I love the Bible. Sometimes my friends of other faiths are surprised to hear that Mormons use the same Bible as the rest of the Christian world. We use the King James version of the Bible as part of our scripture. I doubt there is anything more precious to me than the records kept of Jesus’ life as contained in the four gospels and the Book of Acts. I love the Old Testament too. I love the record of God speaking to people through Prophets like Moses and Abraham. In conversations I’ve had with friends who wanted to know more about me and my faith, there is one question I’ve heard many times. Where are the Prophets when we need them the most?

This is one of my favorite questions to answer! I recently went to a production that answered that very question.

Recently, the missionaries from my area presented a musical fireside entitled “A Long Silence Broken,” a musical tribute to the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Missionaries shared their musical talents with the audience. One missionary was highlighted for his extraordinary musical talent and how music strengthened his testimony of Jesus Christ. (While at BYU, a news production team put together a short video segment highlighting Elder Keith and his astonishing talent. Jonathan Keith on BYU Weekly.)

The fireside began with the life and teachings of Jesus Christ through song and the spoken word. Although I do not have audio recordings of the actual performers from this fireside, here is a video of one of the songs presented to give Testimony to the life of Jesus Christ. In the song His Hands, there is a special emphasis on the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

After a beautiful rendition of His Hands, by Kelly Lord, another soloist sang a song I had never heard before entitled Him and Him Alone. It described our absolute reliance on Jesus Christ. The missionary who sang this song, Elder Excell, sang it with such conviction that I was moved to tears. I felt my personal need for a Savior during that song.

Next, there was a photo slideshow of Prophets from the Old Testament including Adam, Moses and Abraham, then on to the ministries of Peter, the Apostle Paul and others as contained in the New Testament. After the wonderful musical tribute to the greatness and glory of our Savior Jesus Christ, this section was a welcome reminder of the love God shows us by revealing Himself to Prophets. Prior to Jesus’ death and resurrection, He set up a form of church government that would be on earth after His ascension. Jesus called twelve apostles to lead and teach and bear special witness to the people of His life and His sacrifice.

After many years of successful missionary work, all of these Holy Apostles were hunted down and killed or exiled, thus leaving the church to govern itself without the divine authority of the Priesthood. Instead of Prophets and Apostles leading the church, members filled the void of leadership with the voice of its members through voting on doctrines and accepted creeds.

Several hundred years later righteous men like John Wycliffe, Martin Luther, William Tyndale and John Calvin recognized that the doctrines of their church were not in line with the teachings contained in the Holy Bible. They protested and demanded reform. Many gave their lives in protest, and started the Protestant movement. These reformers and protesters were persecuted in their home lands, but some were blessed with the opportunity to try their faith in a new world, America.

Joseph Smith was born in America, the land of freedom of religion, where all people were given the opportunity to worship God however they chose.  Because of this freedom, there were many, many religions to choose from. So many that even though Joseph’s family loved and knew the Bible, they were divided as to what religion to join.  Many of  Joseph’s family had already joined the Methodist church, but Joseph was unsure which of all churches was the correct one. At age 14, Joseph wanted to do what was best, and what God wanted.

To illustrate Joseph’s feelings during this time, a soloist named Elder Seu sang My Soul Hungered. [Again, I do not have audio recordings from this particular event, but I wanted to share the link above, so you could hear for yourself this beautiful song.]

Joseph took his concerns to the Bible and read this verse in James 1:5, which reads:

If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not: and it shall be given him.

With a trust and faith that typically attends the young, Joseph sought out a solitary and peaceful place to pray, believing that God would answer him. And God did answer him!

At this point in the fireside Elder Seu sang the song Joseph Smith’s First Prayer. [To hear the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sing this song please follow this link.] Here are some of the words from this Hymn:

Humbly kneeling, sweet appealing – Twas the boy’s first uttered prayer….

…Suddenly a light descended, Brighter far than noon-day sun,
And a shining glorious pillar O’er him fell, around him shone.
While appeared two heav’n-ly beings, God the Father and the Son.

