From Agnostic to LDS - One Woman's Inspiring Conversion: Meka Reed's Story - Latter-Day Lights

In this episode, Meka Reed tells about her inspiring conversion story of how she went from being agnostic to becoming a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Join us as Meka shares some of her difficult trials, blessings, miracles, and even comical adventures that have ultimately led her and her family into the waters of baptism and ultimately to the temple.

This is a story of hope and inspiration that you don't want to miss.  :-)

*** Please SHARE Meka's story and help us spread hope and light to others. ***

To WATCH this episode on YouTube, visit: https://youtu.be/9rZxv-KAil4

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To READ more about Meka's book "My Dot Matters", visit (direct link): https://mydotmatters.com/

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Also, if you have a faith-promoting or inspiring story, or know someone who does, please let us know by going to https://www.latterdaylights.com and reaching out to us.

Transcript

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Former Agnostic's Journey to Faith

Scott Brandley 0:00

Hi everyone , I'm Scott Brandley .

Alisha Coakley 0:03

And I'm Alisha Coakley . Every member of the church has a story to share , one that can instill faith , invite growth and inspire others .

Scott Brandley 0:11

On today's episode , we're going to hear how a former agnostic went from feeling unseen and unloved to discovering just how much she matters to God . Welcome to Latter-day Lights . Hey everyone , welcome back to another episode of Latter-day Lights . We're so glad that you're here with us and we're really excited to introduce our guest today , meka Reed . Meka , how are you ? Very good , how are you we are doing really good .

Meka Reed 0:47

Doing great . That's awesome . That's awesome .

Alisha Coakley 0:51

I'm super excited you have a book that is being released right , yeah . Yeah , my Dot Matters .

Meka Reed 1:00

My Dot Matters .

Alisha Coakley 1:01

And you're going to be sharing your story about that today , so I'm just going to tell you listeners , you are probably going to want to go pick up yourself a copy Be sure to look in the description for that link and then this is going to be a really , really awesome story here .

Scott Brandley 1:14

Thank you , I don't really know your story , but I'm guessing your book is tells about your story .

Meka Reed 1:24

Yeah , it talks about the details of my story and my faith journey . Okay , and just the things that Heavenly Father did to let me know that I matter , that's awesome .

Alisha Coakley 1:38

That is so cool .

Scott Brandley 1:38

All right . Well , before we get into that , why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself ?

Meka Reed 1:44

Okay , I have two children one is 24 and one is 17 , a boy and a girl . I work in TV and film and I write and direct and I just like to . I like to do a little , a lot of stuff here and there . I've got my hands in like every pot there is to have your hands in . I live in Cincinnati , ohio , and I was raised between Cincinnati and Hyansville , maryland , so I just went back and forth every year .

Alisha Coakley 2:17

So yeah , Wow . So what kind of like writing do you do ? Is it like TV shows or commercials or like what are you , what are you in ?

Meka Reed 2:27

I write . I write for commercials , so I come up with a script for commercials and I write short films and occasionally I get to write an industrial film which is like . Those are usually international , so that's like a lot of fun .

Alisha Coakley 2:45

Yeah .

Scott Brandley 2:46

I like that .

Alisha Coakley 2:47

Well , if you ever want to make a character whose name is Alisha Coakley , just throwing that out there .

Meka Reed 2:53

I will remember that . I will remember that .

Alisha Coakley 2:57

Just don't get a super old lady to play me , okay .

Meka Reed 3:01

And now we've got this on film saying that I have your permission .

Alisha Coakley 3:04

There you go , there you go . She just has to be a really awesome character , though she can't be . She can't be a turd . I got you .

Meka Reed 3:11

I got you , I got you , I got you .

Alisha Coakley 3:14

That's my problem . She was kidding , oh boy .

Scott Brandley 3:17

So how did ?

Meka Reed 3:19

you find us , meka . I was on YouTube and it's really hard to find like blogs and blogs about like Latter-day Saints and Mormons and people in the church Like there aren't . There aren't many out there , and so I was looking for something that could like kind of uplift me a little bit outside of like what I learned in church , because I'm always trying to learn more . Um , and I stumbled across your podcast and I just I don't know , I just got stuck and I just started binge watching your podcast for like weeks at a time and I tried to go through all of them and I just couldn't stop and I was doing stuff at home and I had it playing in the background and it was just , I don't know , it was addicting , awesome .

Scott Brandley 4:07

Yeah .

Alisha Coakley 4:10

So how , how much binging did you do ? Binging did you do before you were like , okay , I have to share my story , was it ? Was it really ? Oh my gosh , let's see .

Meka Reed 4:18

I went like four months back or more , like the last person I saw was .

Alisha Coakley 4:23

Bonner last name Bonner . Oh , mauli , yes .

Meka Reed 4:27

And he was talking about building statues for African-Americans and the and the um the history and things like that , which was like super interesting to me because I don't see much African-American stuff in the church .

Scott Brandley 4:43

Right .

Meka Reed 4:44

Um , and even in my own ward I'm like there's only two of us , so really , yeah , and one's a really old guy , so oh , oh , yeah , but yeah , so that that really , you know , struck me or got my attention , um , and so I was like , okay , so they , they will let anybody come on here , not anybody , but you know what I mean Anybody who has a story and there's no discrimination or it doesn't have to be like . You know , when you're black , you look at certain things and you're like , would they ever allow me to do it too , you know ? And so I was like , oh yeah , okay , I have a chance .

Alisha Coakley 5:26

Oh , that's awesome . Yeah , we , we love it . I . I think it's fun because we've even had people from we call it across the pond , right Like from over in England and Ireland , and and you know , it's just like there's . It's such a melting pot of stories and I love it so much because I feel like it just um . It really helps me to see just how much each and every one of us , our children of God , like we really are .

