Alan grew up in Johannesburg, in a Christian home. While in his youth, he had two brothers die in a car accident. He was concerned about their spiritual welfare because of the inconsistent teachings that he was taught in his church—this troubled him. Later, he met a friend who was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; this friend introduced Alan to the Church and there he found encouragement, hope, and a new understanding of the meaning behind the experiences we go through in this life. The Atonement of Jesus Christ (the doctrine of redemption) became more personal to Alan as he was able to apply it to his specific situations. The message of Alan is a message of found hope through the teachings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Watch his message below:

Additional Resource:

Learn more about Mormon beliefs.

There is a time in your life when the light goes on.  It is in that moment when all your trials, experiences and lingering questions come together and then the answer appears.

I am a convert to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints also commonly called the Mormon Church.  I was 18 years old and all of my childhood and youth could not have been further from Gospel principles.  I was the youngest of four kids born to an alcoholic father and an extremely abusive mother, who divorced when I was 9.

I just figured that everyone’s home life was the same as mine, tumultuous, until I started school.  I learned very quickly that it was not the same at all.  When I was about 6 years old I remember praying to God about wanting to find people that were like me, that love kids and family was first, who knew that He existed and loved me unconditionally, that nothing is really a coincidence.

When I was 16 years old, I was kicked out of the house because I no longer fit into what my mom wanted in her life.  It was tough living on the streets of a major city and continueing in school but  I did it. After graduating high school I moved to another city to “start over”.  I knew that I was searching for the meaning of my life but didn’t know where to find it or if it even existed.

An Introduction to Mormon Missionaries

I was introduced to the Mormon missionaries within 6 months. The moment that Elder Hause opened his mouth to teach me, the light inside me, the spirit inside me knew I had finally found my home.  Since the Gospel has been in my life now for many years, I have never had more peace, pure joy and unconditional love.  The Saviour took me gently by the hand and reached into my battered heart and I felt a calm, a peace and an assurance that I would never be alone again.

The Saviour knew me, little old me, the wallflower in the room, whose mother said was the one not wanted, the girl with lower than low self-esteem. And I knew in my heart that He knew me, better than I knew myself.

I realized that was what the missionaries had taught me, the “burning in my chest”.   I knew that I could never, would never be able to deny it. I was as sure as the sun rises every morning and then sets every evening.   I am a Child of God. My testimony was embedded into my heart.  I knew at that split second that I wanted, needed and with the deepest desires of my heart to be baptized into the LDS church, the fully restored church that Jesus taught. When I had only known darkness and sadness, His light was both a comfort and a blessing to me.  It was 13 short days after that first meeting with the missionaries that I was baptized as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Kay Cahoon is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of  Latter-day Saints (Mormon), wife, mother of six, grandma of many, traveler and genealogist.

Additional Resources:

Mormons Know God Lives

Mormons and Jesus Christ

Mormons and the Bible

The Meaning of Life

Meet Real Mormons

My husband and I joined the church in 2004. I truly don’t know how we made it through life before joining. Our daughter married an inactive member in 2002. My son in-law’s father gave her a BOM. She called the missionaries and later was baptized. She sent the missionaries to us and well you know the rest. I know with all my heart that this is the true church and that Joseph Smith was a true prophet. It took a while to gain a testimony, but if you read your scriptures and continue to go church and pray i testify to you it will grow, mine has. I am so very thankful for the temple and what it gives to me and how I always feel the presence of HF, JC and the Spirit there. We were sealed together as man and wife and then sealed to our daughter in 2006. Tanya

When I visit the temple, I…don’t want to leave. When we visited the Nauvoo temple last year, I felt the spirit so strongly, I feel Christ and HF when we visit the temple. convert of four years Tanya

I have no doubt that our church is being led by a man who has direct contact with our Heavenly Father. That man is our current President – Thomas S. Monson. We have been led continually by such men who have always had this contact with our Heavenly Father from the time the Angel Moroni appeared to Joseph Smith. We are able to read President Monson’s words in the Church News and the Ensign. We are also able to hear his words twice yearly at our Semi-Annual General Church Conference held at Church Conference Center in Salt Lake City, UT. To me it is such wonderful comfort to know as long as we follow his advice we CANNOT go wrong.

