By Mei Ding Goh.

As I began to write down my thoughts for this article, as I began to type something on my computer,  I could feel my chair was shaking, my instinct told me “earthquake”. I was really scared, immediately I knelt down and prayed, “Heavenly father, please forgive us of our sins, please release your grace and mercy, help us soften our hearts, help us repent”. And I was amazed, how great thou art, what a perfect timing to prepare for this topic “mortality is a probationary time to enable man to repent and serve God.”

I recalled a time, while I was walking to the market, I saw a little kitten, and it curled around its little brother. Its brother was dead, probably hit by a car. I could feel its grief; my heart was breaking, and I stood beside it and prayed for it, “Heavenly father, please comfort this little kitten.” The kitten reminded me of my late sister who passed on few years ago due to cancer. The earthquake and the tiny kitten reminded me of how easily we take life for granted, live as though we still have endless days to come. Must we have the natural disaster or tragedy to awaken us and make us realize who we really are and what our true life’s purpose is?

If I stretch this beautiful ribbon from one wall of my room to the other wall, if this ribbon represents the line of our lives and that one end of this ribbon represents our past and other our future. This ribbon will actually extend far beyond the walls of this room and continue forever in both directions. We cannot see anything beyond these two walls. We do not know what happened to us before we were born; we have no idea where we are going after our physical death. What shall we do? Who and where and how shall we seek help and guidance?  These are actually golden questions that lead people to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (sometimes nicknamed the Mormon Church).  Once baptized, they begin to understand the concepts of faith and forgiveness, and how they pertain to our eternal existence, which had no beginning, and which will have no end.

There are laws of nature we cannot change.  Consider an ice cream cone. Regardless of who and what we are, we all know it will melt if the room temperature is above freezing. We do not decide its condition. Who determines this? Alma, a Book of Mormon prophet, wrote,

“All things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things are upon the face of it, year, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which moves in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme creator (Alma 30:44).

God is not only our Creator and our Ruler; he is also our Heavenly Father.

When we play a computer game, we need to learn and follow the rules of the game. We won’t argue with the rules since that won’t help us win the game. We are merely the players, not the programmer. In mortality, God is the ultimate creator and also the ultimate ruler. If we use a computer game as metaphor, then in order to win this game, we need to be wise and learn and obey the rules of the creator.

We are truly blessed to have scriptures as our guide, to teach us how to win this game. The scriptures are a source of revelations. They reveal Heavenly Father’s teachings for His children. From them we can learn enough about who we are, what is the purpose of this life and get our bearings and get direction in our lives.

As in Alma 42:4…

”And thus we see, that there was a time granted unto man to repent, yea, a probationary time, a time to repent and serve God.”

So we now have the right perspective. From it, we know that all things, all events, and all people provide us the opportunity to repent and to serve God. So just like playing computer games, though we focus on the things in the game, yet our main intention is to win. In this life, we don’t just focus on the things, events or people and judge them, this is not our job. The programmer or the creator already has the rules for them. The creator will judge them. Our job is to repent, to serve God.

For example, if someone says something offensive to us, we don’t focus on that person and judge how bad he or she is or spread bad things about him or her. We pray and ask our Lord, what would you have me learn? We ask ourselves have I in any way behaved like him or her. If so, we can admit our fault and apologize for it and forsake it. Not only that, if we wish that person would say something nice to us, probably it is time for us to start saying something nice. The negative experience can now help us to repent and be aware and change.

So now we can turn every encounter into a holy encounter, not because the encounter itself is holy, but the way we perceive it, the way we use it, makes it holy. And this answers the question “If God is love, why is there so much pain, so much suffering in this world?” For our heavenly father knows every element of who we are; He knows our minds, our hearts, and our souls. He will use different levels of “games” tailored to our unique characteristics to help us. For he loves us so much, he simply won’t compromise who we really are, because we are His children.

When we repent and learn to be more and more like Him, we are more available for Him so we can serve people using his power and his wisdom. Although we may do the same things, that  action contains two possibilities— one is to glorify God, the other, is to glorify one’s own self. And the difference lies in our heart, our intention. To repent can also mean we learn to surrender our will to our Lord’s will.

Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light (Matthew 11:28-30).

Jesus speaks to the disciples in Mark 8:34-35 and tells them…

“Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it.

