07-16-2004, 08:40 AM
Assalamo Alikum brothers and sisters. its me WEL_MEL but for some unknown reasons i have changed my user ID to WEL_MEL_2.
anyway, on behalf of our sister Sally. here is her touching story. and she will Inshaa ALlah join us here very soon and her user name is SALLY LOVES ISLAM.
ALLAHU AKBAR.
salam
wel_mel
==================================================
I was brought up in a catholic family and raisd with Catholic values and traditions. At the age of fifteen i entered the monastery. While inside the monastery i was happy because i can perform my duties as a NUN and the people around me including my family were also pleased with me.
Until such time when i began to ask myself every night; "What am i doing here inside the monastery?" i stayed in our small and hamble chapel and started to ask God if he is really here listening to me. because i have learned in our catechism that God is present in the Blessed Sacrament.
Many questions were lingering my mind. Doubts were cropping up , particularly concerning the reality of Jesus Christ. However, i did not have the courage to ask a priest nor my co-nuns who were with me at that time. I was afraind that they might take it against me.
So i let all doubts linger, i even allowed myself to profess my first temporary vows, and i kept on renweing it every year for TEN YEARS. Until such time thay i could not take it anymore. my perpetual vows of chastity and poverty; proffessing that Jesus Christ is my God and that he is the son of God.
I started to pray harder, asking God for guidance and to show me the right path.
If i will leave the monastery it would bring great pain to my mother! My father actually did not mind if i leave the church and have my own family.
But i do not want to hurt my family, particularly my mother, my two brothers who are BOTH priests and my four sisters who happen to be all NUNS!
Above all i dont want to be hypocrite and pretend that i am happy practicing something which is against my underlying principle.
So i did not submit my application letter of perpetual profession, i talked to my superior general informing her that i am finally LEAVING THE MONASTERY.
Without informing my family i left to find work to survive, after while i met a close friend of mind who is a priest and offered me to work with him in his church in Marawi City (Philippines) as a parish coordinator.
Incidentally, my family heared the news that i left the church and it was very hard for them to accept the fact but they were hoping that one day i might come back to serve the church.
While working as a parish coordinator, the priest who hired me (MY FRIEND) was not treating me well, He did not even pay me salary and tried to sexually abuse me. But Thanks God he was not successful with his evil intentions.
Agains i started to pray asking God to be with me and to make me happy, because i have never been at peace with my life, My heart and mind were miserable.
A NEW DAY:
On June 17, 2001, early morning , I heared a beautiful sound but i did not understand what it was. i thought it was coming from the mosque nearby. As soon as i heared that sound i felt like i was dipped in refreshing water. i cannot explain the feeling.
That day i felt happiness entering my heart, though i did not understand what i heared. So after heaing this amazing sound i said to myself those few words " There is a new day, there is a new beginning"
i woke up that morning asking what was that sound and they told me it was the call for prayers of Muslims. Strange i came to this City (Marawi) on the first week of May 2001, but i only heared the call of prayers of Muslim on June 17 2001.
That day i decided to find out about Islam and Muslims. i started to search through reading some books untill finally i left my work, i went back to my family in Pampanga and found out that my father already passed away.
I was dipressed for a while but it did not stop me to discover Islam. So i went to Manila hoping to find someone to explain to me about Islam. In my heart i was reading to embrace Islam but i did not know how!
I did not give up, i search on the internet, i even went to the extent of joining chatting rooms, hoping to find a Muslim who can enlighten me about Islam.
Finally, i met someone in one of these Chat rooms, He is foreigner married to a Filipina. that time he was in China when i was discussing with him about Islam.
On June 16, 2004 i met that brother in Manila, he started to explain to me about Islam and ON THAT MEMORABLE DAY i declated:
LA ILLAHA ILLA ALLAH, MUHAMMADUR RASOLULLAH Wa ANA ISA RASOLULLAH..
i bear witness that there is no other god but ALlah, and Muhammad is his messenger and Jesus Christ is his messenger.
That fateful day, i finally found my new home, the home of Islam, A home where you can find love, happiness and joy. now i can smile , A smile that comes from my heart. On that day i slept very well.
everytime i pray, i cry, not tears of sorrow, but tears of joy. A joy which money cannot buy. its indescribale!
Now i remember when i have a conversation with my grandfather who is also a catholic priest (My mother's uncle). i told him that i want to change my religion and his response to this was surprising! He said "If you want to change your religion, then go back to ISLAM" ALLAHU AKBAR.
May Allah open the hearts of my family to the light of Islam. and May He protect us from Satan. Ameen.
O brothers and sisters! include me in your prayers.
Assalamo Alikum.
Sally.
![[Image: smile.gif]](http://www.islamsms.com/bb/html/emoticons/smile.gif)
.