To be able to return to my Heavenly Father and to see my mother and father again is the goal I am currently working towards. I have been a member all of my life but even so I know I need to be constantly vigilant to attain that goal. President Monson is my guide along with the Scriptures and weekly church attendance. Without those things I would truly be totally lost.

An Angel appearing to a 14-year old boy, I know, is difficult to comprehend. But the fact that the church he started is thriving nearly 180 years later with 13 million members is proof that is exactly what happened. Others have attempted to start “churches” or “church groups” but have dwindled.

What a thrill it is to be part of such a wonderful organization. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. I receive so very much by just being a member. By being a teacher I find I am receiving even more blessings. But where much is given much is expected. Life for me has had its difficult times but my Heavenly Father seems to always be there to help me get through them. I pray you may also find Him and let Him lead you through your problems and to investigating this Church that was started by a 14-year old boy and an Angel sent by God.

Diane Carlin
10 July 2008

I am Mormon because I have learn a lot of things which have help me in my life so much and the Holy Ghost has help me a lot to chose my agency and also I love Joseph smith so much that i can explain it. I love his teachings. He is a man called of God to restored the true church on this earth and I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true church on this earth. I know that the Church is really true and I also know that the Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ and the priesthood power given is real. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen

In the Lord’s Due Time

By Brother Keith L. Brown
First Counselor, Annapolis Ward Bishopric

This sacrament talk was delivered to the congregation of the Annapolis Maryland Ward of the Annapolis Maryland Stake of Zion of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Sabbath Day morning, 20 April 2008.

In 1 Nephi 19:23 we learn about likening the Scriptures unto ourselves “that it might be for our profit and learning.” With that thought in mind, I would like to turn to the Old Testament book of Jeremiah, chapter 29, verses 11 through 13 and share a few thoughts with you this morning as to how the Scriptures found there apply to my own personal life and perhaps to your own lives as well.

In Jeremiah 29:11-13 we read these words, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.”

On March 10, just a little over a month ago, I celebrated my ten year anniversary as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I actually began investigating the Church in late 1980. I had seen several television commercials about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and each one normally ended with how one could obtain a free copy of the Book of Mormon. I have always had a love for books and was always on the watch for any new book of interest that I might be able to add to my small library of books. Having no knowledge of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and having never heard of or seen a copy of the Book of Mormon, I thought that this might be an interesting addition to my library, and besides it was at the right price, free. What I later found out is that the commercials failed to mention one minor detail. Nothing that I can recall was ever mentioned about the fact that two young men, riding bicycles, dressed in suits would personally deliver the free Book of Mormon. I later learned that these young men were missionaries for the Church.

The day the missionaries arrived at my parents’ home were I was living at the time; I invited them in and had a brief conversation with them. I found that some of what they had to say was of some interest to me and so I invited them to return again in a few days when I had more time to sit and talk with them and continue with our conversation. Time went on and after having met with the missionaries for about 5 months, I decided to leave home and join the United States Navy in March 1981. I thanked the missionaries for taking the time to visit me and teach me about what the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believes and teaches, and promised that I would continue to investigate the Church and its teachings at a later time. At that time I had only read a few passages from the Book of Mormon and though I had found what I read to be of great interest, I placed the book on the shelf in my library thinking that it would make a good reference book and perhaps I would return to read its pages some day.

Moving forward now in time, I found myself in San Diego California where I attended basic training, my first “A” school in electronics, and was eventually assigned to my first ship, the U.S.S. Jouett CG 29. One day while on liberty from the ship I came across a small bookstore. Being a lover of books I decided to go in and take a look around to see if I might find anything of interest. I did not realize at first that it was an LDS bookstore, but it didn’t take long to figure out. I distinctly remember on that visit I purchased several things to include another copy of the Book of Mormon and a set of conference tapes. I would love to tell you that I went back to the ship and spent time listening to the conference messages and reading the Book of Mormon, but that is not the case. In fact, I tucked the tapes and the Book of Mormon neatly away thinking that I would get back to those some day.

In addition to the conference tapes and the Book of Mormon, I bought several other books. The title of one of the books particularly caught my attention that day for whatever reason. The title of the book is “In The Lord’s Due Time”. I still have that book in my personal library. I did not at that time stop to notice who the book was written by or even what the book was about. I would later come to realize that the book was written by a Black Brother of the Church by the name of Joseph Freeman. The name Joseph Freeman is perhaps unfamiliar to most of you, but Brother Joseph Freeman was the first Black to receive the Priesthood following the 1978 Revelation. I thought that was interesting and wondered what was meant by receiving the Priesthood and what exactly a revelation is. Like the other materials that I purchased that day, I put the book away intending to further research the matter at a later time.

