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.