Friday, September 9, 2011

Finding the Family Proclamation on the Passenger Seat by Angela Fallentine







"Several years ago as a single adult, I was living and working in Washington, D.C.  As is customary for all vehicles in that area, I needed to get my car inspected in order to pass the appropriate safety and emissions standards. 


I arrived at a garage one afternoon to find the lineup for inspections about 8 or 9 cars long. It was a beautiful spring day, so I rolled down the windows, turned off the car and pulled out a copy of The Family: A Proclamation to the World, which I kept in my car along with some other church material for times such as these. My stake president had recently counseled each member to commit it to memory, so I thought this free time allowed me the perfect opportunity to do so. 


Eventually, my turn came to get my car inspected. One of the men who did the inspections told me he'd drive my car into the garage and asked me to wait in the adjacent waiting room until it was completed. 


Time ticked on and as I watched other customers come in and out, my heart began to sink thinking that something must be very wrong with my car for it to be taking so long. I was working for a non-profit organization at the time and money was scarce. With each minute that passed, the heavier my heart became.

After what felt like a lifetime, the gentleman came into the waiting room from the garage with the receipt saying that I passed the inspection and to please pay for it at the cashier. 


What a relief! I walked out to where he had parked my car and found him waiting. His eyes were full of intensity when he asked, "Miss, miss, can I please talk to you for a minute?" I responded that it was fine, and then he proceeded to share some words which I will never forget. 


"I want to apologize for taking so long with your car inspection. You see, when I drove your car into the garage, I noticed a document on your passenger seat. I was drawn to it and instead of bringing your car back to you, I sat in your car in the garage reading it over and over again. What is this church? What is this document about the family? Can I have a copy?  It said that it was written by apostles.  Do you mean to tell me that there are apostles and prophets here on the earth, just like in Jesus' time?  Please, please, I need to know." 


I was almost speechless, but gathered my thoughts and began testifying to him that there are indeed prophets and apostles here on this earth, just as in the time of Jesus Christ.  I told him about the Prophet Joseph Smith and the restoration of the gospel, and part of that meant that we have a living prophet and apostles today.  I proceeded to give him everything I had in my car related to the Church, and the conversation ended with a sincere expression of gratitude from this kind and humble man.

As I drove away, tears filled my eyes as I realized that it was not by chance I left a copy of The Family: A Proclamation to the World on my seat that day. 


I have never forgotten that experience, nor the look of eagerness in that man's eyes when asking if there were apostles and prophets on earth today.  It was a powerful lesson on following promptings, sharing the gospel and the reality and power of modern revelation."






Angela Fallentine and her husband John met in DC, married in Bountiful, Utah, and now call New Zealand home.  Angela enjoys working from home with her husband, snorkeling and boogie boarding, classical music, foreign travel and cultures, and being a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  









Now here is a tool to help YOU share what you know and love about Family: 

a "homemade" Family Proclamation Pass-along Card!  


  


A few days ago, I enlisted my good friend Allison Kimball of Simple Inspiration to help bring this whimsical, but practical version of a Family Proclamation Pass-along card to life.

You can download this card in a variety of sizes to print off for your personal use by clicking the words "Download Happy home" below:
Thank you, Allison, for donating your time and talents to help make it easier for all of us to share what we believe about family!








It's prize time...Below is today's giveaway and entry form.


Enter right here, leave a comment on today's post, 
and then visit the other blogs to read their posts for today!


Welcome to the Madness
The Red Headed Hostess


This beautiful 11x14 print from theprintboutique has the major points of The Family: A Proclamation to the World put in graphic form. The colors can be customized to fit your décor. All prints are printed on e-surface photographic quality paper with archival inks and a matte finish. The Print Boutique is offering all of you a 15% discount for the next two weeks! Just enter code 'celebratefamily' without the quote marks into the code box upon checkout.

57 comments:

  1. This is a beautiful story -- I hope you will send it in to the Ensign! And thanks Allison for creating the fabulous pass along card to help us share it with the world. This document can be the pillar of truth that draws people to the Gospel.

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  2. exceptional story. what an event to publish for all to read and encourages me to leave a copy everywhere. thanx for the free download.

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  3. Beautiful story, what an inspiration.

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  4. Wow, what a powerful story! Incredible!

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  5. I hadn't thought about The Proclamation as a missionary tool before, but it would be a wonderful and important message to "pass-along" to others. Beautiful cards! Thanks!

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  6. Beautiful. What an amazing missionary experience, a true miracle.

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  7. Awesome and inspirational! I need to get my act together. :) Thanks for the uplift!

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  8. great story. I just returned from Iceland where I gave out my 3 copies of Book of Mormon to newly discovered cousins over there. That feels so good.

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  9. What an amazing story! I am so excited for the next 2 weeks of inspiration. Thanks for doing this. I am going to use this amazing story as our devotional for our homeschooling morning routine.

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  10. Thank you so much for all the hard work you all have put into this celebration.

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  11. What an awesome experience! It leaves me wanting the "rest of the story" Thanks for sharing!

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  12. With a message like this today, it's a no wonder there were so many "glitches" yesterday.

    SIMPLY BEAUTIFUL. Thank you for the beautiful testimony.

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  13. Oh, I loved that .... as I sit here bawling at my computer screen. It's humbling to understand what we DO have in the gospel - a living prophet and apostles and direction from our Heavenly Father.

