As a mother and a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (sometimes inadvertently called the Mormon Church), I spend the evening of the first Friday in April (and October) getting ready for General Conference. General Conference is when Church members worldwide gather at the Conference Center in Salt Lake City (or via satellite transmission or over the Internet) to hear the words of the prophet, apostles and other leaders. It takes planning and creativity (as well as printer paper, ink, crayons, notebooks, candy and General Conference Bingo cards) to help four children ages 12 and under quietly listen for four 2-hour sessions. But it’s always worth the effort. One of the messages that stood out to me this April was from Sister Elaine S. Dalton, the recently released Young Women General President of the Church, who counseled Mormon women to stand as witnesses to Christ “at all times, and in all things, and in all places.”
In a morally desensitizing world, young women need women … to ‘stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places.’ Never before has this been more important than now. Young women need mothers and mentors who exemplify virtuous womanhood. Mothers, your relationship with your daughter is of paramount importance, and so is your example. How you love and honor her father, his priesthood, and his divine role will be reflected and perhaps amplified in your daughter’s attitudes and behavior. (More …)
“Becoming” a Mormon was a very slow and subtle process for me that I cannot put any actual date on. I was born into a Mormon family and attended The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints regularly– going to Primary (the children’s auxiliary), learning about the gospel and things unique to the LDS Church,without even realizing they were unique, and singing the hymns. I remember when I was four, it was very difficult for me to focus and sit still during the sacrament, and one day I told my mother that I hated church and I didn’t want to go anymore. She suddenly looked very sad, and I couldn’t understand why.
I was baptized at eight and was a very studious teen. I went to LDS seminary every morning and read through the entire Book of Mormon on my own for the first time at age 12. I felt very strongly that the Church was true, but it was also all I’d ever really known from a spiritual and religious perspective. I started coming of age, and started having doubts. Many of my friends were not LDS, and I started exploring their beliefs. I started feeling uncertain about what was true, who was right and who was wrong, and I became inactive during my college years– that universal time for self-discovery.
I went through a bit of a spiritual journey, searching for truth and happiness. I took college courses on world religions, even though they had nothing to do with my major, just out of curiosity, and I had philosophical and religious discussions with friends and associates from various religious backgrounds. All through my searching, I felt as though I had this inner divining rod telling me when something was true and when it wasn’t. Certain things just seemed to “fit”, while other things caused inner discord. Trusting this gut feeling, I put these things to the test. I, in a sense, planted seeds in my heart, nurtured them, and waited to see what fruit they would bring. I found both rotten fruit and sweet, and I followed the sweet.
I fully committed to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and “became” a Mormon about three years ago, when I saw and felt the obvious difference the gospel brought to my life. Living without the gospel, I felt lost and alone–like I was walking through foggy darkness and struggling to find my way. With the gospel, my pathway became bright, my mind was opened, and everything started coming together. In all my studying and searching, no other church or religion brought me this feeling. Sure I found pieces of truth, pieces of joy and strength, but nothing as fulfilling as what I’d had right in front of me my entire childhood.
Why did I become a Mormon? Because I feel in my heart and soul that it’s teachings are true, and that by following and committing to those teachings I will be able to progress and grow and improve. I know that this gospel will continue to be a blessing to me and my posterity, because it is true and because it gives us purpose and direction. There are no words to describe how much this truly encompasses my life and my very being. It is a part of who I am, it is who I am, and I could not, and would not change it, or have it any other way.
This article was written by Melissa, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
I was baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (sometimes mistakenly called the Mormon Church) when I was eight years old. Some would say I was born a Mormon. And they would be right, because culturally I am Mormon. Spiritually I became a Mormon when I was about 14 or 15 years old. The LDS Church is a church of converts. It doesn’t matter if you’re baptized at 8 years old or 48 years old, we all have to learn for ourselves and gain our own testimony.
As a young teenager I watched my Dad on Sunday mornings. He would sit in the living room and study the scriptures, while my Mom would be struggling to get 5 children ready for church. I was the oldest and didn’t understand what was so important that he wouldn’t help. He would get upset if we were late, but he wasn’t helping get anyone ready to go. My Dad cooked and helped out in other ways. He did dishes and took care of children. Why was studying the scriptures more important than helping Mom? I wanted to know what was so important, so I started to really study the scriptures. I put Moroni’s promise (Moroni 10:3-5) to the test. I asked my Heavenly Father if what I was reading, and studying, was true. I got my answer.