Alisha Coakley 5:51

I know it sounds so cheesy and cliche , but we really are just like a big family and I just love it so much and yeah . I'm excited , I'm so excited and I I don't know , I just can't stop smiling and my cheeks are going to hurt by the end of this episode . I just know .

Scott Brandley 6:03

I just know All right . Well , we're excited to hear your story , meka , so let's give you the floor .

Meka Reed 6:13

Okay , so , uh , my story starts in 2018 . Um , the missionaries had been coming to my house , um , for basically that whole year trying to get us to when I say us , my family and I , to open the door to them , and we didn't want to be mean , we didn't want to be like get out of here , don't ever come back , or anything like that , so we just kept leading them on like , oh , maybe next time or and then when they would show up , we would hide or we wouldn't answer the door , um , or if they caught us on the way out , we would just like , oh , um , yeah , I'm not going to be back tonight until really , really late .

Meka Reed 6:59

It didn't even matter if we were only going to be gone like an hour or something like that . We were just like making a ton of excuses to like , make sure they left us alone . And they were really sweet girls , they were very sweet girls and , um , we always had the sister missionaries trying to get our attention and um . So I had been going through a lot during that time period and that's another reason why I didn't want to be dealing with the missionaries . I had my own personal problems . I struggled with depression and anxiety and trigger alert Um , we're going to be talking about some suicidal ideation and things like that , um , but yeah , so I struggled with that and that's something that I struggled with since I was like seven years old . So I've I've always struggled with those feelings of inadequacy and , um , just feelings of being small , not it , not mattering , um , I don't know what you would necessarily call it , but um , so I was kind of feeling like that towards the end of the year and , um , it was the day before my birthday and I tried to commit suicide . Um , it didn't work , hence I'm here today . But but it it led me to the psych ward . So , like , the guy picked me , tried to pick me up and take me to the psych ward , and my son I hid behind my son because I didn't want them to take me and he promised to take me to the nearest psych ward . So I went in there and it was stereotypical that's the best way I can describe it . You know , I I hate to say that it was like a bad psych ward , but it was like everything you've ever seen on the movies . There was another psych ward , there was another one that was closer , like 30 minutes away from my house . That was like really good , but it was kind of like a rush because of what I had tried to do , and so I stayed in the psych ward for , oh , I'd say , about three weeks and I went through the psych ward from November 13th all through Thanksgiving , and then I got out and had to do the outpatient program and the intensive program . So like all of that wrapped together went from November 13th to January 7th , and so during that whole time the missionaries had been trying to get into our house to teach us a lesson .

Meka Reed 9:28

Okay , so after that happened , after I got out of the psych ward and everything like that , we started like making plans to do my medical care and all of that stuff that needs to be done . You know , and that was like the main focus of 2019 , like my medical care , going back and forth to see the psychiatrist , making sure I had the proper medication , still battling depression , not being able to get out of bed , you know those kind of things . And so when the missionaries showed up at the end of the year , which was like in December of 2019 , we were finally like , all right , you , you've earned it . You know you've earned it . You've been chasing us for almost two years . So , like , come on in , right .

Meka Reed 10:25

And so they come into the house and it's just me , because my son ran upstairs to like , not talk to them and hide , and my boyfriend because my husband was my boyfriend back then he ran upstairs . He didn't want to have anything to do with him . My daughter was in Kentucky at school . So I'm sitting there in the living room , they come into the house and I just burst into tears . Now I'm usually pretty stoic . So that was something weird , like straight off , straight off the top , like I just burst into tears and I start spilling my guts about everything that happened and how I wasn't trying to avoid them , but I was avoiding them and how , and you know how . I had so much going on in my life and I'm so sorry . I'm so sorry and they were confused and they were like oh no , you think we're the same missionaries , we're different missionaries . We swapped out and I was just like , oh my gosh you mean I ?

Meka Reed 11:28

let you in here and you weren't even the same people . So they sit down and they're like we just want to be your friend . We came here to tell you we want to be your friend and I was like kind of suspicious of that . I'm like what do you mean ? I want to be my friend . And they were like well , you know , we came by your house , we had a note . They said they had a note or something like that in their system and so they go by everybody's house . And so they just said I want to let you know that Heavenly Father cares for you . Like I really feel like you need to know that . And at that time I felt like Heavenly Father didn't even know I existed , like , and if he existed he didn't know I existed . And if he didn't exist , then of course he doesn't know I exist . You know what I mean .

Alisha Coakley 12:20

Like I

Religious Journey and First Church Experience

Alisha Coakley 12:21

just cause . You said earlier that to me over the phone you were agnostic .

Meka Reed 12:27

Yeah .

Alisha Coakley 12:28

And you're well then boyfriend . You're now husband .

Meka Reed 12:31

He was he's atheist . Yeah , he's atheist , right .

Alisha Coakley 12:35

And do you want to share a little bit more about , like your family situation there and stuff . Oh , with him being atheist or yeah , just like how the dynamic was , like you guys weren't going to church or anything , right ?

Meka Reed 12:49

No , we definitely weren't , we definitely weren't going to church , if we definitely weren't living the gospel , we were definitely shacking and doing and living like we were married and we were not married . And the missionaries thought we were married , but it was like no , and they were just like , okay , well , we'll work on one thing at a time , but as far , as like religion was concerned , we got along great because God was not an issue .

Meka Reed 13:22

You know , it was like the two things you don't talk about , religion and politics we never talked about . So it was great . And so when the missionaries came in , I told them to prove it that God actually sent them , because I didn't believe them . I'm like he doesn't even know I exist . So prove it . You know that you were sent by him .