It is too bad that we are so selfish and all that we want is what we think we are entitled to, and we forget that when we have all, we are at risk of losing it all at some point. Jesus continued and says in verse 36,

“For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”

This is where as human beings we stand – we want it all. The many options that we see out there that we thought could help us solve our problems could well be the very things that entice us and bind us.

Jesus says clearly that…

“I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father but by me. If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also (John 14:6-7).

Jesus is the way to the solutions of our problems: If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Repentance of our own sins is useless if we don’t forgive others.  Unforgiveness stops our progress.  We can move nowhere, especially not closer to our Savior, Jesus Christ.  The following story comes from a conference address given by Mormon Apostle Boyd K. Packer at the April 2011 general conference:

My life was changed by a saintly patriarch. He married his sweetheart. They were deeply in love, and soon she was expecting their first child. The night the baby was born, there were complications. The only doctor was somewhere in the countryside tending to the sick. After many hours of labor, the condition of the mother-to-be became desperate. Finally, the doctor was located. In the emergency, he acted quickly and soon the baby was born, and the crisis, it appeared, was over. But some days later, the young mother died from the very infection that the doctor had been treating at another home that night. The young man’s world was shattered. As the weeks wore on, his grief festered. He thought of little else, and in his bitterness he became threatening. Today, no doubt, he would have been pressed to file a malpractice suit, as though money would solve anything. One night a knock came at his door. A little girl said simply, “Daddy wants you to come over. He wants to talk to you.”

“Daddy” was the stake president. The counsel from that wise leader was simply “John, leave it alone. Nothing you do about it will bring her back. Anything you do will make it worse. John, leave it alone.”

This had been my friend’s trial. How could he leave it alone? A terrible wrong had been committed. He struggled to get hold of himself and finally determined that he should be obedient and follow the counsel of that wise stake president. He would leave it alone.

He said, “I was an old man before I understood and could finally see a poor country doctor—overworked, underpaid, run ragged from patient to patient, with little medicine, no hospital, few instruments, struggling to save lives, and succeeding for the most part. He had come in a moment of crisis, when two lives hung in the balance, and had acted without delay. I finally understood!” He said, “I would have ruined my life and the lives of others.” Many times he had thanked the Lord on his knees for a wise priesthood leader who counseled simply, “John, leave it alone.”

Around us we see members of the Lord’s Church who have become offended. Some take offense at incidents in the history of the Church or its leaders and suffer their whole lives, unable to get past the mistakes of others. They do not leave it alone. They fall into inactivity.

That attitude is somewhat like a man being hit by a club. Offended, he takes up a club and beats himself over the head with it all the days of his life. How foolish! How sad! That kind of revenge is self-inflicting. If you have been offended, forgive, forget it, and leave it alone.

If you are carrying some burden, forget it, let it alone. Do a lot of forgiving and repenting, and you will be visited by the Spirit of the Holy Ghost and confirmed by a testimony, the possible strength of which you had never guessed. You will be watched over and blessed—you and yours. Of this I bear witness in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Mei Ding Goh is a convert to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  She is a seminary teacher in the Malaysia Ipoh District and a member of the Penang Branch.

Additional Resources:

Jesus Christ in Mormonism

The Holy Bible in Mormonism

Basic Mormon Beliefs and Real Mormons

Our Search for Happiness

My Faith

The story, to be told correctly, needs some family background. My father was born in Independence, Missouri and was baptized a member of the church at eight years old but was not active as an adult. My father joined the USAF and was stationed at Burtonwood, England during the Korea War. My mother was born in Macclesfield, Cheshire, England, and had three sons by my father before they were divorced. At age four I was raised in England with my mother and new stepfather. I knew nothing about my LDS heritage as I grew up and never came into contact with any members of the church.

My mother was Catholic and my stepfather never mentioned religion but was a hard worker and was a good influence. If I asked him to do something that he thought I could do for myself he would say, “Use your own initiative”. We never went to church as a family but when I was very young I recall my mother telling me that there was “God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost”. She said I can pray to God the Father and ask for what I needed. I could understand asking for what I wanted, a young child knows how to do that. She then said that you have to have faith. I didn’t understand that, what’s faith? Fast forward to age twelve and I am having a difficult time at school such that I felt I could not talk to anybody. I lay quietly in bed, tears in my eyes, no-one to turn to. I remembered my mother’s words from years ago and so I prayed as best I could to “God the Father”. In my mind’s eye I pictured Him as a grandfather, a real person. I started the prayer something like this: “God, I don’t know if you exist but please help me…”. I don’t think that was very good faith but I did have my prayer answered.