My answer to “Why I became a Mormon” is because I learned the Church is true. I received a spiritual witness that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God and he saw God the Father and His son Jesus Christ, and that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I learned about my Savior. I learned about the Atonement. I found my own testimony.
This article was written by Alison, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
As a lifelong member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (often referred to as the Mormon Church), I was taught by my parents at a young age about the law of tithing. The law of tithing, as you may already know, is that we give the tenth part of our annual increase to the Lord for the building up of His kingdom on earth. These tithes are used to build and maintain temples and church buildings, and to help with missionary work, among other things.
This is a law that I have never really questioned because I have seen the blessings it has brought to the lives of me and my family. My parents taught me to keep this law, and I practiced it as a young child. Growing up, my family was never what would be considered wealthy, but we always had the things we needed. As I have married and had my own family, I can see the blessings we have received because of faithfully paying our tithing.
One anecdote from my early married life as poor college students was that my husband needed a computer. So, with some money we had saved for that purpose, we went to the store and got a computer. When we later looked on our bank records, it showed that the money had been paid to the store for the computer, but that the store had then put that money right back into our account. We contacted the bank, and they were adamant that the store had put the money back. We contacted the store, and they were adamant that they had been paid for the computer. We feel that this was a blessing to us because we had been faithful in paying our tithing.
I know through my parents’ examples, and my own experience, we will be blessed when we pay our tithing. It is not always an easy commandment to keep. Tithing is a way to show our obedience to and trust in God. We may not ever become wealthy, but we will have the things we need and may be blessed in other ways that we may not even recognize. The Lord has given us everything! All He asks in return is a tenth part. I feel tithing is a great way to show our gratitude to the Lord for all we have from Him each and every day.
This article was written by Connie, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Hartman Rector, Jr. and his wife Connie were baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in February of 1952. Seventeen years later, he was called as a General Authority into the First Council of the Seventy for the Church. He has spent his life in devotion to our Savior, Jesus Christ, and wrote a book compiling many conversion stories. Each story is unique and compelling. One story he recounts is of Bill Wait:
Not everyone receives the gospel through formally-called missionaries. Sometimes it comes from a friend or a family member. Bill Wait received it through his older brother.
At first, however, he rejected it. “Tough, irreverent and worldly,” in the U. S. Navy in World War II he had no need for religion and was embarrassed by his brother’s conversion. Returning to civilian life he continued his search for “happiness” with the same attitude.
Bill Wait held out against the truth for seven years. This unembellished story of what made him change and how he found true happiness in Jesus Christ is not only of great intrinsic interest but will serve to encourage Church members whose loved ones have so far not felt to join them in their allegiance to the gospel.
Bill had grown up in a home where church service was every Sunday, but he never wanted to go. He described his brother as being more spiritually inclined then he was. His brother had carried a Bible around and desired to be married. That was his dream, but he didn’t think he would ever marry, because he thought he would die in World War II. His brother went and saw the Laie Temple in Hawaii and read a pamphlet on eternal marriage, which brought him to the waters of baptism. From that point forward he tried to get his brother to join as well. In his own words Bill says:
By this time, I was in New Guinea aboard a rusty old Navy ship. I, too, had quit high school and left home on my seventeenth birthday. I was homesick and discouraged, for I had left thinking that I would become a Navy hero aboard a destroyer or a submarine. But I was swinging around the hook in Madang, New Guinea, and cursing the heat, the ship, and the war. My brother’s letter to me arrived with a package. I had hoped for goodies from Hawaii, but out dropped a book of scriptures. I was embarrassed in front of my friends to be receiving such a package, for we were tough, irreverent and worldly men. That night, I placed that Book of Mormon and some equipment of my shore-based days in the sea bag, and in the dark of the night I dropped it over the fan tail and gave the gospel light the “deep six.” My search was for happiness, and I thought that it was not to be found in church.
The months rolled into years, and finally the war was over. My brother went home, and within a short while he was called on a full-time mission for the Church.
I had many months yet to serve on my enlistment, but finally we were all home as a family unit. I had been embarrassed in explaining to friends that my brother was a missionary. My concept was far different from what he had experienced. It was now my turn to hear, firsthand, his testimony and the plan of salvation. He wanted me to be baptized and join him in the kingdom of God. I was frustrated and disturbed by his strong desire. I tried to avoid him and continued my search for “happiness.”