Meka Reed 13:43

So they carry these cell phones with them and they have like little maps on them and they told me that they pray every morning to find out who they should like go to you know what I mean To who they should try to teach or whatever . And the Heavenly Father gives them like certain houses , certain names and things like that . And so they told me that when they did it that morning , that my house was chosen . And then they showed me the cell phone with my dot there and I was like , are you sure that's my dot ? And they were like , yeah , that's your dot , you matter to God . And that's actually how I came up with the title of the book , because I didn't know that I mattered . And then , when I saw that dot , which is something so small , I know , and so like a dot , you know , but it really like spoke to me in that moment , like , hmm , maybe he does see me , maybe he does love me . I was , it began to open up my mindset or my or my you , just just my outlook , right Of things .

Meka Reed 14:59

And so they gave me the Book of Mormon that night and they were like read the introduction . And so I read all the introduction and about Joseph Smith and everything like that , and I was immediately suspicious because everybody was related in the beginning . All the witnesses , all the witnesses were related and I'm just like maybe they all got together and just like decided to do this . This is kind of suspicious . And then , but then I was like , okay , just give it a full chance , don't just like cut yourself off , keep reading . Because they told me to read the first chapter of First Nephi yeah , I think it was First Nephi and I dove into it , started reading the first chapter of First Nephi and could not stop reading . Like it was so captivating it was . It read like a script . You know what I mean . Like as a person in acting and directing and in that kind of creative field , I could see it play out like a movie .

Alisha Coakley 16:06

As .

Meka Reed 16:06

I was reading it , you know , and so I couldn't put it down . And so when the sister missionaries came back , like two days later or something , I was like halfway through First Nephi and so they were just like , oh my gosh , you read like way more than we expected you to read . And so so I just , you know , they talked to me and they taught me and they just said , just keep reading the book , you know , as much as you can , try to get through First Nephi . So that's what I was trying to do , like over the next few days and things like that . So anyway , once we had , once I had started reading the Book of Mormon and everything like that that made me kind of more interested in maybe going to the church . So because it was December , they were , the church was having some kind of a like party , like a Christmas party or something Like a ward dinner or something .

Meka Reed 17:02

Yeah , yeah , like something like that . And they invited our family to the ward dinner party or whatever . And we went there . We went there First . We got in the building and we were like is this the right building ? Like are we ? Is this a church ? You know well , first my boyfriend had to have this cigarette . So he's sitting outside of the church smoking his cigarette Cause he was a smoker . I wasn't a smoker , I was more of a drinker . So so he got there having his cigarette and we're like looking around , like where's everybody ? Cause we didn't see anybody . Turned out , everybody was in the cultural home which I call the gym .

Alisha Coakley 17:42

I call that the gym . It's still the gym to me too , okay .

Meka Reed 17:46

And so the missionaries came and was like okay , well , you know , took us into the cultural hall with them . And so many people were there . Everybody was just like I don't know , they flock to us like a magnet . You know what I mean . And it was so overwhelming because everybody wanted to shake your hand , everybody wanted to fist , bump you , give you a high five or whatever . And so and I'm sitting there because I have anxiety , right . So I'm sitting there shaking , I'm having a panic attack , like in the moment , and this is just so embarrassing to me because I'm like this is my first time at church and I'm already having a nervous breakdown . Like this makes no sense . So we made it through . We made it through that we were introduced to a lot of people who would later on help us out on our spiritual journey , and they said we'll come back tomorrow , because that happened on a Saturday . Come back tomorrow and we can get you a blessing from one of the I forget what they called them one of the people that give blessings .

Meka Reed 18:56

And so we went to sacrament the next day and when we went to sacrament , they were voting on something and I was like . I was like oh my gosh , what is going on ? So me and my family , we were all just like looking at each other and everybody's raising their hands and stuff and we're like we're not registered to vote , like are we supposed to vote ? And they're just like no , you don't have to be registered to vote , just raise your hand . And so we're like raising our hand . We didn't like know what was going on . You don't even know what we voted for , if I voted , even counted . And then after that they start to pass sacrament . So they're passing sacrament and we see these like puff full from like a couple of seats ahead of us . They have like puffy something on the tray , that's all we see . The tray looks pristine , but there's something puffy on the tray . So it's going around and everybody's getting some . And I'm looking at it and I'm like this is sandwich bread . I'm like why are we eating sandwich bread ?

Alisha Coakley 20:11

Where is the ?

Meka Reed 20:12

rest of the meat . It was just so weird , like why would we eat torn up sandwich bread ? This doesn't make any sense . And the sisters are like go ahead , you can have it , you can have it . So we're like , ok , so we ate our piece of sandwich bread and everything . And it was the best sandwich bread we ever had in our lives . It was like , wow , this is the best sandwich bread ever . And then they passed . Then they passed around the water and we were just like , ok , now we're going to have bread and water . That is such a like , that's just such a third world thing that have like bread and water .

Scott Brandley 20:50

Third world .

Meka Reed 20:53

And so we take our water it's the best water we ever had Like , oh my gosh , everything just feels like next level . I can't explain it . We were having like a spiritual experience without even realizing we were having a spiritual experience because later we found that that water came from the drinking fountain . Yeah , there was nothing special about it .

Alisha Coakley 21:14

I don't think I ever thought that there have been times where I was like , oh , someone should not ever bring this bread again , because it was like I'm like , why are we doing wheat bread ? No , I don't want to wheat bread .

Meka Reed 21:24

That's how I think . Now , when I see wheat bread , I'm like does this have nuts in it ?

Alisha Coakley 21:28

What is this ? Oh people , come on , this is blessed , like I want some cinnamon . Cinnamon roll bread . Yes , banana nut , there you go , something like that .

