turned to God completely and
He showed me the way. My
faith grew to a level I had
never known. It grew so
much that I was willing to go
to the Salvation Army's Cen-
tral Music Institute (CMI)
that summer. I was excited to
go. I observed problems at the
church I was attending. I be-
lieved in God, but hated
church. At CMI, I experi-
enced the same kind of en-
the Army's divisional camp in 7th grade. My best
friend at CMI, whose parents were Salvation
Army officers, helped me come to a great conclu-
sion--I belonged to the Salvation Army.
with the Army. When I got home, I contacted the
officers from my home corps. I began attending the
corps that September and my faith blossomed. I
then asked if I could become a Senior Soldier. I was
thrilled when I started taking the classes for it. I
felt like I was doing what God wanted. That June I
got my wish. I became a Senior Soldier.
the Army's Central Bible and Leadership Insti-
tute. I grew in faith in ways I never knew before.
wrong. He suffered a fate no one deserves, and still
He loved those who killed Him. I do things wrong
every day, whether by accident or on purpose. What
right do I have not to love everyone in Christ? I have
no right to hate anyone. God truly is love.
how they were saved--when
can usually name the time, day and
year it happened. I can't name the
year, let alone the day.
knowledge about God. I would tell
people I believed in Him, and in a
way I did. But I believed in my head,
not in my heart. I knew the stories
from the Bible about Jesus healing
and teaching and doing good, but I didn't truly un-
derstand or appreciate their meaning.
showed me God was involved. I began to see the kind
of things God does. That year proved to be quite hard
camp with a friend whose mother was training to be
an officer in The Salvation Army. I had never expe-
rienced such enlightenment before that. Still, my
faith was not very powerful. When camp ended, I fell
right back to my old ways. I still went to church and
attended girl guards, but I didn't know the true
meaning of faith.
lieve was renewed, to some degree. As soon as
ninth grade hit, however, that was gone. At the
end of ninth grade, I went with my friend to see
her mom get commissioned as a Salvation Army
officer. I loved the commissioning events. After
that my friend and her mom moved away to her
new appointment.
the Lord again. My fight to maintain my belief was
rather feeble, but I kept hold of what I had. When
11th grade started, I was still hanging on, and I
noticed my faith actually growing. I went through
St. Cloud, MN.