[After the war, I had joined the Los Angeles Fire Department.] One night as we responded to an alarm of fire, a friend of mine, reporting from another engine house, fell off the tailboard of his truck and was killed. The alarm was false, and the futility of this tragedy, the return of war, and my futile search for happiness weighed heavily on me through the remainder of that night. When I was relieved of duty the next morning, I walked the streets of Los Angeles to where my friend had died.
Here, on Skid Row, as the smog hung heavily in the air, I found the tragedy of death which is a lack of reverence for life. All about me there was the stifling stench of sin. Obscenities were crudely written on the walls of the ugly buildings. Drunks were lying on the sidewalks, and the paddy wagon was making its morning rounds. The newspapers on the racks gave detailed accounts of the battle dead in Korea, and my thoughts filled me with despair.
I walked down the street and prayed to God to know why I was alive, and with all the energy of my soul I told him that I wanted a reason for life, or I wanted death. And, at twenty-four, I would have welcomed a release from mortal life.
But in answer to my sincere prayer I was overwhelmed with a desire to read the books that my brother had been urging me to read for the past seven years.
Now, each morning as I left work I went to the library and read the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, the Pearl of Great Price, and the New Testament. I knew that what I read was true; the Holy Ghost bombed me with the gospel of Jesus Christ, and I knew of a surety that the words were true. I was filled with despair at the exquisite memory of the wasted years of my life in search for happiness. But at the same time I was filled with an even greater joy, with the sure knowledge that God lives, and that Jesus is the Christ, and that Joseph Smith is a true prophet of God.
I began attending church, where I found not only the love of the Latter-day Saints, but also the love of the girl who was to become my eternal mate. Soon I was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church by my brother who had tried patiently and long to bring this great truth to me. Not long after, he baptized and confirmed my mother and my father. Soon we were sealed for time and all eternity to one another. A far greater security than I had ever known was ours. The true happiness which I had sought was found in its only source—a testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
There is a search for happiness that is within each of us. We can all come to find that happiness. God has prepared a way for that to happen. He knows our needs and is looking to help us come unto Him. The way can be made light and we can find happiness. The teachings of the gospel of Jesus Christ offer the greatest security in this life.
This article was written by Mady Clawson, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Mady Clawson is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (ʺMormonʺ single adult), with a zest for the gospel. She currently studies English, with an emphasis in Professional Writing and Communications at BYU-Idaho.
Hartman Rector, Jr. and his wife Connie were baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in February of 1952. Seventeen years later, he was called as a General Authority into the First Council of the Seventy for the LDS Church. He has spent his life in devotion to our Savior, Jesus Christ, and wrote a book compiling many conversion stories. Each story is unique and compelling. One story he recounts is of Immo Luschin Von Ebengreuth:
A full-time translator for the Church in Frankfurt, Germany, Immo is a well-educated man who speaks five languages and has studied both medicine and law at the University of Graz, Austria, his home town. He has always been deeply religious. Blessed with a happy marriage which they had deliberately oriented toward religion, Immo and his wife could not accept that that marriage must end at death. In their thoughtful and prayerful approach they found other basic problems too which were not answered by their Roman Catholic faith. For all that, they were reluctant to seek answers outside of their religion.
In his words, Ebengreuth said:
For several months prior to our wedding, my fiancé and I spent our evenings discussing every phase of our future. Among other things, we decided that we would make religion a very substantial part of our marriage. Our children, we felt, would have to be protected from the evils of the world, and this could best be done by making religion the foundation of our moral lives.
On the day of our wedding, a beautiful September morning in 1947, we went to confession, partook of the sacrament of the Eucharist, and were married. We tried to be in harmony with all the ritual injunctions of the Roman Catholic Church. As our four children came along, each was baptized within the week of its birth; later we taught them to pray to our Father in Heaven and went to church with them every Sunday.
After some six years of continued happiness in our married life, I said to Helmi one evening, “You know, I don’t believe that we shall be separated in the hereafter, as the priest who married us said we would be. We shall be together forever.” “But how could this be possible?” she asked.
“I do not know. But one thing I know for sure. If they don’t have this kind of provision yet, they must invent it for our sake.”