“Joseph, this is my Beloved: Hear him!” Oh, how sweet the word!
Joseph’s humble prayer was answered, And he listened to the Lord.
Oh, what rapture filled his bosom, For he saw the living God.

A long silence broken!

Just as Abraham, Isaac, Moses and others were called of God to be Prophets to the people of their day, Joseph Smith was called to prophesy, reveal and lead in his day.  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, or Mormon church, has a living Prophet today who we look to for guidance and authority from God. We love Thomas S. Monson and all the Prophets since Joseph Smith. We worship God the Father and the Savior, Jesus Christ, but we are still grateful for Prophets to guide us morally, spiritually and temporally in the modern days.

The Missionary choir then sang Praise to the Man, a beloved LDS hymn (Mormon Tabernacle Choir rendition to video can be found here). My husband and I were astonished by the wonderful testimonies born through music on this fantastic night. I hope I was able to give you just a glimpse of the talent and testimonies of some wonderful Mormon missionaries, and to show how grateful I am for the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

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She loves traveling. “I love diving into a culture and learning what it is like to be a part of it. I love eating, talking and having fun. Lots of laughs, lots of smiles.” Sister Slight lived in Chile for four years but has also traveled to Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil. “No matter where I go, the Church is the same where ever I am. This is a worldwide church!”

“A lot of my conversion to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints came while I was in High School. During that time, I realized that if I wanted good grades, and be sane and happy while taking a very heavy load of classes, I needed to rely on the Lord. I realized I could not do it myself. I realized that I needed to read my scriptures and pray before taking a test, writing essays or found my self struggling to do it on my own. I learned that I wanted to depend on the Lord because I realized after experimenting with prayer and study that He can make my life better than I can make it.”

“Throughout all of my studies, I learned to depend on the Lord and to let Him help me with temporal and spiritual things. In one prayer I told God my issue. I had a paper due the next day and I didn’t know what to write it on. I needed help. Despite wanting to make use of every single minute to work on my essay, I decided to read my scriptures. The paper I was asked to write was on the book, “Wide Sargasso Sea.” After praying and reading my scriptures, I immediately knew to write my essay on the Natural Man. That human nature is carnal. The main character in this book was stuck in the mode of satisfying his immediate desires and that was depriving him of a greater perspective on life. I believe God wants to help us both with our spiritual needs but also our every day problems as He helped me with this essay.”

“My high school English teacher taught me to make the most of my life and that comes through education. She taught me not to let complacency or laziness get in the way of making a difference in any place you may be. I believe in education, especially for women. Finding what makes us happy and gives us fulfillment is what God wants for all of His children.”

Sister Slight’s parents currently live in Qatar, and attend the International Ward in Doha Qatar. Despite not being able to preach the gospel openly, her parents are happy to have a place to worship and still find that people are drawn to the religion even though members obey the law not to proselyte.

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Hermana Olmos converted to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints when she was 10 years old along with her family. Reflecting on that time, she says:

“The first time the Elders knocked on my door they asked for a glass of water, which my mother gave them but when they wanted to share the message my mom said, ‘No thank you. I’m OK with my religion.’ The second time the Elders came, my father let them in. My mom was mad. But she must not have been so mad because she met the Elders in December and was baptized in February.” Hermana Olmos smiled at the memory.

Hermana Olmos loved studying with the Elders when they came to her house. She especially loved the part when they said that families can be together forever. I thought, “I want to live with my family forever.”

On Hermana Olmos’ baptismal day, she was baptized in a small local lake in the town of Zicatepec along with her 8-year-old sister. Her parents had previously been baptized. “I felt so good when I was baptized. I felt I was on my way to having an eternal family.”

In Mexico, Sister Olmos attended the Calipan Branch [a branch is a small congregation in the Mormon faith, smaller than a ward] in Calipan Mexico. There were 20 – 24 members in her branch and they met in a member’s home. While there, Sister Olmos served as a Counselor in the Young Women’s program. For activities, the leaders took the girls to LDS dances in other cities, played sports and went camping.

