The Cheapest Book in the Store by: Robert E. Wells

     I listened to this experience at a stake conference as told by a member who had been asked to give his testimony about his conversion.

     The brother said he rode to and  from work about an hour each way on a company bus to a sugar mill outside of town.  He liked to read books on the boring ride but did not have the money to buy new books.  he had a favorite bookstore which also sold used and secondhand books.  one day, with very little money, he entered the store and ask the owner what the cheapest big book was, of over two hundred pares, in the entire place.

     The owner pointed to a box of very old books in a corner.  "Those are about to be junked," he said.  "The prices are marked, but I might even lower it more if you find something you like."
     The interested reader dug through the box was a very tattered, coverless, stained, but intact Book of Mormon. He bought it because it had over five hundred pages and was the cheapest book there.  He had already read the koran, the Talmud, and the Bible, so he thought the Book of Mormon would be as educational as any other religious book.  He was a vocacious reader and like the printed word, he explained to the store owner.

     On the bus he started to read the old, beaten Book of Mormon.  He did not mind the double columns with every verse numbered, because he felt it gave a certain dignified importance to each thought.  He did not mind the lack of illustrations, not did he expect any in such a book.  But the spirit of the contents intriqued him.  He like the old-fashioned and unique way the story began.  He followed it carefully, pondering over what he was reading.

     This fellow got all the way to 2 Nephi chapter 2, when something strange began stirring within him...
     The brother giving his conversion story went on to say that as he read in this chapter he felt an urge to pray to God for the first time in his adult life.  He said he had gone to Mass as a boy with his mother until he was about twelve; then, since his father never went, he decided that he was grown up enough that he did not have to go to Mass nor pray anymore.

     Now he offered a simple prayer to God in his mind, saying, God what is this book? What am I feeling? What am I supposed to do about it?

     He said his answer was nothing more that the impression to wait and God would tell him more.  That night, the fellow was reading in his humble home when two missionaries on their way home felt a distinct inspiration to stop at his door.  They followed  the Spirit.  As the man opened the door to their knock, the entry light fell on the Book of Mormon that one of the missionaries held in his hand in such a way that the title was easily visible to him.  he exclaimed, "You've got my book!" The missionary held his book more tightly, "No, this is my book." The fellow explained, "No-it's just that I have never seen a Book of Mormon with a cover on it.  Come on in! I want to talk to you." He later joined the Church.