One day Helmi was watering and weeding the flower beds [when two Mormon missionaries came] and persuaded her to be seated with them at a nearby table in our garden. They asked her permission to open the discussion with prayer. They asked her about her family, introduced religious matters, and started questioning her. Helmi warded off all inquiry by telling them that they should come back on Saturday when her husband would be home. They then again offered prayer. Helmi says, “This is the thing which impressed me most, and for many years will be stamped into my mind. They included me and my children in their prayer, asking him to bless us and to look after our needs.”
I scarcely paid attention when, on Saturday morning, she told me that two young men, possibly Americans, would come at 2 p.m. and try to see me. At two o’clock I was in my downstairs workshop, working on a birthday present for Helmi, when the doorbell rang.
“Good day. We are missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and we have a very important message to impart to you,” said one. He introduced himself as Elder Bryner and his companion as Elder Johnson.
“We want to tell you that there is a living prophet of the Lord today,” he continued, “and that the full gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored in our day and age by a modern prophet, Joseph Smith.”
Immo was very uninterested, but after a series of discussions, he came to find that the missionaries had brought him the truth. All of his questions concerning marriage beyond this life were answered. He said: “The elders knew an answer to every question I had; and what is more, it was the right answer, the one I had been looking for all along. I felt as if I was approaching my old hometown after many years of absence. At the conclusion of their second visit the elders asked me to kneel with them and offer the prayer, which I did.” Throughout these discussions, Immo and his family were slowly convinced of the truthfulness of the gospel:
August 28, 1960. This day I was baptized by Elder David F. Johnson, and was confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Elder Lowell L. Bryner.
Helmi was baptized two weeks later; the two older children, Astrid, 12, and Hanno, 10, after three months of instruction, were baptized in December of the same year. Gero, who was then 7 years old, and Iris, 5, were later baptized by myself when they were old enough to be baptized.
The most important day in my life, and in Helmi’s life, was the 21st of August, 1961, when we were sealed for time and all eternity in the temple which is located in Switzerland. And I know that if we prove true and faithful, we will not be separated in the hereafter.
I knew this was the truth; I had known it all along. But someone had to come and show it to me by breaking down the walls which tradition and other worldly considerations had built around me. Someone had to be courageous and persistent enough to disregard my reluctance to do as the Lord wanted me to do.
Someone had to tell me. Thank God for the missionaries.
The Lord has called chosen servants in this day and age to bring His gospel to His children. Missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are called of God and have a message for you. The truth that we are all yearning for is out there. Life does not have to be confusing. I invite you to meet with the Mormon missionaries so that you can receive the blessings of the gospel of Jesus Christ and find peace and solace in the plan of our Father in Heaven.
This article was written by Mady Clawson, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Mady Clawson is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (ʺMormonʺ single adult), with a zest for the gospel. She currently studies English, with an emphasis in Professional Writing and Communications at BYU-Idaho.
The scriptures say that all things testify that there is a God (Alma 30:41). One Mormon scientist, a convert from atheism, said it takes more faith to rely on science than to believe God is in control.
Those who are certain that God is real are they who have had direct experience with Him. These spiritual experiences tend to imprint upon one’s soul more deeply than earthly experience. In many ways they seem more real.
When Mormon missionaries first asked me to pray, I didn’t quite know how to go about it. If anyone had asked me before that moment whether I believed in God, I would have answered in the affirmative, I think because I was raised in a believing society, and the idea just seemed natural. But I had no definition of God, and could not have named His attributes, nor could I have told you how He works, or if He was a personal God, or not. My first prayer was essentially, “Is there anybody up there”?
Something flowed through me in response. It was comprised of love, peace, recognition, and approval. It came from above, and when it did, I knew. I knew not only that there was a God, but that He loved me personally and was there at the very instant I called upon Him. He has personally been involved in my life ever since.
The Holy Ghost has spoken to me on many occasions in language I would never shape in my own conversation. His words, conveying the message of the Father and His Beloved Son, imprint and remain to anchor one’s faith. You feel, as much as hear, his words. It was a warm but windy Santa Barbara night when I prayed to know whether I should “wait” for a young man leaving on a Mormon mission. “He’s going to be the father of your children,” the Holy Ghost said with a force that nearly took away my footing. That experience gave me strength and patience to hang in there for three years, until a relationship began to bear fruit and we were married.