When asked why she wanted to serve a mission Sister Olmos said, “Always when I was learning the Gospel I saw that the Elders were happy teaching the Gospel. I thought I would want to teach the Gospel like them. When I was 20, I felt scared during my interview to serve a mission. Then I read in the Doctrine & Covenants 82:10 “I the Lord am bound when ye do what I say, but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise.” I wanted the blessings of serving a mission so I had to serve. Also, I really know that families can live together forever. I want all families to know that.”

When asked if there was a time when she knew God answered her prayers Sister Olmos said, “All the time. When I was flying to the Missionary Training Center in Utah, I did not understand any English. I thought AAAAH! I want to return to my house. So on the plane, I prayed and read the scriptures in Spanish. The person sitting next to me said something to me in English that I understood a little. Then he talked to another person and she spoke to me in Spanish. This made me SO HAPPY, because I knew that Heavenly Father loved me.”

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My name is Amber, and I was a veritable Old Maid in the Mormon world and waited to marry until I was 30. Or rather, I didn’t find my Mr. Right until then and we’ve been happily married for six years. Together, we have two great kiddos ages 5 and 3.

I was raised in the Mormon church. I grew up in a part-member family (meaning my mom was a member of the church, but my dad did not join until I was 21) so my activity level was varied. My father was always very supportive and even attended church with us every Sunday. When he was finally baptized, many were surprised because they thought he had been a member all along. This was a real testament to his efforts of being unified as a family, regardless of the varying belief system.

I was born and raised in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. I left when I was 18 to attend college in the United States and have now lived here longer than there! I worked for a number of years as a publicist in the ski industry and as an adventure-travel writer. I dropped it all when I had kids but started back up again when I started blogging. I currently freelance from home as the editor of the mom section/site for my city’s newspaper and still continue to work as a family travel writer on the side. At church, I teach the Valiant girls (ages 8-12) and am on the publicity committee for a city-wide church jubilee this summer.

I love, love, love the outdoors, hence my career in travel writing. I am fortunate to live in the mountains so rarely a week goes by when I do not go hiking. I have been hauling my kids in backpacks from the time they were six weeks old! Other favorites include running, volleyball, biking, roller-blading and skiing. Basically, any sport except for swimming. Also, I trained for eight years in piano at Canada’s Royal Conservatory of Music. Oh, and I do have the gift to gab…!

Even though I felt promptings of the Holy Ghost growing up, I wouldn’t say I really had a solid testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It wasn’t until I went away to BYU-Idaho (then: Ricks College) and participated in a field expedition that a testimony was borne. For two months, we backpacked all over the United States while taking classes in biology, religion, and geology. I came to know of God’s majesty as we sang “How Great Thou Art” while sitting adjacent to a glacier gazing down upon a verdant valley. The truthfulness of the restored gospel rang true as I listened to others speak of their testimonies as we backpacked the north-to-the-south rim of the Grand Canyon. And it was during a solo night I spent in a cave at Lake Powell when I started to catch a vision of my role in it all.

Those were just the seedlings of a faith and testimony that has grown and developed. A testimony that has sent me to on a mission for the Church to Switzerland and France to share it; to the Middle East to learn more about it and those of other faiths; and mostly importantly, to my current city where I try to live it to the best of my ability every day.

I love knowing where I came from, why I’m here and where I am going. I love the peace of living a pure life. I love being spiritually filled every week when I go to church and gaining the resolve to do a little bit better that week. I love the fellowship of my ward (congregation) and knowing if anything was to happen to my family that we would never be alone. I love the knowledge that all the priesthood has been restored to the earth and we are living with Temples, continuing revelation, a prophet and the priesthood. Truly, our world is seeing both the best and the worst of times. Never have I been prouder to be a Mormon Woman.

For more Portraits of Mormon Women, please click here.

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