Missionary moments: Answer to prayer
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Shankar Sivanandan, a college student from India, has been pursuing his graduate studies in Engineering at Texas A&M and a graduate degree in Business from Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
Two years ago, he began praying to receive some answers about the purpose of life and to gain some strength in dealing with the adversity he was facing at that time. "I lost all enthusiasm for life, and had some pretty bizarre ideas for my future. But I did have the good sense to pray," said Shankar.
About two weeks later, missionaries tracting in his apartment building knocked on his door. "The first thought I had," he said, "was that was the church that made those wonderful heart-warming television ads that I had seen over the years …. Normally I didn't give missionaries from any church the time of the day, but I literally took their appearance as an answer from God." He began to study with them, receiving support from members of the Corpus Christi 2nd and 3rd wards. Members were eager to share their testimonies, their homes, their knowledge, and their love with him on his journey of investigation.
He reached the peak of his investigation when he was baptized on March 2, 2002. A year later he received his endowments at the Houston Texas Temple.
Of his conversion, he said, "If I did not stand up for my God, and His Son, my Savior, what kind of man would I be?"
Since joining the Church, he has made amazing spiritual progress, working hard and studying the gospel to gain a testimony. In his time as a member, he has served as a ward missionary, executive secretary to a bishop, and is now secretary in the elders quorum. — Joseph Aldrich and Norma J. Ratliff