In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, often mistakenly called the “Mormon Church,” most worthy men hold the “priesthood.” In the Church of Jesus Christ, “priesthood” is the power and authority to act in God’s name. Men who hold the Melchizedek Priesthood are able to give blessings of comfort and healing by the laying on of hands, and God has manifested Himself to me very personally in these blessings. Through them, He has given me an inkling of who I was before I was born to earthly parents, and who I can be after I leave this earthly existence. He has also told me a lot about my children and who they will be as adults.
I have learned that He knows us better than we know ourselves, better than anyone knows us, and that He want s us to allow Him to make of us what would be impossible without His full involvement. Although He is all powerful, He is also all personal. I have learned that He is ever more involved and quick to hear when we are the most dedicated to keeping His commandments, praying often, and studying the scriptures. I have learned that the distractions of the world can keep us from feeling His love every minute. Over the years, as I have turned my self about in His direction and away from the world’s, I have been aware of Him and received His guidance constantly.
I testify that God is not only our Creator, but our real Father in Heaven, who loves us so personally, He is like an affectionate, all-wise, Father to us. The more we turn to Him and abandon our attachment to those things that are impermanent, the more He speaks to us, guides us, heals and comforts us.
As I write this, I am sitting in the hospital welcoming to the world my baby boy. Starting this small family has taken over five years, and while others have waited longer, our wait has been a journey that I believe would have been impossible without my faith in Jesus Christ and in the teachings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (often mistakenly called the Mormon Church). It has been a trial that has brought me closer to my Heavenly Father and strengthened my love for Him.
Before I begin my story, it is important to discuss a fundamental tenet of the LDS faith, the Priesthood. And so I present a basic primer on the subject. In the Church of Jesus Christ, the Priesthood is not a position or a title of leadership. We believe the “Priesthood” is the authority to act in the name of God. It is extended to every worthy male member of the Church. Because of this great authority, the men of the Church are expected to give as many people as possible access to it. Through the authority of the Priesthood, we perform baptisms, administer the Sacrament (Communion), and administer other ordinances. Also, anybody can go to a holder of the Priesthood to receive a blessing either of counsel or of healing. Through these blessings the Lord reveals His will and makes promises. While there are many other aspects to the subject, this should be enough of a reference for the story of my child.
Almost six years ago, my darling wife and I were married. About six months later, after a great deal of prayer, we received the answer through the Holy Spirit that we should start adding to our family. Thus encouraged, we believed that it would happen rather quickly. We had no reason to believe otherwise. After a year we became a little discouraged, especially as the area where we lived was full of young families and there was at least one baby born a month, sometimes up to three.
The second year of seeing so many of our peers blessed with something that we were praying so desperately for, we started to wonder what was wrong. After coming home and seeing my wife in tears after three new babies were announced in church, we discussed going to a doctor to figure out why we were struggling to have a baby. But I couldn’t handle knowing it was my fault that we couldn’t conceive, and I couldn’t imagine the pain it would cause my wife to know that it was her biology that was impeding the process. So we never went to the doctor to figure out what was wrong. We just trusted in the Lord and in His blessings as we started moving toward an adoption plan.
The adoption plan was held back by under-employment and a move across the country. We found ourselves in a new congregation (“ward” in LDS terminology). There we met a couple who struggled for seventeen years with infertility and another that struggled for ten. They became our mentors and our help. My wife and I firmly believe that God put them in our way to be a comfort and strength.
About two years ago, my wife and I sat in the car having a tear-filled conversation. For years now we had been saying that we were struggling with infertility, but I could not bring myself to say that we were infertile. The word struggle meant that there was hope. I was unwilling to give up that hope. Shortly after that, my wife requested a Priesthood blessing. In it, she was promised that we would be a mother.
A year and a half ago, I had the opportunity to teach Sunday School. During that class I asked the question, “How can we learn to love others the way Heavenly Father and Jesus love them?” One person said that the best way to learn was through having a child of your own, emphasizing the birth process. I’m ashamed to say I was instantly angry. I looked to my wife who was in the class. She gave me an understanding nod of permission. I told the entire class of about fifty people about what my wife and I were going through. I told them that there was good probability that my wife and I would never have that privilege. And if this was the case, would I never be able to understand the love that Jesus has for me?
