This is a vulnerable post for me, so please be nice.

I am grateful for second chances. That you can change what you want to be when you grow up.

I started drinking alcohol when I was 12. I overdosed from alcohol at 14 and almost died. I started smoking marijuana at 15. At 20, I started cocaine and meth (we called it crank), along with a variety of different drugs with different nicknames. Once, I was sitting around with a bunch of “bikers” and one of them said “We are free! We don’t follow laws! We live by our own rules!” I never felt so trapped and lost. I did meth every single day for six months, which almost destroyed my marriage. I quit cold turkey and never looked back.

So, if you ever wonder why I jumped at becoming a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, please reread the above paragraph. I feel like God personally plucked me out of a bad situation, and I thank Him every single day.

I am thankful for peace and comfort and the knowledge that our Savior understands us personally and never holds a grudge. It’s been about 7 years now that my dad said to me, “You must not be real smart and must be uneducated to be a member of the ‘Mormon’ church.” I respectfully said to him, “Would you rather have me doing drugs, drinking until I pass out, and having little to no morals?”

I ended with, “Thanks, but I am good staying just where I am.”

The post “I am grateful for second chances” #GiveThanks appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.

One summer, I decided to learn about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Actually, this is not as strange as it seems. As a college professor, I was off for the summer and had a lot of time to myself. I also happened to live a few blocks from ‘Mormon Trek Boulevard’ and near the Mormon Handcart Park in Iowa. New to the area, I often wondered, what was the ‘Mormon Trek’? And why is there a park for handcarts? So, I went to the university library and borrowed a handful of books about the history and culture of the Church, topped it off with a Book of Mormon, and began reading.

I learned about the Church’s teachings, such as Family Home Evening, the Word of Wisdom, and its support of family life. It all appealed to me as a good way to live. At the time, my grown son shared my home. I’d read, get excited, and go talk to him about it. It got to the point where he’d hear me coming and call out, “Are you going to talk about ‘Mormons’ again?”

I also watched any Church-related YouTube videos I could find, especially opening mission calls, which I found intriguing. While some were serious, others were full of good-natured fun, with families pinning their guesses on a map – and everyone seemed so happy. Why? I’d seen missionaries in the cold and rain. I learned that they didn’t get paid and couldn’t watch TV. I wasn’t sure what there was to be happy about. And yet, there must be something about this Church that made people ecstatic about giving up part of their lives when others enjoyed a carefree college experience or starting a career. Around this time, I also felt prompted to do something a little weird. One day, I drove up to the church and took a look. I don’t know what I expected the building to tell me, but I went and sat in the parking lot anyway.

As I worked through my readings, I learned about General Conference, the semi-annual meeting during which Church leaders give talks on “how to find peace, hope, and joy in Jesus Christ; how to strengthen families by following Jesus’s teachings; and how to receive personal guidance and inspiration from God”¹ and decided to watch. I figured they were probably going to scream and tell me I was going to hell, but misgivings aside, I tuned in. Maybe I’d find out why those missionaries were so happy.

It turned out that Conference was nothing like I expected. I often describe it as ‘homey’ – so warm and comfortable.  Instead of being told I was an irredeemable sinner, I heard caring people speak on a variety of topics. Most meaningful to me were Elder Claudio R.M. Costa’s² talk on obeying the prophets (the concept of a living prophet was new to me) and how Elder Jeffrey R. Holland³ showed that ‘regular’ people could serve the Lord as they served His children. I didn’t need to be perfect. Again, I rushed to share my feelings with my son (“You aren’t going to talk about ‘Mormons’ again, are you, Mom?)

A week or so later, I was preparing for class one evening when there was a knock at the door. I peeked out to see two missionaries standing in the chilly October night. What luck! Finally, I could talk to someone about the Church. I asked them to wait while I got myself together. When I opened the door again, I had my stack of books and blurted out excitedly, “Did you see the Conference?” Eyes like saucers does not begin to describe the look on their faces! We spent an hour on my front porch talking about Conference and what I’d read. One of them looked at my books, noting I already had a Book of Mormon. “Oh no, this belongs to the library. It isn’t mine,” I responded. Again, his eyes got big and he gave me my own copy. Months later I learned that they had gone to all the other houses on my street. I was the last one and the only person who opened the door! I was meant to have that book.

Even though I tried to convince myself that I was only curious and not looking for a new religion, I invited the missionaries back. I went to a few services. I also went to activities at church and found a wonderful community in the Relief Society, the Church’s organization for women. At times, I thought I could never be one of them – they were so nice, they had such close-knit families, and they could quote scripture, which I still can’t do.

After a few months of investigating and with my son suggesting, “Why don’t you just get baptized already?” I started to give it some serious thought, but hesitated. Being a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was more than just going to services on Sunday and doing what I wanted the rest of the week. It was deciding to make Christ an integral part of my everyday life and to join a community of people who had committed to the same. While I struggled with the decision, I was reminded of a scene in ‘Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.’ Indy stands at the brink of a chasm separating him from the Holy Grail, which he needs to save his father’s life. Like me, he also struggles with the decision to move ahead, but finally he steps out into the void, taking a leap of faith, and a bridge appears. I knew that’s what I had to do. I didn’t have all the answers. I wasn’t sure what being a member would mean, but I knew I needed to take that leap to have the life I wanted. So, I got baptized. A year later, three of my original missionaries were still in the field and were able to join me at the Nauvoo Temple as I received my endowment. What a happy day it was for all of us!

