Why Mormon?

Ever wonder why someone would join the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints?  What was it that made the difference in their conversion?  Well, I asked a few members and these are their answers....

Korey

 Okay my religious background was none. Didn't pray, wasn't sure of a 'God', and I had no idea about anything concerning Jesus Christ. Religion was something I was never forced to participate in and it was always something I avoided. In life you tend to avoid the unknowns, because there is fear of inadequacy from the lack of knowledge, or a fear of the 'what if's' as well. That was the case for me. I had friends that went to a number of different denominations, but was never motivated to follow their example at any point in my life. But all that, of course, changed.

The year was 2006, the start of my senior year in high school. I had yet to have a direct encounter with the church yet at that point, but was finally made aware that it even existed. At no point in my life do I recall ever seeing missionaries, or hearing about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (it wasn’t until much later on in the process that I realized that many times over the years I had seen, on late night infomercials, ads for the Book of Mormon). But, I had come into contact with a member of the church at work. We were actually really good friends. I worked at a restaurant and my coworker was a girl by the name of Shanda.

She was one year older than me, attended the same high school, and was a member of the church. She never really talked to me about it though, because I wasn’t really open to those kind of things really. But, I knew she went to church and that she couldn’t work Sundays or Wednesdays because of church and church activities. I happened to get my best friend a job at the same restaurant, and he ended up dating the girl; so we all hung out quite a bit (this was earlier in 2006 and still my junior year). But I was exposed a little more to the church because we would go hang out at her house, so I met her family and would see all the pictures of Christ, temples, and what not. But I was never really interested. I never asked questions, but I did feel a desire to better myself as a result of my friend being a church going person. I voluntarily stopped using profane language because I was inspired by her example to speak in a dignified manner. That wasn’t easy, but I enjoyed the change.

Time went on, it was summer of 2006, and I came across mormon.org. Back then, it was nothing like it is today. It was a pretty basic website, but I checked it out and even requested a copy of the Book of Mormon to be sent to my home. I wanted to read it, just so I could have a historical background as to what my friend believed in. But the sad thing is, or perhaps by divine intervention, the Book of Mormon never came. The order wasn’t processed, or the missionaries never brought it by, or it was just a lost media referral. I’m not too sure to be honest. But perhaps at that time I just wasn’t ready to have that in my life.

But okay so finally back to where I was in the story, it’s the start of my senior year. Shanda went off to school at Byu-I, so I lost that direct influence of the church in my life. My best friend, Stephen, the one who was dating her, had been going to church with her family but had never invited me. He was my age, so we were both seniors in high school, but we grew apart because he was focused on maintaining his long distance relationship with Shanda while she was away at school. So he pretty much spent all his time in communication with her, and we went our separate ways.

Life got really good for me for a while, but then suddenly came to a halting crash. It was your typical high school drama, but it left me without friends and without much hope. I was devastated and just really down on life. I was at an all time low, and so I decided to maybe start taking a little interest in religion. Another friend of mine was very into the Bible and going to his Christian church, so I asked him for a copy of the Bible. I thought "well if I read this book, then my life will turn around and everything will instantly change and be better." I tried it for a little while, starting with the old testament, but absolutely hated it. I got really angry at God, because nothing improved in my life and I was still sad and depressed. So I tossed the Bible aside and never thought twice about it.

More time passed, and I was still struggling and hating life. Stephen and I still talked, but not too much. He went out to visit Shanda for Thanksgiving and they went to temple square, and gave me as a referral to the missionaries there. They called my home and asked if they could send me a DVD about the church, but my mom is the one who answered and she told them "no." I don’t know why at the time, but this made me so angry. I got really mad at her, because I really wanted the video, and I was also your typical teenager who wanted to make my own decisions.

So another month passes, and I find out that Stephen is getting baptized on Dec 23. He didn’t even invite me, because he didn’t think I would go. So I asked him if I could go, and that was the first time I entered into a Mormon church building. I remember feeling embarrassed because I wasn’t dressed as nicely as others, and I felt really uncomfortable trying to sing along with the hymns and what not. I remember afterwards, several pairs of missionaries came up and were talking to me. I was really thrown off by it, haha. But I was intrigued; ya know?