The beginning of this year, my wife sent me a text message. “This year is going to be our year,” it said. At the same time she was sending me this, I was sending her a text message telling her to ask her boss for more hours. I was being laid off.
In despair, I went searching the Lord’s will through a Priesthood blessing of my own. In it I was told that I would be a father. I felt in my heart that this was true, but I didn’t understand how. In April, while I was sitting in a meeting, I started to pray. I pleaded with my Heavenly Father as to how this would be accomplished. In my heart I received the answer, “In the usual way.”
Later that month, my wife took a pregnancy test just to make sure she wasn’t pregnant. When she told me that I should come look at the test, we both sat looking at something we had wanted for so long, but had stopped hoping for, a positive pregnancy test.
This is the abridged version. It omits several people and several promises that fill out the lessons that we learned. Among them is that our Heavenly Father knows us and can reveal His will and promises through His Priesthood. Another is that while we had faith that God could do this miracle for us, we had stopped trusting that He would. It is one thing to believe that God can do all things. It is another to believe that he will do anything to bless the lives of His children, even if it means a miracle. Now I not only have faith in God, I trust Him too.
This article was written by Timothy Hewitt, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Timothy Hewitt currently lives in Pittsburgh and works as a freelance writer/editor. His research interests are in language, particularly Ancient Greek and English.
Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or the Mormons believe that we are sons and daughters of our Father in Heaven. Before this earth, we lived as spirit children in our heavenly home. We wanted to become as He was. Our Heavenly Father knew we could not progress beyond a certain point unless we left Him for a time. He wanted us to develop the godlike qualities that He has. To do this, we needed to leave our pre-mortal home to be tested and to gain experience. Our spirits needed to be clothed with physical bodies. As part of His plan, we would need to leave our physical bodies at death and reunite with them in the Resurrection. Then we would receive immortal bodies like that of our Heavenly Father. If we passed our mortal tests, we would receive the fullness of joy that our Heavenly Father has received (Doctrine and Covenants 93:30-34.)
Heavenly Father called a Grand Council to present His plan for our progression. (See Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith, 209, 511.) We learned that if we followed His plan, we would become like Him. We would gain a physical body, experience death and be resurrected; eventually we would have all power in heaven and earth; we would become heavenly parents and have spirit children just as He does (see Doctrine and Covenants 132:19-20.)
In this Grand Council, we learned as well that He would provide an earth for us where we would prove ourselves (Abraham 3:24-26). We would lose any remembrance of our heavenly home. This would be necessary so we could exercise our agency to choose righteousness over evil without the influence of the memory when we lived with Heavenly Father. We would be obedient in keeping God’s Commandments through a test of our faith in Him and not because of our knowledge or memory of Him. Our faith in the gift of a promised Savior would help us recognize the truth when we heard it again as well. (John 18:37).
During this heavenly council, we learned that all of us in some degree would experience weaknesses. We learned that a Savior would overcome death and His resurrection would allow us to be resurrected and our sins could be overcome though His Atonement for our sins as well . We learned that as we placed our faith in Him, obeying His word and following His example we would be exalted and become as our Heavenly Father and we would receive a fullness of joy. When we learned of the plan for our salvation in the premortal world, we were so happy that we shouted for joy. (Job 38:7.)
This article was written by Mike, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Hartman Rector, Jr. and his wife Connie were baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in February of 1952. Seventeen years later, he was called as a General Authority into the First Council of the Seventy for the LDS Church (sometimes mistakenly called the “Mormon Church”). He has spent his life in devotion to our Savior, Jesus Christ and wrote a book compiling many conversion stories. Each story is unique and compelling. One story he recounts is of a former Catholic monk John S. Staley:
After two years of college, I took my first triennial vows as a Benedictine monk. According to St. Benedict, founder of the order in the early sixth century, a monk is one who seeks God. I must confess that my knowledge was indistinct as to who and what God really was. This has been a lifelong quest.
In 1941, when I was twenty-five, my ordination as a Roman Catholic priest was witnessed by my community, family, and friends. Mother, in a surge of love for me and maternal pride in giving a son to God, had the diamond from her engagement ring set into the silver chalice I would use in the celebration of mass. It was a day of rejoicing.