Meka Reed 21:39

Yeah , so we went through all of that and then they say , okay , well , the sacrament was over , people gave , of course , people gave their talks and stuff , but then sacrament ended . So then the missionaries they're like , okay , follow us . So me and my boyfriend at the time our son was like I'm not going , I don't know what's happening , I'm not going . So he's waiting in the lobby . So me and my boyfriend start heading back down the hallway following the missionaries to wherever these people are , that's going to pray for us .

Meka Reed 22:15

But when they said that we were going to get blessed , we were like , well , I don't want to get hexed or nothing I don't want . Is this like magic ? We don't want no spells or anything . We literally said that because we didn't know Right . And they were like , no , it's not a spell , they're just going to put their hands over your head and they're going to pray . So it's like totally safe . We just looked at each other , like , okay . So when we got in there , there were like three guys surrounding one chair and my boyfriend was like we're like rock , paper , scissors . Who's going to go first ? So he's like he loses , so he goes first .

Meka Reed 23:00

He's like how noble I know . So he goes first , they pray over him and you know , everything's , everything's fine , nobody gets hexed , there's no magic spells , nothing . So then I'm like okay , cool , so it'll be all right for me to go . So I get there and I sit down in the chair and they pray for me and as they're praying , I'm like I'm going to remember all the stuff they say to me while they're praying , because I'm going to need to bring this back up in my mind later on . At least that's what I think . Right , as soon as they said amen , I forgot everything . Everything just completely wiped out of my brain . I was like , okay , he said like , even to this day I have no idea what they said . It's nothing , like I have no idea . So then we're like okay , well , let's get out of here because he's Jonesing for a cigarette . So we are outside the door .

Meka Reed 23:58

Oh , I forgot to tell you , before we actually went into the church for sacrament , we met the patriarch , yeah , and he saw my boyfriend smoking outside and he said that was me when I was young . And we were like what ? And he's like yeah , I used to smoke cigarettes . And he was like I smoked my last cigarette the day of my baptism , went in the water and came out and never smoked again . So I was like that never happens . That never happens .

Meka Reed 24:33

Like that guy is crazy , right , he's just making up stuff to like hook you so that you can go to church . So then we go to sacrament and then we get blessed and then we come out and my boyfriend sitting there and he's smoking his cigarette or trying to , and all of a sudden he's like he's making all these faces , he spit and then carrying on and I'm like what is wrong with you ? You are doing the most . And he's like the cigarette tastes disgusting . And I was just like well , why is your cigarette disgusting ? You know what I mean . Like he's like it was in my pocket the whole time Nobody got to it or anything because he keeps his cigarettes in his pocket the top one .

Meka Reed 25:17

So he's like nobody got to it or anything . So I don't know why , why it tastes funny or whatever . So he threw that cigarette out on the church parking lot ground and so then we get in the car and we're like , oh , we're hungry , let's go get something to eat , because we didn't know you're not supposed to like go out on Sundays and spend money and make people work and all that stuff . We had no idea . So so we go to this nearby restaurant and before he gets ready to go in he gets ready to light up another cigarette . That one was worse than the last one .

Meka Reed 25:55

It was like yes , and he was like wiping his tongue on his hand , like he was really grossed out and so , yeah , so he was so upset he threw that one out and then we went in to eat . Now , at this point in time , he's super frustrated because he's been jonesing for a cigarette for like a minute now and he's not been able to smoke one because they're so disgusting and so and I'm not the most empathetic person like at all , cause I'm like you're overreacting , like it can't be that bad you know what I mean .

Meka Reed 26:32

And so we go in there , we eat our food and everything , and everything is normal in that respect . But when we went outside again and he's like , okay , cause you know , smokers gotta smoke after a meal Lights up again worse than before , and then he's mad I just wanna smoke my cigarette . This is crazy . And something dropped into my spirit . Like now I know it was my spirit , like something dropped into my spirit , but at that time it was like something just came to my mind and was like why are you trying to tempt God ? Like did I just say that ? Like where did that come from ?

Meka Reed 27:12

And so my boyfriend's like what do you mean ? Tempt God ? I don't know . Why are you tempting him ? Maybe he doesn't want you to smoke anymore . Whatever he's like , I don't care what he wants , I just wanna smoke my cigarette . He's like so we're gonna go home and I'm gonna get my cigarettes . Okay . So we went home and he threw out the pack that he had in his pocket and he went to his stash where he keeps all of his cigarettes at . When he went to the stash , all the cigarettes were gone , like completely gone . He looked around for them and everything those cigarettes had just evaporated .

Meka Reed 27:52

He looked all over the place , could not find them . To this day we don't know where they are . To this day they're gone . And so he's like , okay , now I can't smoke , because every time I smoke it tastes disgusting to me . And he's not smoked since then , like Wow , wow , that was like a bona fide miracle . Like we wanted to call the Vatican and be like you gotta check this out , because this is definitely a miracle To have something like that happen , where one day you're doing just fine , you're living your life , and then the next day it's like pow , and he didn't feel any different after the blessing or anything . But those blessings have power . So you gotta be very careful with those things , because you can't use them all willy-nilly .

Alisha Coakley 28:46

He probably did think it was a curse for a minute there . Yeah , he did . They did text me .

Meka Reed 28:52

Right and that's why we don't get blessings is we're like those things . You can't be a novice messing around with those things . You gotta know what you're doing with that . So , but yeah , so he hasn't smoked since then . So obviously that may just keep going back to the church , right , because we had never seen a miracle in real life . So , right , so we kept going back

Miracles, Baptism, and Chastity

Meka Reed 29:16

to the church .

Meka Reed 29:16

I kept reading the book of Mormon and the missionaries kept teaching us and we kept going about our everyday life . Well , I think I read the book of Mormon in like 30 days . Yeah , because I started reading it and got halfway through it . And when I got halfway through it , something said to me you're no longer suicidal . And I was like what ? And I heard this voice audibly . It was like inside and outside of me at the same time and it was not even , it wasn't a question , it wasn't do you feel like you're suicidal ? No , it was like you are no longer suicidal . Just like that . A statement , just like that . And I was like , okay , no longer suicidal . And I haven't been suicidal since then , like , oh , my goodness , you're talking about somebody who has been suicidal since seven years old .

