How I Became a Member of the LDS Church: Part 5

The missionaries were over-joyed to hear the news when I called them. They perhaps saw it as their prayers being answered, I simply saw it as doing what God had instructed me to do. I requested that Addison Pennington baptize me. He and I had become close friends, and although neither of us were perfect people our obedience to God kept us on the same path toward perfection.

The final obstacle to getting baptized was getting parental consent. I was seventeen at the time so authorization from a parent was required. I recall having a lengthy discussion with my mother on the subject. She played her hand perfectly, being a cautious mother and at the same time not halting my resolve to act on something I believed was right. Could I have waited a few weeks after I turned eighteen to get baptized without consent? Sure, but why would I want to? If I could get my mom to understand what was going on and have her buy into it ate least partially, then the church may not enhance cohesion in our relationship but it certainly would've have become a divider. As she signed the paper she mentioned that she was doing so against her better judgment, and I love her for it.

On Saturday, June 20th 1993 I was baptized as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. All of my close friends were there. One picture cannot capture the true and entire meaning of one event, but I think this one comes close. Addison and I are the bookends, he is the tall guy on the left and I'm the tall guy on the right. Notable features of this image include Nancy who is in the front row, left side crying. I remember clearly that she wasn't over-whelmed with emotion at me being baptized but heavily saddened because the Rand family were moving away and this would be the final time she would see them (possibly until Chris' wedding when we saw them again). The photo itself has become worn after many years of being carried around and posted, so after I scanned it I had to touch it up a bit. Unfortunately computers can only do so much, but if I had a time-traveling DeLorean I'd go back to that day and cut Daniel's hair for him. What a great picture. What a great adventure. What a wonderful part of my life...and it was still only the beginning.

How I Became a Member of the LDS Church: Part 4

It was time for another family vacation. It was a long drive from Florida to Virginia, and having two adults and two teenagers in the car only made it seem a bit longer. Thankfully I had brought a long a copy of The Book of Mormon to read while we traversed the southeast states on I-95. The LDS missionaries had taught me most, if not all of the basic teachings of the church by this point. I had committed to follow all of the principles they highlighted. Of course, it's easy to commit to leading a virtuous and chaste lifestyle when dates were few and far in between so there was little temptation to deviate from the prescribed course. There was one principle that I avoided committing to; baptism. The missionaries instructed me regarding this on several occasions but I was very reluctant to commit to taking this step. It wasn't that I was unsure if it was right, and it wasn't that they didn't do a fine job of explaining the concept, it was simply a very big step and I knew I would follow through on it so careful consideration was needed. I am not the type of person who takes commitments lightly; if you can get me to commit to something I will follow through. Baptism was more than a single act, it would create covenant between me and Lord to always do my best to do whats right regardless of the consequences for the rest of my existence. Not by any means something to be taken whimsically.

By the time we were on the way to Virginia I had already completed the final official missionary discussion/lesson and I was obedient to all I was asked except for being baptism. I faithfully continued reading The Book of Mormon. I remember learning this was a true book of scripture by my prayer made in faith a few weeks earlier, and now was a great time to examine it by reading from the beginning. I made it this far before the words of Alma altered the course of my life for the better.

Mosiah, Chapter 18, versus 8-10

8 And it came to pass that he said unto them: Behold, here are the waters of Mormon (for thus were they called) and now, as ye are desirous to come into the fold of God, and to be called his people, and are willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light;
9 Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the first resurrection, that ye may have eternal life—
10 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?

These verses engaged me. I followed each word to the next and as they echoed in my mind I felt the Spirit build in my heart. By the end of the tenth verse my mind and heart were in accord with each other; I would be baptized upon my return home.

How I Became a Member of the LDS Church: Part 3

The first missionary lesson included a discussion about The Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon was described as being the translated words of prophets that lived in the western hemisphere (North, Central, and South America primarily). The compiled writings were made upon brass plates and were buried in a hill for centuries until Joseph Smith, Jr. was lead to their location by an angel of God. With power that only God himself can fully understand coupled with tools held dormant with the writings Smith was able to translate the language on these plates into discernible English. This translation was called The Book of Mormon because Mormon was the primary compiler of the writings. So it was simple: The Book of Mormon contains the writings of people in the Americas while The Bible contains writings of people in and around Jerusalem at the same time. I ate all thus up like candy cause it made sense and I felt good about it. Speaking of feeling good about something...

