A Story of Two Stones

A little of religious history first......

According to Christian as well as Mormon tradition Jesus walked the streets of Jerusalem. He also, according to The Book of Mormon, visited the Americas.

Now to my story of the two stones.

When I was 15 years old I was an exchange student to Guatemala for the summer. One of the trips I took with other students from Alabama was to the ancient Mayan ruins at Tikal. As I was exploring the pyramids and climbing to the top of one I passed a couple from the United States. They greeted me and said they were visiting from Utah. We spoke for a little while. It was just nice speaking to anyone who spoke English. At this time in my life I knew very little if any about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The couple told me a little about their faith and how the Mayan ruins held meaning to them. I did not really hold onto any of the information they shared with me. As my day at Tikal came to an end something prompted me to pick up a stone from the ground. I put it in my pocket and it made its way back to Alabama with me. It ended up tucked away in an old chest for years. As the years passed and I finished high school I met a young man. He was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We dated and eventually married. I converted to his faith and was baptised right after we were married. He had joined the Navy and during our first year of marriage he was deployed to the Mediterranean. One of the stops he made was Israel. He had a chance to visit Jerusalem. I asked him to pick up a stone for me from the streets of Jerusalem. He did so and brought it home to me months later. I dug up my old stone from Tikal. I placed these two stones together on a shelf for all to see. For years they held meaning for me. They supported my testimony to the church. I had two stones that Jesus could have tread upon on separate sides of the world. I am no longer a member of the church but I feel that my two stones still hold a story or two.