Now, with almost 10 years in the Church, I have been blessed by the knowledge that whatever happens, God is there, and I cannot fail. When I faced a life-changing trial, people asked how I remained calm, even happy. Before baptism, I might have given in to despair, but as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ, I felt secure in the Lord’s saving grace and that there was a heavenly plan for me. I knew I would be all right – and I was.  

I have been blessed by following the Prophets’ guidance. As of this writing, the COVID-19 pandemic still affects daily life in my town. By following the Prophets advice, I had enough food storage during the height of the pandemic and did not struggle to fulfill my needs.  Importantly, since I didn’t need to go to the store, whatever I would have purchased was available for another.

Finally, I mentioned I live near Mormon Handcart Park. Saints immigrating from Europe left from here to go to West. Those who could not afford wagons, built handcarts and walked across the prairie to Utah. When I learned that, I was awestruck. What do you mean men, women, and children walked over a thousand miles to Utah? How was it possible? It was possible because they had faith in the prophet and believed the Book of Mormon was true. Because of faith, not only could they walk across the prairie, but they could endure the many trials along the way – and keep walking. In my home office, I have a print of a young girl pulling her handcart in the snow. She reminds me that although I didn’t walk to Utah like this pioneer, whatever difficulties occur, I will have faith because I know I am in God’s hands. I know I can keep walking on my Mormon trek.

1. What is General Conference? https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/share/what-is-general-conference?lang=eng

• Costa, C. (2010). Obedience to the Prophet.  https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2010/10/obedience-to-the-prophets?lang=eng

• Holland, J. (2010). Because of Your Faith. https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2010/10/obedience-to-the-prophets?lang=eng

The post What Do You Mean, They Walked to Utah? A Latter-day Saint Convert’s Experience appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.

Meme courtesy of LDS Media Talk

I was able to rekindle some of the deep passion I feel for missionary work last week. I believe that God wants all of His children to at least have the chance to hear the gospel. The internet makes that a lot easier, but we can also do things in our day-to-day lives to simply let people know we are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and to share how and why the Savior and His gospel help us in our lives.

There are multiple videos about member missionary work at the website Hastening the Work.

I know people who take pass-along cards everywhere they go. Even adding QR codes to them for fun.

Or who share copies of the Book of Mormon as they go to the store or the laundrymat.

I already shared a story about 32 Mormon mommy bloggers doing something really quite simple — they each wrote a one-page testimony of the Book of Mormon and compiled those testimonies into a “packet.” And then they invited people who knew them to ask for a packet, no strings attached. Hundreds of people responded. A family could do something like this on a smaller scale with the people they know.

More and more people are using blogs as a way to share their testimony. The Spirit can guide about that, about whether to share in this way and what to share. One of my favorite stories from the power of a blog to change a life is captured in this video by my friend Michelle. A woman in Hungary read her blog. Michelle’s son invited Noémi to request a Book of Mormon through Mormon.org. And, as they say, the rest is history!

Family blogs can be a way to share testimony as well. For example, LeAnn at Living Waters often writes for her family, but her testimony is also there in ways that can reach others. We never know who might need what we have to share!

Facebook and Twitter and Instagram can be other ways to share. You don’t have to have a lot of followers. Sometimes the best connections are one-on-one. But there are those who do have lots of followers — and you could connect with them to share something, too!

There are lots of creative ways to use videos, too. Kathryn at Well-behaved Mormon Woman shares an example of Mormon missionaries using ukuleles to help them share the gospel to their Chinese-speaking brothers and sisters.

Many others are using YouTube to share their talents to share the gospel. Or using blogs. Or sharing talents in real-life ways. The Spirit can guide you about how to consecrate your talents to help others!

An example of another friend using and sharing her talents online is Sue Anderson. She shares a wide variety of poetry on her LDS poetry site. She’s been generous about letting me share poems here…and we’ll be sharing some of them later this week/month.

Family history work is something people get excited about. If you are a family history buff, consider inviting someone to come do family history with you sometime! Or invite them to do some Family Search Indexing. “The availability of a single record is often the key that allows someone to discover an ancestor—or an entire branch of a family tree. Every record you index is important because it helps document someone’s life, and everyone deserves a legacy.” It’s an exciting project for anyone to help with, even youth!

Addiction recovery is something many people may need help with. Do you or someone you know have a story to share? Or if you know someone struggling with an addiction, you could invite them to hear personal stories of those who have found recovery from addiction, and you could invite them to an LDS Addiction Recovery program meeting, or to attend other 12-step programs like Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, Sexaholics Anonymous (or other programs for those in addiction), or Al-Anon, Nar-Anon, S-Anon (or other programs for loved ones).

