My Conversion Story

I am a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I was born in to the church and have been active in it all my life. Some may say that I have been trained by my parents religion. But I know for myself that it is true.

I remember going to church as a kid and dreading it. I hated the stupid songs, three hours of boredom, and plenty of kids to pick on me. When we turn eight in our church is when we are baptized and officially become "members," and as I came up on that age I didn't want to be baptized. I didn't really believe it and I thought that if it was true I should I wait until I had something to actually repent of? After getting asked over and over I decided that I'd be baptized so people would stop asking me! Surely the annoyance was worse than actually having to repent on my own, so I was baptized when I was almost nine.

As time passed and I continued to go through the motions; church, singing, going to activities, until I started to get into middle school. It became apparent that I needed to know it for myself instead of following. So I prayed occasionally about it, not quite sure if God was even there or if my pillow just enjoyed the occasional conversation.

After months of just kind of wanting to know, I was at a wedding reception in the Joesph Smith Memorial Building. I remember looking at the cool statues and things around the main room especially a large statue of the Prophet Joseph Smith. I looked up at him and wondered about who he actually was and if he had a vision of God the Father and Jesus Christ. As I looked at him a warm feeling came into me that he truly had been a prophet. I then had a flickering testimony given to me by the Holy Ghost

But I certainly didn't change my life, that would have been entirely too difficult. But I now believed. It wasn't until the following summer that I had another encounter with the spirit. It was at a camp called Especially For Youth that is put on by the church in many colleges. I attended classes, went to dances, and fell in love just about all the girls there. I noticed that a lot of my peers knew something that I didn't. They actually wanted to learn, they actually cared, and they wanted to do what was right.

The last night in camp we watched a video. It was the testimony of the Prophet Gordon B. Hinkley of Jesus Christ set to a dramatization of Christ's life. I felt a warmth come into me, a spiritual embrace, and a coming conviction. A true testimony had finally found me.

The reason I share this, with the world is because I want people to find the same thing I found. I firmly believe that truth can and will withstand honest investigation and questions. If Jesus truly is and was the Christ, if Joseph Smith was called by God, and Thomas S. Monson is called today by the same God, then you have the opportunity to embrace the greatest miracle in the world.

I know that God will never lead us astray. God, His Son, and the Holy Ghost can only testify of the truth. Mormonism doesn't ask you to forsake the faith and understanding that you have. It will increase your faith and add to the truth you already know. All I can ask is that you pray and seek for the witness that God has for us. See if you can find truth in the Book of Mormon by reading and praying about it. There is no better way to learn what the Book of Mormon teaches than to read it. There is no one better to ask if it is the Word of God than God himself.