As years went on, I decided to begin studying for the ministry. The Baptist church that I was attending while stationed in Norfolk Virginia had its own Bible College and so I enrolled and began preparing to one day become a Baptist minister. During my course of studies I heard, read, and learned about many negative comments about the Mormon Church and why one should not join this Church. I became very well acquainted with anti-Mormon materials through media resources such as video tapes, cassette tapes, newspapers, magazines and the like. For a time, I even communicated through letters with people who had at one time been members of the Church and for one reason or another had left the Church. Though I will admit that some of the negativity sounded interesting, I could not buy into the fact that this Church was all that these folks where proclaiming it to be. I reflected upon the things that the missionaries and I had discussed in earlier years and came to the conclusion that there must be more to the story than these folks that were against the Church were telling, and that there must be some evidence of truth in what the missionaries had taught me. In short, I determined in my mind that I would seek after the truth and ignore all of the negativity.

Let us move forward in time once again. The year is now 1997 and I found myself stationed at a NATO command in Keflavik Iceland. One day as I was surfing the internet in my room, I decided to do a search on the Mormon Church out of curiosity just to see what I might find. I found a link for the Church News and decided to check it out. I later found an email address and decided to send an email to the newspaper inquiring as to the cost of sending a subscription to the newspaper to an overseas location. I received an email back from one of the editors of the newspaper at that time whose name was Doug Osborn. In his email he inquired as to what I was doing in Iceland and what my interest was in the Mormon Church. I sent an email back stating that I was serving in the United States Navy and that I was merely interested in reading about what was going on in the Mormon Church at that time. He emailed me back and said that he thought that was interesting and then he said, please do not be upset with me, and I hope you do not mind, but I have contacted the local missionaries in your area and have asked them to contact you. Partially thinking that I was on a secure NATO base and that the chances of the missionaries being able to locate me was slim to none, I wrote back stating that would be fine. A few days later my telephone rang. I answered the phone and who do you suppose was on the other end of the line? You guessed it, a missionary from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. My first question was how he obtained my telephone number. He replied that it was really quite easy, I just called the operator and she gave it to me. My thoughts were, well so much for security. I gave them my address and invited them over.

To make a long story short Brothers and Sisters, I met with several groups of missionaries over the course of about a year. We had many wonderful conversations and discussions about the Bible and the Book of Mormon. At times they were asking me where I found certain Scriptures and would make notes of them. At other times they would call me and tell me that they found another investigator that was also Baptist and asked how I would handle answering certain questions that their investigator had. It became a great teaching / learning experience for each of us.

Finally, in January 1998, I told the missionaries that I appreciated everything that they had taught me and that I would not make a final decision about being baptized until after I had read the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price in their entirety. I believe that the Lord had a hand in that as well as I believe that I was inspired to develop a 40-day reading schedule to complete all of the reading. For the very first time, a little over 17 years after my initial investigation of the Church, and for 40 consecutive days prior to my baptism, I read the Book of Mormon in its entirety, followed by the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price each in their entirety. Having completed all of the reading, I returned to Moroni’s promise as recorded in the Book of Mormon in Moroni 10: 3-5 – “Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts. And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost. And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.” After reading those words I knelt beside my bed and asked the Lord to let me know if these things were indeed true. I received my answer, called the missionaries and on the evening of Tuesday, March 10, 1998, I was baptized and became a member of the Lord’s true Church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The rest as they say is history with all things being fulfilled and accomplished according to the Lord’s plans and in His due time.

Brothers and Sisters, I may not know a whole lot, but what I know, I know of a surety. I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the Lord’s true Church upon the earth today. I know that Joseph Smith was and is a prophet of God. I know that the Bible and the Book of Mormon are the Word of God and that both testify of a loving Savior and Redeemer. I know that President Thomas S. Monson is our prophet today and I sustain him as Prophet, Seer, and Revelator as I also sustain his counselors. I also know that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ holds all of my tomorrows in the palm of His hand. He has already prepared the work that He would have me do in the days ahead, is preparing me to do that work, and will one day in His due time call me forth to accomplish that work. Whether the work will be in a section of the vineyard of this great Stake of Zion or wherever the Lord may call me to serve, I humbly pray that I, like Nephi of old will be obedient to the call and go forth and do those things which the Lord commands.

