I have a couple of personal experiences to share and I pray that you will receive these experiences in the way that they are given.
It’s been nearly 20 years since I was baptized and confirmed. As a new member, I knew practically nothing about the gospel, but I had faith in the missionaries that taught me, and I was willing to accept some of the things that they taught me on faith and become a member of the church. Following my baptism, I was a member of the Antioch First Ward of the Antioch Stake [California] which was one of the fastest-growing stakes and wards I have ever seen. In the 11 years we lived there, four wards became 11 and the stake had split. The Elders Quorum of this unit was an extremely dynamic Elders Quorum. They recognized that for brothers to really love one another, they needed to serve together as well as be together socially, so there were lots of opportunities for service and lots of social interaction. They assigned to me probably the most wonderful home teaching companion I’ve ever had in the church: Jeff Bookman. He recognized that I was not converted to the principle of home teaching, and it took him quite a while to get me to go. When he finally managed to get me to go home teaching, he arranged an experience for me that I would bear my testimony to a family who was having problems with the Word of Wisdom and had stopped coming to church because of it. I was terrified at the prospect of talking about my personal experiences in front of people I didn’t know. We went on the home teaching assignment. I had prepared myself with prayer and reading my scriptures that I would do and say the things that the Lord would want me to do and say. After a period of time of Brother Bookman breaking the ice with a little informal chit chat, he turned the time over to me, and I bore my testimony of the kindness of the Lord in helping people who had made sacrifices, even the sacrifices of such things as giving up smoking. I bore my testimony to this family of my own experience and conversion of following the Word of Wisdom. Following my testimony, I found myself exhorting them not to let a few cigarettes stop their young son, who was trying to decide whether to go on a mission or not, to come between him and his decision. I’ll never forget the feeling that was in that room that night. It was as if everything in the whole world had stopped to listen to the words that had been said. I recognized then the influence of the Holy Ghost as I testified to that family.
Six months after my baptism, I had no calling and I’d been praying for something to do. One of the counselors in the bishopric asked me to have lunch with him and we met at a Chinese restaurant. He asked me to be the gospel doctrine teacher in our ward. That’s the ward where the stake president lived–a huge ward. I was absolutely terrified at the prospect. I didn’t know anything about the church or anything about the gospel. I’d been a member for six months, but he kept encouraging me to accept the calling. By the time the meal was done, he asked, “Do you need more time to think about it?” I opened my fortune cookie. It said, “You will be successful in whatever calling you adopt.” I kept that fortune cookie and accepted the calling. That calling was a big blessing in my life. I learned much from my study of the scriptures and the members of the ward helped me with the knowledge that I didn’t have. I placed my faith in the Lord and he led me in the way that I should go.