I’m retired and a mom of three grown kids, one of whom has Down syndrome. I do a lot of volunteer work at a local pantry, with Special Olympics, a few dog rescues, and a wildlife rescue. I stay busy. I also have 10 grandkids, which definitely keeps me running around!

Before I found the gospel, my life was very different. I had been through the foster home system and was involved in a lot of drugs. I felt like a boat without a rudder, with no purpose. I didn’t enter the foster care system until I was 16, so I wasn’t there for very long—just two years.

Finding the gospel was an unexpected journey. I was an atheist, and I was happy in that belief. I wasn’t looking for anything, but I had always loved studying, particularly biology. I spent a lot of time in the library as a kid, and I was fascinated by the complexity of the cells in leaves. I was studying how plants photosynthesize, and I learned that there’s so much more going on in those cells than just the obvious. One day, while I was walking in the woods, a leaf floated down and landed on my thigh. I picked it up and thought about all the intricate processes I had learned about. It was clear to me that this wasn’t something that could have happened by accident—it was just too complicated.

So, I said a prayer, something I’d never really done before. I simply said, “Dear God, if you’re there, it’s Robin, and I’d kind of like to know.” In that moment, I felt like someone had wrapped a warm blanket around me. It was a good feeling, but it also made me think, “Uh-oh, now I need to do something.” I knew I had opened a door I wasn’t sure I could close. When I got home, I grabbed the phone book and went to every church I could find listed. Some were better than others, but I didn’t feel anything that made me want to return. Then, about a year later, I was talking to a friend, and she said, “I don’t remember you coming to my church.” I told her I’d gone to every church in the phone book, and she said, “Well, ours wasn’t listed.” So, I went with her to her church, and when I walked in, it just felt right.

Her husband, who was a stake missionary, and his companion came over and taught me the lessons. By the end of the first lesson, I thought, “You didn’t teach me anything new. You just reminded me of a lot of things.” It felt right. I went for three years before I was baptized. In Relief Society, they’d joke about how I knew everything about baptism but hadn’t been baptized yet. There was never any pressure, though; I just kept going to church.

I eventually realized I needed to take the next step. I was a single mom by then, with three kids, and we were semi-homeless. I had gotten out of a bad marriage and was working multiple jobs and going to college to make sure my kids had food and we had a place to live. I had asked for a priesthood blessing for my kids, and the feeling of the power of the priesthood was overwhelming. It felt so comfortable and right, and I knew I needed to be baptized. However, I still couldn’t commit to paying tithing. One day, a woman at church passed me in the hallway and mentioned Malachi 3:8. She didn’t explain it, just told me to read it. I went home, read the verse, and it spoke to me. It said that if you pay your tithing with a happy heart, the windows of heaven would open. At that time, I could barely imagine what that would look like. I had enough food for my kids, but if they left food on their plates, I could eat. I was down to 92 pounds and was really scared about feeding them.

That night, I had a moment of peace, that same warm blanket feeling. I lived across from the post office, and I had $32 left for groceries for the next two weeks. I decided to write a check for $30, my tithing, and I dropped it off at the post office. When I ran back home, my legs were so weak I ended up on my knees. I prayed again, and I got that good feeling. The next day, I received a phone call from a pizza place where I had applied for a job months earlier. They wanted me to work two nights a week. When I went in, they asked what my kids liked to eat, and when I said, “Anything,” they ended up giving us two large pizzas. They made mistakes and sent the extra pizzas home with us.

The next week, I found a $20 bill in a parking lot and then a $5 bill in a shopping cart at another store. I thought, “Well, $2 of that is going to tithing, and 50 cents of that is going to tithing.” I’ve never starved since. In March, the missionaries—who we called the “muffinaries” because they brought us muffins since we were so poor—suggested that I get baptized on April 1st, which was also April Fool’s Day. I finally made that leap of faith and got baptized. It was a huge step for me, but I believed that the bigger the leap of faith, the stronger the testimony.

Since I was baptized, my life has been completely different. I have purpose now. My son with Down syndrome received a blessing when he was two and a half, saying that his place in the Celestial Kingdom is assured. He’s not here to learn but to test and to teach. If I want to be with him, I need to get there too. So, I am focused now, and my life has been so much better. I now have a stable career, my own home, and I’m doing well.

Finding the gospel has been a complete transformation for me, and I’m so grateful for the blessings I’ve received.