So Stephen finally invites me to church after all of this. It was the first Sunday of 2007. I thought "well, it’s a new year so perhaps a new me." I was so nervous to go to church though. It was supposed to snow really bad on that Saturday night and I was hoping so bad that church would some how be canceled or something like that (haha!).  But, it wasn’t, so away we went. I remember standing up and introducing myself in priesthood, then I remember going to gospel principles and I had the neatest experience. Perhaps my first faith building experience.

I had told a couple of lies during that week, and felt bad for doing so, and I knew lying was bad. I wanted to know how to overcome that and just be better. Sure enough the lesson that first Sunday in gospel principles happened to be on Honesty. I thought "no way could that be a coincidence." Sacrament wasn’t really anything special for me for quite a while. It wasn’t something I understood a whole lot.

After church Stephen (I rode with him to church) had a meeting with the bishop, so I was just waiting in his car. While he was at his meeting, I was reading through his Book of Mormon. I read the introduction, the witness accounts of Joseph Smith and the other witnesses, and it definitely sparked my interest. It was about 2 weeks later that I started having discussions with the missionaries. They were all at Shanda’s house (even though she was still off at school). So all of my discussions had members present and were in a members home, so I think that really helped.

I was honestly really excited to meet with the missionaries, because I thought "wow, that’s really cool that they would take time out of their schedule to meet with me, who had no idea about anything." I, of course, at the time, didn’t really understand what the role of missionaries was really. So I didn’t know it was a full time thing for them, but I remember my first discussion about Joseph Smith and the restoration. It all made logical sense to me, because I had no prior knowledge of anything religious or spiritual. At the end they offered me a Book of Mormon and asked me if I would read it. I was so pumped to have my own copy. (I still have it today).

They gave it to me on a Sunday, and I started reading immediately. By that time I was attending early morning seminary, because I was convinced by a few people that it would be really good for me. So I would wake up at 5:30, go to Seminary, and get to school about an hour before it started. So each day that week I busted out the Book of Mormon while waiting for school to start and read and read and read. By that next Sunday I had finished the entire Book of Mormon. I mean I really had no clue what I had just read, and obviously didn’t understand a lot because it was my first real encounter with scriptures…but I just knew it was true. I honestly don’t recall praying about the Book of Mormon. I didn’t have to. I just accepted it from the very beginning to be true.

I knew I wanted to be baptized pretty soon after that. But I was only 17, so it was up to my parents. They of course flipped out, and told me no. So my only choice was to wait the 5 months until I turned 18. All the while I never missed a Sunday, I went to seminary, the activities, and all that good stuff. I went through 3 sets of missionaries, including getting a new set that a couple days before my baptism.

I wouldn’t say that my conversion was anything extra ordinary or too much of a surprise. Some how I was always motivated by something (in retrospect the Holy Ghost) to live a righteous life. I was already living all the commandments except for tithing and keeping the Sabbath day holy. I grew up with a constant motivation of wanting to raise a righteous family with kids that didn’t get involved in drugs, drinking, or partying. I always worried and wondered how it would be possible. For the most part, that’s what kept me away from all of those things in my life. I must have said no to doing those worldly things thousands of times. I never once got close to giving in, because I had hope for more in life.

I truly believe that I was humbled by the Lord and prepared slowly so that I would see what I was missing in my life. I went from being so incredibly down, to happier than I had ever been at that point in my life. The gospel just was a perfect fit for me and how I wanted to live my life. I read all of the missionary pamphlets and followed the diagram on how to pray, and did so.

The day finally came for my baptism: Saturday April 28th. It was an incredible day. I even bore my testimony after I was baptized. My family was in attendance even though they weren’t too supportive of the decision. Those new missionaries, that had just arrived, happened to change my life and were the ones who helped me experience a lasting conversion. I got confirmed on April 29th (my 18th Bday) and was ordained a Priest in the Aaronic Priesthood. Later that week I went to the temple and did baptisms for the dead.

It was quite the experience for sure. It definitely wasn’t always easy. But once I felt it was right, I decided that I was all in. Since then, I’ve obviously gone on a mission and have never missed church unless I was traveling or on vacation with my family.

Like I said, its nothing too special. It is cool to look back and see how God was slowly preparing me for that moment in my life and then, once it came, it was such an easy decision for me. I was sort of the golden investigator, except I couldn’t get baptized right away. But, I’m a firm believer that it all happened as it was supposed to and at the time it was supposed to. Timing is everything in life no doubt. But yup, it all started with going to my friends baptism and then led to my baptism. Shanda and Stephen got married in the temple August 2008, and I left on my mission in November 2008. So yay for happy endings! Haha. But alright that’s all she wrote.