About five years after ordination I began to experience some discontent and found that in my religious life there were things difficult to accept. However, in keeping with the vows, I did all that was required of me. Each year as we celebrated the Feast of St. Benedict I would recall what I had said to God on that day of final vows: “Lord, let me not be confounded in my expectations.” But I became increasingly confounded and sometimes complained to God as Moses did when those expectations did not materialize.
By 1966 I was openly protesting in my monastic community against various practices in the system. I was made to feel evil for trying to bring changes for good. This weighed heavily upon me, and I formally applied for laicization, being convinced that the Catholic Church was in dire need of reform to render it relevant to the needs of mid-twentieth-century man.
As a sociologist at the University of Pittsburgh I was there to learn as well as teach—to learn how the concepts of the Institutes could be applied theologically and sociologically for the achievement of human potential. On the second day I met Mariellen, a mature graduate student. I conversed with Mariellen over the ideals that had led her to the Institutes, about her own brain-injured mentally-retarded son (now a young man of 22), and about the experiences she had had in working with such children. She was interested in my reasons for coming to the Institutes.
As a priest, I thought she would make a splendid nun to found a new order for this work. My objective was to persuade her in this direction.
For “bait” I gave her a copy of The Divine Milieu, written by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, an eminent French Jesuit priest and physical anthropologist. That book describes the author’s concept of how man is gradually moving toward divinization.
A few days later she returned the book to me and smilingly said, “I enjoyed the book-parts of it sound as though they might have been written by a Latter-day Saint.” Never having heard that term before, I had to ask her, “What is a Latter-day Saint?” She replied, “I’m one, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Sometimes we are nicknamed Mormons.”
From that point our discussions in theology veered sharply away from Catholicism as she adroitly led me into a new search by quoting from Lorenzo Snow, a past president of her Church: “As man is, God once was; as God is, man may become.” My spring was unsprung! President Snow had outdistanced Teilhard by a spiritual light-year! His was the most profound set of words I had heard in my life-and all my adult years had been spent studying theology, philosophy, and sociology!
The central theme of the restored gospel stated aphoristically by President Lorenzo Snow went far beyond Teilhard and Newman. What I found here, I found in every one of the aspirations that was troubling me: the search for a new kind of priesthood, the search for a new kind of worship, the search for a new kind of perspective on man. Here, in the teachings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was a vision of man on an ascending, expanding, open-ended spiral of eternal progression. This is dynamic, developmental, as opposed to the static closed circle of organization accepted by prevalent Christian thought.
In the worship service of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints I found a priesthood that is shared by all worthy men of the Church, beginning with age twelve, and wearing neither special vestments nor insignia. I discovered that, according to their various offices, they carry a gentle but strong authority to pray, teach, administer, heal, and to bring order among their families, wards, and stakes. I was witnessing the kingdom of God in action. [Over time I chose to be baptized as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints].
Progress is programmed by love. The highest level of development is dependent upon being sealed for time and eternity in temple marriage. As it was promised in my patriarchal blessing, Mariellen and I went up to the temple the year after my baptism to take out our endowments and have our marriage sealed.
For years as sociologist and theologian I had probed the meaning of marriage, of sex and love. In the great revelation of the restored gospel given in the endowments, the mystery of man and woman, of love and marriage, of the divine plan of progression to divinization opened to me with breathtaking clarity. The successive covenants with God ending in the eternal covenant of marriage both moistened the eye with joy and sobered the spirit with the awesomeness of the responsibilities involved.
All my life I had been in pilgrimage to the House of the Lord, and now I finally could say: “Lord, you have not confounded me in my expectations. You programmed me for joy, and you have not withheld those things necessary to possess it.” What new meaning the pilgrim psalms took on for me!
God is preparing us every day to receive His joy and accept His gospel. Every day is an opportunity to know God. The opportunity is right before you as you read this article. I encourage you to seek after these things and learn of the goodness of God. He will reveal Himself to you.
This article was written by Mady Clawson, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Mady Clawson is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (“Mormon” single adult), with a zest for the gospel. She currently studies English, with an emphasis in Professional Writing and Communications at BYU-Idaho.
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notebooks, candy and General Conference Bingo cards) to help four children ages 12 and under quietly listen for four 2-hour sessions. But it’s always worth the effort. One of the messages that stood out to me this April was from Sister Elaine S. Dalton, the recently released Young Women General President of the Church, who counseled Mormon women to stand as witnesses to Christ “at all times, and in all things, and in all places.”