Meka Reed 30:17

Every day of my life I've tried to commit suicide so many times and been unsuccessful . It's not even funny how many times I've tried and the days that I haven't tried . I've wanted to , I've absolutely wanted to . And to get to that point where you're halfway through the book of Mormon and you hear somebody audibly say you're not suicidal anymore and it actually happens . That to me was like a huge miracle , and so we saw like two bona fide miracles and when we tell people about them they're like wow , you know , like that doesn't usually happen or we've never heard of anything like that before or something to that respect . But yeah , it was very , I don't know . I guess it took that for us to know that we mattered and that Christ could actually see us and that God knew who we were . You know what I mean .

Meka Reed 31:21

To kind of like wake us up a little bit .

Meka Reed 31:23

It took like these big things to happen , because we definitely were blind . And so , as we continue to go on , we're like you know what ? We should get baptized . And so the missionaries start teaching us the baptism lesson , but first , before they started teaching us baptism , they're like , well , you need to know about the word of wisdom . And we're like , okay , so they meet us , they're telling us to meet them in the meeting room , the meeting house , and they've got these chairs seated in a circle and they are in the front of the sanctuary , I guess that's what you call it . And so they're on one side and me and my husband well , my boyfriend at the time we're on the other side and they are sitting there and they are talking to us about how we're not supposed to drink coffee which I was an avid coffee drinker how we're not supposed to do things that harm our bodies , like smoke or like eat certain things , like have tea , all of this stuff .

Meka Reed 32:31

And not only did my boyfriend smoke , but he loves sweet tea . So it was like you gotta be kidding me , man , you're taking everything . Like he was not happy . But then the kicker was you have to obey the law of chastity . And we were like , well , that shit was sale Because we're not doing that one ? We just told him straight out like I'm sorry you're not doing that one .

Meka Reed 33:02

Can we get baptized without doing that ? And they're like no , you can't get baptized without doing that . You have to show that you really want this . You know what I ?

Scott Brandley 33:12

mean .

Meka Reed 33:13

So then you can get baptized . So we were like , well , if we're not gonna do it , then what's the work around ? Right , we're looking for a work around . They're like , well , basically you'd have to like move into separate homes and like stop having sex , and then you could get baptized . And I'm looking at these kids , like move into separate homes . Do you know what that takes ? Like to split a whole house in half and like two rents , two mortgages , two like everything Like that is so expensive , just to get baptized , oh my gosh . So anyway , we decided we weren't gonna split our house up , right ? So we said , all right , well , I guess we'll try to be celibate . We failed . We failed terribly , terribly . I'll just put that out there . It did work out .

Meka Reed 34:12

But they , instead of like getting upset at us because it did work out , they chose to focus on some other things , like the coffee and the tea and the cigarette stuff . Well , my boyfriend didn't smoke cigarettes anymore , so we were in the clear for that . But the coffee I was addicted to it , I just didn't know it . So I'm sitting there trying to give up coffee and the missionaries are like well , we wanna give up something with you so we can be a support to you so we can empathize , right ? So I'm like okay , at least I'm not doing this alone .

Meka Reed 34:48

What are you giving up ? Peanut butter ? Peanut butter , that's all . You're giving up what ? That is not equal at all . That is not equal Like . And they're like I'm like that's not fair . And then the missionary one of them was like oh , I love peanut butter . I eat it like multiple times a day , by the spoonful . I never go past one day without eating it . And I'm like I guess you're addicted , I guess that'll work . And then the other one is like the other missionaries , like I'm gonna give up flavored water . And I'm like womp , womp .

Meka Reed 35:31

What are these kind of like ? You're not matching my energy , like . So the missionary said she was gonna give up flavored water . She was like you don't understand . Like I really don't like the taste of regular water . You know what I mean . So it's gonna be very hard for me to do this . Okay , so we all agree that that's what we're gonna give up . I don't know three or four days in we're because we're like now in COVID , right ? So they call me up on zoom . We like meet on zoom . And I Looked a shovel . I look like I mean I was laying on the couch , I hadn't done my hair and day .

Meka Reed 36:16

I hadn't eaten anything , my head was throbbing , my color was off . I mean , if I could look pale . I was pale like it was bad .

Meka Reed 36:25

It was bad . And and the missionary saw me and is just like so , how are you doing ? And I'm like I'm not good , I'm not good at all , I don't think I'm gonna make it . How are you doing ? She's like , well , it's been kind of hard , but probably not as hard as this been for you , because this is the peanut butter missionary . So I'm like , okay , well , at least your whole , entire to that peanut butter thing . And and the other missionary look , john , this .

Meka Reed 36:55

When I saw her I was like what is going on with you ? You look like your color is off and stuff like that . She's like I haven't really been drinking water . It's been like four days you haven't been drinking water . I told you I didn't like the taste of what , dude , you're gonna kill yourself . Like you got the drink water .

Meka Reed 37:17

And so we decided as a group that she wasn't allowed to participate anymore Because she wasn't drinking any water . She was gonna die . You know , we were just like I don't want that on my conscience . What , what , what , what is that girl gonna tell her mission president if her partner dies because she stopped drinking water ? Right , there's no excuse for that . So we ended up just letting letting her do whatever and we were like , okay , you're the person that will pray for us . You know what I mean . And so she was . She was the person that prayed for us and everything like that and Helped me through my whole coffee thing .