I close by reading once again the words found in Jeremiah 29:11-13 – “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.”

God our Eternal Heavenly Father lives and Jesus is the Christ. Of these things I do so testify and bear solemn witness in His Sacred Holy name. Amen.

“The best thing that happened on my mission was…” is quite a question. And it begs the question: “What does ‘best’ mean?” One could refer to a most memorable experience, or the experience that had the greatest impact, either on one’s self or on another person. Is the best thing that happened that my own testimony became more unshakable, or that I was privileged to be instrumental in bringing into the Church someone destined to be a local leader, or is it a particular, specific faith-promoting experience? I almost feel like I have to say all of the above. The best thing that happened on my mission was that I had many experiences that strengthened my own faith and that led to the conversion and strengthening of several people, with the end result that the Kingdom of God was built up. But I’m sure the point of the question must be, rather, to elicit stories of faith-building experiences, so that others can share in those vicariously. So with that preface, I will cheat, and share more than one.

As background, I served in the Bolivia-Santa Cruz mission, between October 1978-October 1980. At the time, the mission included all the ‘departments’ (states) of Bolivia except La Paz, Oruro and Potosí. The city of Santa Cruz is laid out in concentric rings, with broad avenues forming ‘spokes’ radiating out from the central square, or plaza.

One night my companion and I were tracting along one of the ‘spokes,’ making sure we visited the scattered homes along the avenue as we made our way from one neighborhood to another. We were admitted to one house where we sat with the father of a family and his son-in-law and his daughter’s boyfriend. The father was quite resistant and smug in his ‘born-a-Catholic, die-a-Catholic” comfort, and seemed to enjoy contradicting and arguing with us. Ultimately we fell back to bearing our testimonies in preparation for excusing ourselves. As we reviewed the basics and bore testimony of Joseph Smith and the Restoration, most everyone in the room sat politely and the father leaned back in his chair, the very picture of skepticism. The daughter’s boyfriend, however leaned forward with his eyes wide, raptly attentive to every word. As we bid farewell, he shook our hands vigorously and said, with a directness not usual in Latin culture, “I want you to visit my house!” We did so and by the end of our first visit, the Spirit was so strong that, standing at the door we explained the need for baptism and invited Rolando to follow the Savior in being baptized. He readily agreed and, after determining that sacrificing soccer play on Sundays was worth the reward, became a member of the Church. Lessons with Rolando were always spiritual feasts for all of us and we were often moved to tears. In particular, I will always remember the spirit that attended us as Rolando read for the first time from D&C 121. His girlfriend later joined the Church also, they married and Rolando went on to serve as Bishop, Stake President and Mission President. Proof that the Lord knows where his sheep are hidden and is able to call them one of a city and two of a family.

In another town, Quillacollo, near Cochabamba, I was newly assigned and went with my companion to visit a woman he and his prior companion had baptized. She had health and employment issues and had asked for a blessing. Her husband had just abandoned her, she was expecting and doctors had told her that without surgery she would lose her child, yet her employer had told her if she took time off for the surgery, she would lose her position. My own faith was weak and I was afraid that I would not be able to do anything to help her. In fact, I’m ashamed to recall having thought, almost scornfully, “What does she expect? A miracle!?” As I listened to her explain her plight, however, I was touched by her simple faith and resolved within myself to give voice to whatever prompting I might feel in blessing her. As soon as I placed my hands on her head, I had a flash of understanding, like comprehending the entire contents of a book just by picking it up. From there, I was left to put into words everything that I had learned so suddenly. Sister Justiniano received her miracle, and while she did have to submit to surgery, she kept both her job and her baby and the son I had known she carried was born and I was privileged to be present as he was blessed.

These experiences, among others, taught me that God is real, that he knows his children individually and that He hears their concerns and responds to them with compassion and love, that the priesthood authority claimed by the Church is indeed the power of God directed through men to bless His children, and that a person’s faith is efficacious in calling down blessings from heaven. Above all, I can testify that the work of the Church is His work and He actively directs it.

Missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon missionaries) serve for 18-24 months. In this video, Elder Canton Hutchison explains why he decided to serve an LDS mission, just weeks before leaving for Kenya, Africa.