Beth Nestman (pictured with the family)

 It was a very difficult time in our lives when the missionaries found us, with the help of a member family, the Schmidts.  We were living in Lumby, British Columbia, Canada at the time.  I was about 14 years old and our family was in turmoil.  My older sister, Donna was having some serious health issues that affected her mentally as well as physically.  It was causing trouble for my parents, Wendell and Marjorie, as well as the rest of us. 

I will never forget my dad inviting the missionaries into our home.  He never turned anyone away.  He had been taught as a boy that someday he would find, run into, or it would find him, Christ’s true church.  His Grandmother Cameron, a God fearing woman, had taught him that.  So he always invited any religious type missionary in because he never wanted to be guilty of shutting the door in Christ’s face.

As teenagers, my sister Stephanie and I would just disappear so he could do his thing whenever he felt the need to invite someone in.  I remember being worried though, because this time these young men seemed to have really gotten my dad’s attention.  I thought, “Oh great he’s going all extreme on us and religious!”

The day soon came when, after only 3-4 days my dad had finished reading the Book of Mormon.  He asked us upstairs one evening to meet the missionaries.  Elder Foy was a cute, humble young man from Florida and Elder Hammond was a smart young man from Utah.  Of course, the first reason we agreed to meet these young men was that they were young men and we were teenage girls!  However, right away there was a feeling in our house I could not describe.  I went to bed that night and prayed, as I had always done, because we believed in God, just didn’t know much about anything else. 

I will never forget the desire from that point onward to learn more.  To have these young men around with that spirit they brought with them.  It was comforting and I loved what it was doing to my family!  Within just a month, or maybe a little more, they challenged us to be baptized.  My dad felt strongly that it had to be each of our decision, but he would not do it without his family.  All I know is I had NO doubt.  I’m not sure if I understood then what it really was I was feeling, but I definitely could not deny that it was like a warm blanket that made me feel better than I had ever felt in my life! 

So I without a doubt said “yes” I wanted this religion in my life and was anxious to move on.  Elder Hammond was due to be transferred so we committed for baptism, with the exception of my oldest sister Donna who wouldn’t.  It was April 1976.  The spirit those missionaries brought is what truly converted me; then the teachings because they just make sense!  This is why I get soooo excited for a young man or woman who chooses to serve a mission.  The Lord directs and knows and I am eternally grateful to those young men.  I wouldn't have the life I have now had it not been for their willingness to serve. 

I know it is Christ and Heavenly Father’s Church.  I know it is led by a living prophet today and was restored by a living prophet through direct guidance and revelation just as it was in Christ’s day.  I know because I can not deny the feelings I have as the Spirit tells me. I remember standing up at our first sacrament meeting to bear my testimony.  I had no idea what a testimony was but I felt like I was literally lifted up out of my seat and began to pour my heart out.  It felt amazing. 

I love my Father in Heaven, I know Jesus Christ lived and lives now and is my brother.  He died for me.  For me!  I am grateful for the Holy Ghost, to have been baptized, to have a temple marriage for time and all eternity, and to have great hope and promise for the future in such a troubled world.  My eternity has been changed.

Valerie

My birthday is the 4th of November, 1957. Place of birth: a small village in Northern England.
I’m the third child of seven (six girls, one boy who was the youngest and loved by all).

We were a middle class Jamaican family who lived in a large house that all our friends loved to come and hang out at.
We were a very close family who played, cried, and worshipped together.

Growing up in England I attended a protestant church (Church of England).

I immigrated to the USA in the early 1980’s, met my husband, and we have one child.

My life in America, I would say, is a pretty good one. My needs are meet, we travel overseas, have a home job, and are secure in what we have. Our hobbies are too numerous to mention, but if you name it we most likely do it, especially if you think of things outside of the norm.

Becoming a member of the LDS church was the last thing I ever thought I’d do.
I’m black. I like to party and drink. I've done some things in my life that are definitely not in standing with the LDS church. I'm very opinionated and was told all my life that the Mormon church was something I should have nothing to do with because black folks were not allowed. In fact you had to be rich and white to be a member. As you see, I’m not. Also the husbands of Mormon women could have more than one wife. That was definitely not OK with me. (Ignorance is a bliss.)