Meka Reed 37:56

It took me like Three or four weeks to kick that coffee thing , because I've been drinking coffee since I was like 12 years old , yeah , and I didn't even know I was addicted until I tried to get rid of it . And so then I was like , okay , well , now I understand why they don't want you like drinking coffee and tea or getting that kind of caffeine , because you know you become addicted and they don't want you to be addicted to anything , right , they want you to have control over your your body , you know , and not your body having control over you . So , anyway , we go through that . And they're like okay , are you ready to do your baptism ? Yet we're like , yeah , we didn't tell them about the whole log chastity thing at all , because these missionaries didn't know . So we're like , okay , we're not gonna tell them about the log chastity , we're just gonna coast through . So they're like , okay , we'll set a baptism date .

Meka Reed 38:58

And they said a baptism date and I guess like two weeks , two weeks before the baptism was supposed to happen , we were . They were like oh , you're gonna have to , you're gonna have to get married . If you're gonna get baptized and live together , you have to get married before you get baptized . We're like , oh my gosh , this church is like ruining our lives . So , yeah , so we're like , all right , we'll get married . I mean , we loved each other . We just felt like , if it ain't broke , don't fix it .

Meka Reed 39:32

You know what I mean so like right , and so it wasn't like they were forcing two people who couldn't stand each other to get married , right ? So we're like , okay , we'll get married . And they were like okay , so we'll set a wedding date . Actually , we're both still married to somebody else .

Meka Reed 39:51

Yeah , we were still married to our other partners , oh yeah , together . So it started to get sloppy after that and so I'm just like okay . So they're like well , you kind of have to , you're gonna have to get a divorce . If you're gonna Like live together and get married , you're gonna have to . So we're like divorce costs too much money . We don't have money for a divorce and that's probably why we didn't we didn't Get the divorce in the first place . Is that costs a lot of money ? I do not recommend it . Like pick somebody you really like and can stay with forever , because divorce will ruin you financially . I Know what I'm talking about . So anyway , so it took . Let's see , my boyfriend got divorced Before he even knew he was divorced . Like his ex-wife had divorced him and already taken half of his money before he realized what happened . Like he never had a court date or anything . My gosh , it was terrible and I mean I know I shouldn't be laughing at it , but how do you get divorced and not even know that ?

Scott Brandley 41:12

Right happening to you .

Meka Reed 41:13

Yeah , yeah it was , it was fast , it was very fast on his part . On my part , my , my then husband , he , he was missing . We didn't know where he was . You know what I mean . So we had to find him . Well , our missionaries are like well , we can help you find them , you know , and we can help you do all your paperwork .

Alisha Coakley 41:35

Now .

Meka Reed 41:36

I don't know if these young girls are supposed to be helping a person get divorced or not , right , but I need help . So I'm like cool , yeah , I need your help , you can help me find them . Yeah , I said I don't know where he is , but here's his name , you know , and this , this is about how old he is . This is the last place that you know I've known him to live , right , and Then I went on about my business , filling out all of the divorce papers and stuff right .

Meka Reed 42:09

Because I had to do my own divorce . So they call me back like 24 hours later . We know where he lives , we've got his number and I'm like how did you find him ? Like I've been trying to find him for like nine years , you know . I mean , I could not find these kids , man , I keep saying kids .

Alisha Coakley 42:29

Well , they really are .

Meka Reed 42:32

These missionaries were like super sleuths and and they found him , so I was able to put all that information on the divorce papers and send them in right .

Meka Reed 42:44

So we're like , okay , now we can plan a wedding , but I guess a few weeks later yeah it took a few weeks it took like two or three weeks because of COVID to get an answer back about whether or not we were gonna be able to Actually divorce each other . You know , I mean they sent me back a 14 Point list of things that I needed to get in order to divorce this man Because we couldn't find him . So there's like things you have to do when you know where your spouse is to divorce them and Things you have to do when you don't know where he is and you want to divorce him . So you have to call every prison , every jail in your , in your state . You have to Go through all of his relatives looking for him . You've got to go through like any schools or or tech tech classes or I mean tech schools and things like that looking for him .

Meka Reed 43:46

You got a . You got to run his License . If you have his license plate or whatever . You have to search through the we call it the DMV in Maryland . But what is it ?

Alisha Coakley 43:56

Yeah , that's ours .

Meka Reed 43:57

Okay , okay , yeah , so you have to go through the DMV and everything .

Missionaries, Divorce, and a New Life

Meka Reed 44:02

It was like a whole bunch of stuff and at that point , when I saw that list of things that I had to do , I basically broke down and said I can't do it . I just I can't do this , we just won't . We just won't get married . And the missionaries were like , look , just give us the list of stuff and maybe we can get like some people in the ward to help us out , you know , with everything . So I said , okay , so the missionaries got people in the ward to do all the like little checklist things and I needed a lawyer for some stuff . And they got a lawyer from the ward to help me . I mean , they would , they like put everything together for me like I Would have never been able to do this now it took a full six months to divorce the man , but I Was able to do it strictly because of the missionaries , like strictly because of them , and now they can go back home and say they did a divorce on .

Scott Brandley 45:03

Had . They thought they found him , and then they didn't actually find him .

Meka Reed 45:06

That's why no , they go through that the thing is there was like missing information on the , on the first set of documents that went through , and you have to give your . You have to give your missing spouse a chance to say Whether or not they will yeah , to rebuttal , and also to say whether or not they will show up to court . You know , okay , and so there's a . That's why you have a whole list of things you have to do to prove that you actually Tried to find this guy , which is like or girl , you know I mean which is so hard to do , especially when you just want it over with . You know what I mean Like , and your emotions are high because if you see this person , you guys might start fighting or it's just gonna be very ugly . That's the reason why you're not together now . That kind of thing .

