never been answered throughout the years in the faith he was living at the time. He had searched other religions but was never able to get answers that would actually put the pieces together.

Finally he met the missionaries and asked those questions. The missionaries did not have the answers. At least not at that moment and asked permission to go home and study and get back to him. My father was pretty sure that due to the fact that they were so young that there was no way they would know the answers and thought they would never not go back.

Well, they did go back and answered every question! My dad was very impressed and everything made perfect sense. They took the missionary discussions and my brothers and parents were all baptized. There were no church buildings since the church was so new in Portugal so they were baptized in a huge rubber swimming pool. The meetings were held in a local building that served other purposes. We were only the second family to join in Coimbra and one of the first few in Portugal.

I had to wait until I was 8 years old and was also taught the discussions. The missionaries gave me a Book of Mormon and asked me if I would like to be baptized. I was very young but I already loved the gospel in a way that I can't explain. I was so happy every time I went to church. We always had family home evenings and I loved my dad's prayers. It was my pleasure to accept to be baptized.

I will never forget my own baptism. I had a wonderful experience that day which will always be sacred to me.

I know that my parents went through many trials as they faced that war but I believe that it definitely prepared them to meet the missionaries and be ready to receive what the Lord had in store for us.

We were spared our lives and also given a spiritual beginning.