I was attending a Catholic school at the time though I wasn’t a member of any church. When I was taught about the Trinity I had difficulty with the concept, it did not seem to align with my experience of praying to Father.

Macclesfield Chapel undergoing renovation in 1984

At age twenty I wanted to meet my father as I had not seen him since I was four. I didn’t know where in America he was living. I was visiting my home town of Macclesfield, where I noticed a church with a strange name—“The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints”. It wasn’t an English church that I knew of so I thought perhaps it was American. I went in and talked to a woman who was cleaning the floor. I told her I was looking for my American father and she took my name and address and told me that someone would contact me. Soon after, I received a letter from the Bishop of the Macclesfield Ward telling me that perhaps I should write to the Genealogical Society in Salt Lake City. My mother remembered that my grandmother lived in Utah and that she went by the name of Martha Harrison, after her second husband. I wrote the letter, mentioning my father’s mother’s name.

My grandmother was active LDS, my grandfather RLDS. Grandmother worked for the church at Zion’s Printing in Independence, Missouri. When Zion’s moved to Utah in 1946, she came with her work. When my letter reached the office girl at the Genealogical Society, the girl knew my grandmother and called her. My grandmother wrote to me saying that my father was in England on a 14 week TDY with the Air Force. Richard Sr. wrote to me, and I immediately traveled south to meet him, unannounced. He had married twice more and his third wife, my stepmother, greeted me at the door. I talked with my father and he explained how he had kept out of my “new” family so as to not disrupt it but now things were different. We saw each other a lot until he returned to the United States.

Newcastle-under-Lyme Stake Center where I was baptized

I corresponded with my father and my grandmother. After some months, I asked my grandmother about the church I went into in Macclesfield. She responded by mailing to me two pamphlets: “Which Church is Right?” by Mark E. Peterson and “Joseph Smith‘s Testimony”. I did not attend any church but thought there was something to the Bible or else why do so many people have an interest in it? However, I did remember in my childhood when all was despair I had prayed to God the Father and my prayers were answered. I also owned a Bible I had purchased and read portions of it. I especially liked the book of Proverbs and enjoyed many of the wise sayings. I was curious about the Ten Commandments and found them in Exodus and read them several times.

These two pamphlets were my first exposure to the Church. I was not interested in them but I felt obligated to at least glance through the pages because my grandmother had taken the time to send them to me. While lying in bed in January 1974, I read through them very quickly to fulfill my obligation. I put them down and decided to sleep. However, I could not sleep and picked up “Which Church is Right?” and read it cover to cover. I also read “Joseph Smith’s Testimony” in its entirety.

“Which Church Is Right?“ quoted Bible verses and was methodical and logical in its presentation. It was the first time that I’d thought of a church that way, though I didn’t have any real feeling about it. The prophet’s testimony was different. A paragraph that stood out was:

It caused me serious reflection then, and often has since, how very strange it was that an obscure boy, of a little over fourteen years of age, and one, too, who was doomed to the necessity of obtaining a scanty maintenance by his daily labor, should be thought a character of sufficient importance to attract the attention of the great ones of the most popular sects of the day, and in a manner to create in them a spirit of the most bitter persecution and reviling. But strange or not, so it was, and it was often the cause of great sorrow to myself. (Joseph Smith—History 23)

I thought it strange too, and identified with Joseph.

Another paragraph:

During the space of time which intervened between the time I had the vision and the year eighteen hundred and twenty-three—having been forbidden to join any of the religious sects of the day, and being of very tender years, and persecuted by those who ought to have been my friends and to have treated me kindly, and if they supposed me to be deluded to have endeavored in a proper and affectionate manner to have reclaimed me—I was left to all kinds of temptations; and, mingling with all kinds of society, I frequently fell into many foolish errors, and displayed the weakness of youth, and the foibles of human nature; which, I am sorry to say, led me into divers temptations, offensive in the sight of God. In making this confession, no one need suppose me guilty of any great or malignant sins. A disposition to commit such was never in my nature. But I was guilty of levity, and sometimes associated with jovial company, etc., not consistent with that character which ought to be maintained by one who was called of God as I had been. But this will not seem very strange to any one who recollects my youth, and is acquainted with my native cheery temperament. (Joseph Smith—History 28)

I was impressed that Joseph would admit to “foolish errors”. To me, someone telling a lie would not say this so openly.

