Why am I a Mormon?

Why am I a Mormon?

Lately I have been reading a book by Joseph A. Cannon called “Why I’m a Mormon?” This book contains stories from many people of the LDS faith telling their stories of why they are Mormons. I want to share my conversion story, and then add my testimony of Why I am and will always be a Mormon.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has a great missionary program with over 53,000 young men and women serving in different countries around the world. I can almost guarantee that most of you have either seen a Mormon missionary or been around one who is a member of the church. As a matter of fact, when I lived in Argentina, the missionaries learned quickly to NEVER knock on my door. If they dared to do so, my mom would come out with a broom yelling “you son of a B*%&! Get out of my house! Don’t you dare knock on this door or I will kick your…” and many other encouraging words to never knock again.

When I moved to Queens, NY, I met this lady name Mirna. She asked for some help carrying her TV and my friend and I helped. After helping her, she said that she had a son named Joseph who was my age that I could play with once he got out of school.  We started to hang out and invited to church for an activity and told me that they spoke Spanish. I was thrill to go and my mom said I could. On my way to church, Joseph said to me “we are not the typical catholic or Baptist church, we are Mormons”. Now, I want you to imagine the FEAR that overcame my entire being. Knowing the way my mom talked to those missionaries and the threatening words that she would use, I knew I would be dead if I came home that night and told her that I had been to a Mormon church. The image of her anger, and the feeling of the belt on my butt were awful. I didn’t know what to do! I was stuck in a new country, new language, and with Mormons! But we were already on our way to church so I decided to “just go with it”.

Driving home that night after church was long. When I got home, my mom asked me about church. The Fear that had once taken over me was now gone. Faith over powered my fear, and I begged my mom for days to come to church with me on Sunday. The experience I had that evening at the church was awesome! It was a primary activity in which we sang hymns, learned a lesson, and I made great friends. My life changed that day.

After a few weeks in Queens, we moved to New Jersey where we lost track of the missionaries and the church. After a few weeks Sister Armstrong and Sister Allen knocked on our door and began to visit us frequently. A few weeks later, Sister Allen left, Sister Call came into the area. The sister missionaries were awesome!! We loved them! I wanted to go to church so bad, but I wouldn’t without my mommy. My step dad was always working, and Nick was only 3 so every lesson, one of the sisters would babysit him while the other one taught my mom and I the lessons.

Everything was going well, but my mom was not really attending church. Something needed to change, and it did. The sisters were transferred out of the area, and 2 Elders came (young men). The two Elders were Elder Arnow and Elder Richardson. They were AWESOME! And it was what was needed. The seed that the sisters had worked so hard on began to flourish while the Elders were there. My mom began to attend church and FINALLY decided to be baptized with me. We were baptized the 30^th of July 2000.

That’s the story of how I became part of this great church, but the real question is Why am I still one? Or maybe, what was it that made me decide to be baptized?

I love this church. I am currently serving as the Student Body President of Brigham Young University – Idaho. This past week, April 6, 2012, a girl named Rachel Kekauoha passed away in a car accident. This has made me think of a few things, and what the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teaches brings peace, joy and comfort to my soul. Although her body may be dead, she is not. She lives, and will one day be resurrected and be reunited with her body. Christ died, but he lives. He has resurrected. He is my best friend, and is always there for me. The teachings that there is life after death and that the things we do here in this Earth really matter make sense to me. The knowledge that I can get married and live with the girl I love forever makes me so happy. Knowing that there is one God, and only one FULL truth makes me so grateful for the men who have died to make this possible. There are so many churches and most talk about this so called “god” and when you ask them to tell you about him, they all describe him differently, and that to me, makes NO sense. The gospel of Jesus Christ has brought assurance in the midst of stormy weather. It has brought hope in the midst of all despair. It has brought meaning and direction in my journey. I love this gospel. The gospel of Christ is the things he taught, the way of life he wants us to follow. We can find that as we read about him and study his life. The church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has the fullness of the gospel. I love to learn new things, and this gospel has answers to my questions. I love this gospel. So in response as to why am I a Mormon, my simple answer is “why not?”