    I'm very thankful to be a member of the true church upon the earth today. I testify that the heavens are open and Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ direct us today. I testify that Joseph Smith restored the true church upon the earth today. I testify that families can be together forever through the sealing power of the priesthood in the holy temples.

    I have joy each day with the truths we have through the gospel of Jesus Christ. I am thankful to know that as I kneel and pray each day, a loving Heavenly Father knows me and hears me.

    Thanks for the messages you bring to the internet. I know I will enjoy following this "Family Celebration".

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  14. What a great story! Thanks for doing this family celebration. The proclamation has become more and more important to me lately.

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  15. Inspiring, thank you for sharing. We never know what following those small and simple promptings will bring, do we?

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  16. Just found you ... great blog and wonderful message!

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  17. What an amazing missionary opportunity you had! Thank you for sharing!

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  18. What an amazing experience I also suggest sending it into the Ensign.

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  19. That is a lovely story. I'm scared I won't know what to say if that sort of situation ever happens to me.

    Just out of curiosity-where exactly in NZ are you? My husband is from there and has lots of family still there so I know the geography pretty well.

    Also I second Laura-you should definitely submit this to the Ensign

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  20. what a great story and great printable! Thanks.

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  21. OH, and thanks Jocelyn and Allison for the pass along cards-so cute!

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  22. By small and simple things. . . .missionary moments like this are wonderful!

    Allison I continue to be amazed by your talents!

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  23. Thank you so much for sharing this story. It makes me want to be better prepared for sharing the gospel and reminds me that you never know when the opportunity will present itself!

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  24. Thank you, Jocelyn for such a wonderful blog. I started following you last year as you celebrated the family. So happy to see you're doing it again. I loved this story Angela shared today. I'm excited about the giveaway from the print boutique, too cute! Thanks for a wonderfully inspiring blog. :)

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  25. What a great lesson about what is in your car, home, and on your face teaches so much!

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  26. I told on my blog about all 4 of you and your blogs and celebration.

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  27. That is a great story!! Thank you for sharing :)

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  28. Wow that's great! Thanks for sharing (and the great pass along card).

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  29. It's amazing the ways we can be inspired to do little things in our day to day lives. Thanks for sharing. I am very glad you are doing another installment of Celebrating Families! The other sites look amazing as well!

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  30. I love your blog and love the family proclomation! Thank you for all your hard work.

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  31. I'd love to have more experiences like this one. Amazing!

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  32. @ Curls, to answer your question, we live on the North Island of New Zealand, in a coastal city called Tauranga, if your Kiwi husband is familiar with that area. (And hello to a fellow Canadian!)

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  33. What a great opportunity you had to share with someone about the gospel, those are the kind of moments I love to have with others. It is so wonderful that it was brought about by "The Proclamation" being left in your car.

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  34. I loved that story. What a wonderful and yet simple way to spread the gospel. Thank you for the celebration!

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  35. This is a great story. Thanks for sharing it with all of us!

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  36. What an incredible experience! Thanks for sharing!

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  37. What a wonderful reminder that the Lord is mindful of all of His children, and answers prayers through us! I'm so excited about the pass along cards, I had just been thinking how great it would be to have a Proclamation pass along card!! What a blessing.

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  38. That was such an amazing story!
    And thank you so much for the download. With wedding gifts, I give a copy of the proclamation and copy that specific sentence in the card just in case they don't want to read the whole thing. This card will be so much cuter in my cards than me copying a sentence:)

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  39. That is awesome! What a wonderful experience.

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  40. What a great story!! Thank you!

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  41. Beautiful story! Thanks for sharing!

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  42. It is through this celebration on families that I was lucky to be lead to your wonderful site. I am sure that I will frequent this site, as I have now put it in my bookmarks. I am loving the celebration on families! I am grateful for the knowledge that families are forever and that we need to do our part here to make our families strong so that we can live together forever in the eternities. What a great story you have shared here, your story has inspired me to be better at sharing what I believe to those around me. Thank-you for the Family Proclamation pass along cards. I will print them off and put them in my purse.

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  43. Thank you for sharing your experience! It brightened my day!

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  44. What an amazing story! Thank you for sharing.

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  45. Okay, Jocelyn... pretty sure I didn't understand the whole cool widget thingy and therefore have WAY too many entries in the giveaway. And that's not fair for my idiocy to give me an edge ;) so... someone who knows stuff can delete any and all of those extra entries and next time I promise to pay attention and enter only legitimate entries and no duplicates :)

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  46. Wow. I love this. Thank you. We had a contractor in our home doing work for a while, and had a similar experience when he read the proclamation on the wall. I gave him a small copy and hope it may have helped him, too.

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  47. Angela, this story is so powerful! Thanks again for sharing it with all of us! :)

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  48. What a great story!! Thank you for all your hard work and great example.

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  49. Ang - This is from Laura McMullin (she had trouble leaving a comment, but she writes this via FB:) -

    "Thanks for the story and the amazing print out. I am so excitted to see what missionary oppitunites lay in my path now."

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  50. A wonderful story! Thank you for sharing! It's amazing how the Lord works in little ways!

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  51. Such an inspiration!! And that is what we all need now and then - inspiration.. so thank you :)

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  52. I love the Family Proclamation! The world needs it now more than ever! This amazing story is proof of that - thanks for sharing it. Thanks also for the darling pass-along cards. I'm going to use these and write the link to mormon.org/family on the back of it so they know where to learn more!

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  53. Did you see this made it into the March 2013 Ensign?!

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