I now know that being impressed by these two paragraphs was the Spirit acting upon me. After over thirty years the deep convincing that I felt is still with me.

Elder Vance Burton (left) and Elder David R. Wilson (right) at my baptism

I wrote to the Bishop of the Macclesfield Ward and asked him about the Church and that I wanted to know more. He replied to my letter, inviting me to travel to Macclesfield and meet with the missionaries. I did so, and recall one memory from our first meeting. I was being taught the first discussion and my mind wandered. When I was a child my mother used to say in a kindly way that “I was off wool gathering” when I didn’t pay attention. The missionaries asked me a question about what was being taught and from then on I was attentive. After the first discussion the missionaries told me that there were missionaries in Crewe and that I would be taught by them.

I was shown the Book of Mormon and started to read it, finished the rest of the discussions, was introduced to the Crewe Branch, and was baptized by Reginald Marshall Amos, a member of the Crewe Branch, at Newcastle-under-Lyme February 1974 a few days before age twenty-two. I didn’t finish reading the Book of Mormon before baptism. I didn’t need to. A witness of the truth of the prophet’s story meant that all else flowed easily. The Prophet saw Jesus Christ and the Father, therefore there is a God (Heavenly Father) and the Son. Joseph translated the Book of Mormon; therefore it is the word of God. Joseph organized a church; therefore it is the church I should be a member of.

Soon after baptism I fell ill and could not attend and then fell into inactivity. I was sickly for two years, being unemployed the whole time. I prayed that God would help me and if He did I would have the strength to return to Church. I received the help and I honored my commitment. To this day, even when I am in the midst of the most difficult struggles I attend my meetings so that I will never again fall away from being with the saints.

Crewe Chapel under construction in 1984

When I returned to church I now had to be taught about and learn the gospel. I had to be taught the doctrines that are the foundation on which to build faith and understanding. I had decided to align with truth. Truth wasn’t coming to make itself fit and conform to my view of the universe. I had to move to truth and change me. It is not an easy process and that process continues today.

Some things were easy though. The admonition to store food and water I agreed readily with. I thought it just common sense to have some reserves, especially as a youth sometimes money was tight and I felt the insecurity of my family living from paycheck to paycheck. Having someone in authority too was just plain common sense. Though I wouldn’t always obey priesthood authority, I would still acknowledge it. I would shape up eventually, usually “using my own initiative”.

When I was seventeen I had seen the suffering in Biafra on the news and felt that I wanted to do something to help. I didn’t know what to do. I recall resolving that some day I would do something. When I returned to church the realization came upon me that there was something I could do that was beyond anything that I had ever hoped I could do. I could be part of building a kingdom—the Kingdom. I set to work with all the zealousness of a convert—at times over zealous—in my pursuit of making the world a better place. A better place built upon the correct principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ as taught by the Prophet Joseph Smith and the Prophet today. A better place because of mothers that teach that there is a Father that answers prayers, even though in my case I only had a particle of faith. A better place because a grandmother knew when and what to send to a grandson she had yet to meet.

No-one need ever be alone, that is my faith.

Part One

Part Two

I have always been a part of the Church, but have not always had a testimony. When I was little I relied on my mom and dad’s testimony to get me through; but as I grew and started making my own decisions in life I realized that I could never do it on my own or rely on my parents testimonies. I had always been taught that the Lord was waiting for me to ask Him for help, but had never really prayed or asked.

One day while attending college and being on my own for the first time, I knew that I had a decision to make in whether I wanted to be a part of the Church or not. I desired more than anything to be happy in this life and to make the right decisions, and at that moment know without a doubt, if the Church was true.

I knelt down and prayed to my Heavenly Father to know if the Church was true and that I would be able to find the answer. I rose from my knees and opened my Book of Mormon and began reading Nephi I. I continued to read for the next few hours and then again read the next day after my classes. As I approached Mosiah 18:10, I had the most happy and loving feeling run through my body. I knew that what I was reading was true without a doubt. It reads, “Now I say unto you, if this be the desire of your hearts, what have you against being baptized in the name of the Lord, as a witness before him that ye have entered into a covenant with him, that ye will serve him and keep his commandments, that he may pour out his Spirit more abundantly upon you.” I knew without a doubt that that scripture was written just for me. I knew without a doubt, and have never questioned since, that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true.

The commandments that Heavenly Father has given us are simple. In order for us to have true happiness in this life and the next, we must follow all that the Savior and our Heavenly Father have asked of us.