Taking someone's word for it means a lot to some and little to others, but when God says something to an individual it tends to carry a lot of weight without question. The missionaries encouraged me to pray about what they were teaching since much of what they were saying could not be substantiated or proven by conventional means (e.g., I couldn't hold the brass plates or shake hands with Joseph Smith, and I'd never seen Jesus Christ). I knelt by my bed one night after reading a few of the passages from The Book of Mormon the missionaries outlined for me. Why did I kneel by my bed to say my prayer you ask, probably because that's the way they always do it on TV. I prayed from my heart, wanting to really know if what I was learning was true. This wasn't a period of soul-searching for me and I wasn't looking for 'answers' when all of this took place, buy if what I was learning was real then I would be willing to commit myself to perusing it further and if it wasn't true then I could walk away from it with no remorse. I prayed intensely, talking for a few moments then listening with my heart for an answer (cause that's how God talks to you- I never really thought about it until the missionaries mentioned it). It was very silent as I knelt in my room that night with the 35watt bulb in my lamp illuminating the The Book of Mormon I had lying in front of me on the bed. When I opened my eyes and saw the book I had already received my answer; The Book of Mormon was true and was the most important item I owned (and I owned much). It was a turning point in my life. God had spoken to me, this was the result of me extending myself to Him by implementing faith that he would answer. As compelling as this experience was, this was only the beginning.

How I Became a Member of the LDS Church: Part 2

It was raining hard outside at about 4:45am as I sat in my living room waiting for my ride to come and take me to early-morning seminary at a nearby church, a church I didn't know the name of but which housed a religion I was about to learn. A friend named Courtney picked me up in her parent's car and we were off.

The building was nice, new, and very clean. The instructor for the small class was named Brother Rand (everyone is referred to as Brother or Sister in the church, usually until you knew them well enough to call them by their first name). I was introduced to the class and then later on during the course of the lesson Brother Rand asked me a question: "Eric, what is a prophet?". I answered, "It's the money you make when you sell something". I didn't mean for it to be comical but it did elicit a few chuckles from a few other students. The first thing I learned about the LDS church: A prophet is a man who receives direct inspiration from God and teaches/leads people to live righteously.

I continued to attend early-morning seminary for the remainder of the school year, which was only a few more weeks. I also started to spend time outside of school with some of the people in the seminary class, which included going to an activity night at the church where we went on a service scavenger hunt (you go to church members homes at random and help them with any task or chore they need accomplished- it was a lot of fun). Shortly before leaving the church that evening I was confronted by a missionary for the church, Sister Sampson, who asked if her and her missionary companion could come by my home and talk to me more about the church and the teaching of Jesus Christ. I really wanted to say 'No' for several reasons but primarily because this would be moving my relationship with the church to a new level- actually having someone in my home with no other objective than to discuss churchy stuff was a big deal. I prepared my 'No' answer, threw a little sugar on it so it wouldn't sound so harsh to the lady (little did I know that missionaries face rejection every day so it probably wouldn't have scathed her), then I let my heart-felt 'No' work it's way out of my gut and past my mouth but to my astonishment it seemed to come out sounding like the word, "Okay".

Over the course of a few weeks I was instructed by these Sister missionaries regarding the basic principles and doctrines of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It was during this time that I took a large step forward by showing my faith in God, actually acting upon what I was learning. Have faith, I'll explain in Part 3.

How I Became a Member of the LDS Church: Part 1

I met a guy in Biology class in 11th grade who you would have never pegged as a church-goer, his name was Addison. We had several things in common like height, humor, and lack of interest in Biology to name a few. After several months I began hanging out with him and some of his other friends as they gathered in the courtyard before school started. I recognized that something was unique about this group of people...this is where you may assume that I noticed that they didn't swear and they were all nice- you'd be wrong. They were all completely different. They had different personalities, interests, they were in different grades, and were various ages. I discovered that all of these individuals attended the same class at their church before school every morning. I having an interest in learning more about religion invited myself to attend, no one seemed to mind and some even seemed a bit surprised. While walking to class that same morning with Addison he informed me that I really didn't want to go to morning 'seminary' because it was too early and it stunk and was boring. I took this as a warning of what to expect, not as an attempt to keep me from attending. I went to the church the next day.