My conversion came about when I was injured on the job. I worked for Juvenile Probation in California and had a spinal injury. I became addicted to prescription medication and alcohol. I was in rehab for 18 months. After getting out of rehab I started to look for a church to belong to because I knew that I had to get God back into my life. Several years had past by with no success. I knew my neighbors were Mormons. There was no interest for me there until one day the elders came to our street. My son at this time was around 19 yrs old. He was in the garage playing his guitar when Elder Bennett and Elder Haslam stopped to talk with him. He told them his mom is looking for a church to become a member of, so my son called to me inside the house to announce I had some visitors. My son did this because he knew I really didn’t want to speak to the missionaries especially those from a Mormon church. When I saw those two smiling faces, white shirts, and that NAME TAG, I could of killed my son because at the time I felt he was wasting my time especially when I could have still been sipping on my cocktail. See it was mid June and listening to some missionaries was not on my to do list. I was MAD, but something happened to me as I walked closer to these two smiling faces. I had a feeling that instructed me to listen to them, in fact I was prompted to invite them in and ask questions.

For two weeks Elders Bennett and Haslam came to my house at 4:00 pm and just allowed me to ask questions as they gave me answers. At the end of those 14 days I knew that I was ready to start having lessons with the Elders.

The Elders prayed with me, talked to me, took me church. It was when I went to my first Sacrament meeting at the Alamo Building in Vacaville that I knew I was home. This is were I belong and here I am to stay .

The best part about this is that my son, now 24 yrs old, was baptized in November 2010 on my birthday. My husband is not a member, but as we all know God has a plan for us all.

I love to go to the temple and look forward to attending my son’s endowment in the near future.

We are all our Heavenly Father's children and He loves us all. This is why He sent His son to atone for our sins.

I give you this in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, amen.

Justin

I grew up knowing that I had some LDS heritage on my dad's side of the family. His dad's parents had both been members. But when his mother had died in childbirth, his father slowly drifted away, such that by the time my grandfather was eight, he wasn’t baptized. And there the chain was broken. Temporarily…

Some of the first friends I made in Junior High were LDS, and by the time I was in college, nearly all of my friends were. I was even going to Church dances, but I had no intention of joining. The first time I ever attended a Sacrament meeting was for a friend of mine’s farewell. Her name was Andrea, and I had been friends with her since 9th grade. We even had a college class together (where I'm sure she had a secret crush on me...)

She went off to serve in Bolivia while I finished my degree at UC Davis. I had turned in my papers to serve in the Peace Corps, and all was going along according to plan. Until one day one of my best friends said that Andrea was back home from her mission. She had to come home early for a shoulder surgery. We went to go see her. I was unprepared for the missionary fire that burned in her. She had a Book of Mormon waiting for me, with scriptures for me to read.

After we visited, I went home and read through my assignments. I was amazed at what I read. At UC Davis I had been a religious studies minor, and I had focused my education on the Bible. I was astonished at how the Book of Mormon tied into the Bible, but I had so many questions. I met with Andrea two days later, and after we had talked for a while, she invited me to meet with the missionaries. I agreed.

On the day that I committed to baptism, I went home and found my acceptance letter into the Peace Corps. I was going to serve in Mali, Africa, in a village a day’s jeep ride from the city of Timbuktu. I was going to be speaking Bamaku and French. I knew I had a huge life decision ahead of me.

That evening I went out on my favorite walking path. It was dark out, and quiet, and I felt that I should kneel and pray. I had only been in prayer for a couple of minutes when I felt urged to go home and read my recently acquired Gospel Principles book. I hadn’t gotten through even the second chapter when I read about the War in Heaven. I read that each of us participated in that great struggle, and that all who come to Earth had chosen the right. We were those angels. This struck me as such true doctrine, that I had my answer. I needed to stay and get baptized, for I knew that I would have no chance of progressing in the Gospel if I left for a couple of years and lived in Africa. Though that had been my goal for years, I was amazed at how willing I was to give it up.

Two weeks after first meeting with the missionaries, I was baptized. A year later, Andrea and I were married in the Oakland temple.

That one decision, to be baptized, is the single largest and most profound decision I have ever made. If Andrea hadn’t had to come home early, I would already have left for the Peace Corps by the time she got back. There is no doubt that Heavenly Father sent her home to finish her mission here, so that we might start a family of our own. I am grateful daily for the countless blessings the Gospel has brought me.