Clayton Christensen shares ideas about how to fold our faith into everyday conversation, how to invite without putting pressure on others as we share, about inviting others to serve with us so they can feel the joy of service, about ways to invite people to learn more…and more. See the Everyday Missionaries YouTube channel.

Read others’ experiences with trying to be everyday missionaries.

The post Missionary Work = Missionary Fun — ways to help hasten the work appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.

Modern-day Pioneers Follow in Early Saints’ Footsteps

The post More Modern-day Mormon Pioneer Stories appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.

From Book of Mormon Musical to Mormon Convert is an article at the Deseret News about a young woman who attended the Book of Mormon musical and — to her own surprise and the surprise of her family and friends — ended up joining The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

On her Mormon.org profile, Liza writes:

This Gospel has brought me more joy than anything I have ever experienced in my entire life. Although I am currently the only member in my family, I know in my heart that I made the right decision to be baptized. I know that God knows me and that is why he sent me to the musical in the first place. I can not express enough how much I love this church and all the blessings and happiness that come with being a member. Now that I have the church in my life, I couldn’t imagine my life with out it. That (amongst many reasons) is why I am a Mormon.

Liza lives in Boston and recently wrote on her blog about her thoughts and experiences with the recent Boston Marathon bombings. She writes:

People have been asking me, how can you be religious after all that has happened? What God would do this?

My response: How could I NOT be religious after all that has happened? It is through my faith I have been able to keep going. Nobody ever promised that this life would be easy, trials and tribulations fall upon all of us. However, if we keep the faith, one day our trials will cease and we will have peace. I know this is true. Heavenly Father loves me, and he loves you unconditionally. Never be afraid to talk with Him. He wants to hear from you, I know he does. We are Boston Strong.

In her post, Liza includes a powerful quote from President Dieter F. Uchtdorf’s recent general conference talk, one that she shared at a vigil she attended after the bombings.

“There may be some among you who feel darkness encroaching upon you. You may feel burdened by worry, fear, or doubt. To you and to all of us, I repeat a wonderful and certain truth: God’s light is real. It is available to all! It gives life to all things. It has the power to soften the sting of the deepest wound. It can be a healing balm for the loneliness and sickness of our souls. In the furrows of despair, it can plant the seeds of a brighter hope. It can enlighten the deepest valleys of sorrow. It can illuminate the path before us and lead us through the darkest night into the promise of a new dawn.”

The post From Book of Mormon Musical to Curiosity to Conversion appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.

Tony Frank shares his story of searching for truth through detailed and diligent study of the Bible and personal prayer and following impressions from the Spirit. Tony joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1998. The Washington D.C. temple (pictured above) and visitor center play a significant role in his search for truth.

Perhaps you have seen a Mormon temple and/or wanted to know more about the Church? Did you know you don’t have to have missionaries come to your house to learn more about the Church? You can chat live with LDS missionaries at Mormon.org

Find other conversion stories under our tag “conversion stories.” You can also search Mormon.org to hear hundreds of other Mormon conversion stories by searching by “previous religion” in the search details.

The post A Mormon conversion story appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.

Hear more of his story in the following video. (Press the CC button at the bottom of the video frame for English subtitles.)

For more videos in Russian about Mormonism, see the Mormon.org Russian YouTube channel and Русские Мормоны.

(Quote credit from Seth Adam Smith’s blog. Seth helped edit this video.)

The post Кто такие мормоны? Владимир Иосифович- (video of Russian Rocket Scientist, Mormon convert) appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.

You can now access Mormon.org in 20 different languages, including the following:

Armenian, Cebuano, Chinese, Dutch, English, French, German, Indonesian, Italian,Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Tagalog,Thai, Ukranian.

Here’s a Mormon.org profile from a Russian convert to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (click on the CC button on the video to get English captions):

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He was an Evangelical Christian pastor for nearly three decades. He held “nearly every ministerial position there is, including pastor, evangelist, youth pastor, children’s minister, Christian education director and more” who “taught and believed that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — [sometimes] referred to as the Mormon Church — was a cult. He had no experience with the church’s members and no reason to assume otherwise.”

So what would lead Tom Scott and his wife to convert to Mormonism?

Read their story here. (Quotes from above are from the story.)

Hear Tom and his wife Maggie tell their Mormon conversion stories in the following video, It’s True : An Evangelical Pastor’s Journey to Truth in the Mormon Church:

The post Former Evangelical Pastor Shares Mormon Conversion Story appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.

(Karen, a Mormon convert, is pictured above in a video (part 1 of 2) where she shares her Mormon conversion story.)

– – –

A reader, Mandy, recently asked the following question:

Do you know of any Mormons who converted from Catholicism? What are their reasons for converting?

Immediately, my friend Karen came to mind. Following is her conversion story in her own words (in two parts). You can also read more of her story at Mormon Scholars Testify.

We’ll be linking to a few more stories of Catholics who converted to Mormonism tomorrow.

The post From Catholic to Mormon – Karen’s Conversion Story appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.