Meka Reed 45:55

Right so but yeah , the missionaries definitely Helped us through all of that , and I talk about like every single step in the book that we had to go through and that the missionaries had to go through , and I put text messages in there that we made that , all the text messages that we Made back and forth . There were tons of them . I put them in the book and everything so that you could , so that you could be placed there , you know and you can feel kind of like what it felt like Right and so , after we finally got divorced , then we were able to set a marriage date , and the date that we said in 2020 , general conference was happening .

Meka Reed 46:40

So that was like September or October , the beginning of October , yeah , general conference was happening . So we couldn't get married on that day . And then there was another date that we had like a few days later and we couldn't get married that day because the bishop he's he's like a doctor or something he had to work that day . So we're like , well , we kind of need that guy if we're gonna get married . So so , yeah , we ended up waiting until October the 10th and , because of COVID , we couldn't have a big wedding . We had to have like a small wedding , you know , I mean , with only like 10 people in it . And so we had our wedding in the backyard of one of the church members homes and the bishop married us back there and we live streamed our wedding for our relatives and all the rest of the church was on zoom and all that . And we got married and baptized in the same day .

Meka Reed 47:48

It was . It was exhausting . Don't ever do it , don't ever do it . It was exhausting like emotionally , spiritually , mentally . It's exciting , you're happy and all of that stuff . But it's like you're so high up emotionally and excited and when you come down it's like a sugar crash and we were just like Knocked out after that . But yeah , that's that's kind of like after we got married and everything .

Meka Reed 48:20

That's kind of how it all like came back around for me because by the time I got married in October 10th 2020 and my birthday had come back around , my life had basically changed completely . I mean , my now husband didn't smoke , I was not addicted to coffee anymore , I was no longer suicidal . You know , we had a healthy marriage instead of just shacking with each other . You know what I mean . And we had the support of so many people because of the church and because everybody was so vested in helping us become members and everybody like it took everybody in that church for us to become members of the church .

Meka Reed 49:13

This was not just missionaries helping us . Like everybody knows our business in the whole church . Like there is no secret . Like you know , people are like well , I don't want everybody to know my business . No , everybody knows everything about us because we needed them all to make it . You know what I mean . So now you're going from like November 13th , the day before my birthday in 2018 , where I was suicidal and trying to kill myself all the way to November 13th and 14th , around my birthday , and I have a whole new life .

Church Miracles and Discoveries

Meka Reed 49:50

Like it was kind of amazing to us . You know what I mean . Like , yeah , and now we know that . You know we are seen because of so many things that happened . We know that people love us , but we also know now that God and Jesus Christ love us too . You know what I mean and that we matter to them and that they're with us even when we weren't with them because they wanted us to come to them . You know what I mean .

Alisha Coakley 50:20

Yeah , yeah .

Scott Brandley 50:22

Awesome .

Alisha Coakley 50:22

Wow .

Scott Brandley 50:24

Did your kids join ? You have baptized too .

Meka Reed 50:26

Yes , so , my husband got to baptize . Well , the guy who we got married in the yard baptized our son , and then my husband baptized our daughter .

Scott Brandley 50:40

That was awesome .

Meka Reed 50:41

Yeah , it was really cool . It was really cool .

Alisha Coakley 50:44

Wow , okay , and so now you guys have officially been members for three years now .

Meka Reed 50:51

Yeah , almost . Three years , almost three years . Yeah , october will be three years .

Alisha Coakley 50:55

Wow , and what does life look like today for you guys ?

Meka Reed 51:00

For him and I , wow , we both have calling . So he is what is he ? Second counselor in the elders quorum presidency ? Okay , and I am . What am I ? Yup , I am the young women's stake presidency secretary .

Scott Brandley 51:23

I think that's how you say that yeah .

Meka Reed 51:25

Yeah , I think that's how you say that . So I get to work with the young women a lot and do trek , and trek almost killed me , but that's a whole nother story . I just wasn't ready . I wasn't ready , I didn't know . I didn't know , I was just thinking about it . There should really be some warnings on some of these activities and things like that For newbies .

Alisha Coakley 51:46

I was just thinking even you know . I mean , I grew up in a very inactive family and so I wasn't super familiar with all of the things at church , but I knew some things right , but I never thought about it until you were mentioning how you're seeing the bread and the water going around and you're like what the heck is this ? And , like you know , sustaining people in church and stuff . Yeah , there might need to be I'm just gonna put this out there Missionaries who might be listening to the show or those who are going on their mission . Maybe disclose some of these normal things to people before you invite them to church . Just let them know , like this is what's to be expected . And you know this is where I'm gonna go .

Meka Reed 52:25

I've been in the church almost three years and I literally today just figured out when you're actually supposed to wear garments Like Okay . I had to ask . I had to ask somebody because I'm like am I doing this wrong ? Like , how are you ? Supposed to be done Like what are you supposed to wear them ?

Alisha Coakley 52:45

So have you guys ? You guys have been through the temple and everything .

Meka Reed 52:48

Then , yeah , we went through once together when we got sealed for eternity and so that was like really cool . But we were both like super nervous because we didn't know what was gonna happen when we touched on that altar . You just don't know , with this church there's so much power . There is so much power Like I think people take it for granted that have been there for a while , because when I tell them stuff that happens , they're just like you know what I mean . But I'm like this stuff is new to us , Like it doesn't happen every day , you know . So it's like never seen miracles like this . I've never seen God impact a person's life this way . You know what I mean .

Meka Reed 53:33

I mean outside of watching you guys' podcast you know , but like for an individual themselves to be able to see it themselves . You know , it makes it so real . I mean it is real , but it makes it so real , right , right , wow .

Scott Brandley 53:50

What temple did you get sealed in ?

Meka Reed 53:53

Which temple was it ? I don't know . I don't know what temple it was , but I know I visited Mantae , I did some baptism . I visited Mantae and we did some baptisms for the dead at Payton Temple when we followed one of our missionaries home after her mission was over , which is also a whole other story . But yeah , I can't remember . We just got the Columbus temple out here , so I think it was Indiana . I think we got sealed in the Indiana temple because that's the one we had before Columbus .

Alisha Coakley 54:34

Yeah , gotcha , okay Wow .

Scott Brandley 54:38

Cool . So how are your kids today Like ?

Meka Reed 54:44

They're pretty good , you know . I mean they love the church and they love participating . They don't have any callings or anything like that , but I think they like it like that .

Alisha Coakley 54:57

Yeah .

Scott Brandley 54:58

Yeah .

Meka Reed 54:59

After seeing everything we went through , they're like we don't want anything that's gonna put the spotlight on us , so , but yeah , they love it . Have you seen changes in their ?

Scott Brandley 55:10

lives .

Meka Reed 55:11

Definitely . Our son is less . He used to be very moody . I hate to say that , but he used to be very moody and hard to predict and now he's like a regular person . So it's like it's so good to like have him back to the guy that he was when he was a lot younger . Does that make sense ? Yeah , more of a team player . And our daughter , she's just flourished . She's got friends in the church . You know she's creative in terms of like arts and like what do you call it ? Fashion and things like that . So she's got a lot of friends that like her fashion and things and they kind of look up to her and stuff like that . You know she's doing very well in school . Like it's been like a 180 for her in terms of that .

Alisha Coakley 56:06

That is awesome .

Meka Reed 56:07

Yeah .

Alisha Coakley 56:08

I can just see when the kids are totally out of you know , out of the nest and gone and whatever else , Like I can totally see you and your husband being called as missionaries yourselves and going and being like mission president and wife somewhere . Oh my God . You have such a beautiful personality . I was right . My cheeks hurt so bad . I'm going to go have to take some like a leave or something like that because you just made me smile so so much . I can't see anything . Whenever I smile , my eyes disappear .

Alisha Coakley 56:36

So it's like open my eyes , but I , oh my gosh , this has just been absolutely incredible . I cannot wait to get ahold of your book and to read all of the little things it's . It is so hard , sometimes right , to put a whole story in the short one hour you know session , so I'm super excited to get your book my Dot Matters .

Meka Reed 56:56

Yes .

Alisha Coakley 56:57

To be able to read more of the miracles and the stories you gosh like just it is . It is awesome to me to see that there are people out there who are still experiencing miracles in big ways , you know and it's small for you , right .

Meka Reed 57:15

Like , like .

Alisha Coakley 57:15

No , it's a small thing , but it's like such a big thing too , yeah , and I love that significance of like just the . You know , looking at the missionaries map and seeing all these little dots and just knowing that like that little dot is so significant . It is so important and you know , I just I had a great time Me too .

Scott Brandley 57:34

Me too , it is fun to see the the newness and the discovery of people finding the gospel and finding you know the truths that it teaches and it renews , renews those feelings when you when you share them . As a new member and you making those discoveries , it's really fun . So thank you for sharing that with us .

Meka Reed 58:00

Thank you for having me . Thank you for having me .

Alisha Coakley 58:02

You're going to have to have like a part two book and a part three book and you're just going to have to keep writing about , because I have a feeling you're just going to be one of those people that's just very receptive to miracles .

Meka Reed 58:10

So yeah , it's so far , so good , but it's also like wow you know , yeah , wow yeah . It's a lot yeah .

Scott Brandley 58:21

So do you have any last thoughts or anything you'd like to leave people that are watching this podcast you like to share ?

Meka Reed 58:30

I just want people to know that , that they matter . You know what I mean , Even if they feel like they don't , even if they feel insignificant or small , like nobody will notice them , you know , or anything like that . Um , but there's a reason to live , and Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ they notice you , they can see you from where they are and they have plans for you and they love you .

Alisha Coakley 58:58

I love that . Awesome . I think that's the perfect , just the perfect ending to this whole show . Um gosh , meka , you are incredible . I want to be your best friend , so come visit me in Texas . I'll go head out to Cincinnati . We'll just , we'll hang out . It'll be awesome .

Meka Reed 59:19

That will be so awesome . Yes .

Alisha Coakley 59:21

Oh man , that is so cool . All right Well for our listeners . Guys , thank you so much for tuning in today and for hearing this incredible story . Um , meka's story is just been . It's been . I feel like I can't even believe that it's already been an hour , because it was so good . It was just so good .

Alisha Coakley 59:40

Um , guys , make sure that you you leave a comment , let us know what your favorite part of Meka's story was . And ? Um , head over and and check out that link and grab her book and stuff like that . I think that that would be fantastic to to get to read even more about these miracles and this fun journey that she's been on . And , um , if you guys have a story that you'd like to share , please , please , please , reach out to us . We would love to hear from you .

Alisha Coakley 1:00:06

You can head over to our site , latter-day Lights dot com . At the bottom of the page there's a little form you can fill out . We would love to hear what your stories

Inviting Stories of Faith and Inspiration

Alisha Coakley 1:00:14

are . Um , I think it's so important . Just like Meka was saying earlier , you know , like , like , there is a place for everyone in the church . There is a place for everyone's story here on this podcast , and we love being able to share your stories of faith and inspiration and truth . Um , so just listeners . Make sure that you're reaching out to us and letting us know if you have a story to share . If you know someone who does , we would love to have you guys on as a guest .

Scott Brandley 1:00:46

And definitely don't forget to go hit that share button and get the story out there . Let's , let's share Meka's story and share some light with the world . Right , meka ?

Meka Reed 1:00:57

Yeah , awesome .

Scott Brandley 1:01:00

Well , thanks again for being on the show , and it was . It was a blast , and we will have another episode next week . So tell them , have a great week and we'll talk to you then We'll see you guys Bye .