Friendship and Faith

Now in my 60’s, I joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at 16.  It has been said that there are two elements to complete conversion: 1) a spiritual conversion and 2) a social transition.  For me, the social transition came first.

While sitting in my high school biology class in the fall of my junior year, a young man would drastically change the course of my life with a simple question: “Would you like to play basketball with our church team?”

Well, I loved basketball and I had seen what kind of a person this young man and his friends were.  I was attracted to them.  They seemed happy, comfortable in their own skin.  His offer was accepted, and the following Saturday night I drove to North Hollywood High School, where the church basketball games were played.

I have to admit that I was nervous.  Would I be accepted?  Rejection is no fun at any age, particularly as a teen.  Upon entering the gymnasium they were already warming up.  They stopped, greeted me enthusiastically, and made me feel very, very welcome. 

At that time a player who was not a member of our Church could play on the team as long as he attended two Sunday services and two mid-week youth activities a month.  And so I started attending, still enjoying my association with these young men.

After several weeks of this, the same person who invited me to play with them asked if I would be interested in listening to the missionary lessons, which I was happy to do.  He would come over with them to my house every week.  After they left the home I always felt such a warm feeling, although I didn’t understand the source.  They taught me the gospel of Jesus Christ and invited me to be baptized.  I knew it was right for me.  It was exactly what I needed, and I sensed that this was right in the eyes of my Heavenly Father.

My baptismal service was so beautiful.  Again, I felt that warm feeling, that loving feeling which I now understand was the Holy Ghost, testifying to me that this was right.

My social transition was in place, and my spiritual conversion was well on its way.  I needed to know if The Book of Mormon was the word of God, however.  I read it my first year as a member, but without the deep desire that was necessary.

Two years later I found myself reading the book again, this time with a real thirst to know if it was of God.  I read, studied, pondered and prayed, and received a powerful conviction I will never deny.  This Spirit filled me with such intensity that I knew it was true.

Since that day so many blessings have come into my life.  My conviction that God is real, that Jesus Christ is my savior, and that this Church and its doctrines are true has grown a thousand-fold, and continues to grow.  I was allowed to serve a two-year mission to Mexico, married a wonderful young woman who has made me a better man, been blessed with three faithful sons, and am now enjoying my time as a grandfather.

Raising our sons in this church has made an enormous difference.  We have tried to follow the counsel of our leaders, and our boys have blossomed with gospel teachings from us as well as their youth leaders and many wholesome activities.  They are now raising their families in light and truth, and this beautiful cycle continues on.

I am so grateful.

Craig Dixon

Otay Lakes Ward

Discovering Truth for Myself

I was blessed to have been raised by parents who were faithful members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS).  Raising their children in the gospel was important to them because each came from homes where one or both parents were not active church members.  They wanted their children to enjoy all of the blessings of a gospel-centered home, many of which they had missed out on as children.  As a result, the gospel was an integral part of our family life. 

I cannot remember a day of my life without the gospel.  One of my earliest childhood memories is of attending Sunday worship services and running a toy car along the top of the back of the pew.  A few years later my family was a member of a married-student congregation.  My siblings and I were the only “primary” aged children (ages 3 to 11) in the congregation so my mother was asked to serve as our “primary teacher.”  I specifically remember one lesson she taught about 2000 young warriors whose lives were spared because of the faith they placed in their mother’s faith in God’s power to preserve them.  And like the “Stripling Warriors,” who relied upon the faith of their mothers, I believed the gospel because my mother told me it was true.

Then at age 14 I happened upon a verse of scripture contained in the Book of Mormon which reads, “And when ye shall receive these things (the Book of Mormon), I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost (Moroni 10:4).”

Upon reading that passage it occurred to me that I did not have to rely upon the faith of my parents, that I could know for myself whether or not the Church were true.  I decided then and there to read the Book of Mormon and put Moroni’s promise to the test.  I began reading that night and over the course of several weeks read the entire Book.  After finishing, I set the book aside, knelt at the side of my bed and offered a prayer to God, asking if the Book of Mormon were true. 

I hoped to see an angel, like young Joseph Smith, or to receive a dramatic spiritual manifestation as an answer to my prayer.  What I did receive was, a sweet, peaceful reassurance and a calming confirmation that what I had believed all along was true, that God lives, that Jesus is His Son and our Redeemer, that the Book of Mormon is true and the Church that Jesus Christ established through Joseph Smith is His Church.

To this day, that spiritual witness burns within me so that like my parents, I too can testify that this Church is true.

Adam Dunford
Chula Vista 3rd Ward

A Light That Grows Brighter

When it comes to a person’s conversion to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, there are generally two types of people.  Those who come to the knowledge suddenly like walking into a dark room and turning on a light, or those whose knowledge gradually grows like the sun rising in the morning.  I am the latter.

I am not sure when I first knew that God lives; however, I know that this knowledge came to me early in life.  When I was five years old, a friend and I were exploring in the woods around my house, as young boys do, when we got lost.  We tried to figure out where we were but could not.  The inspired thought came to my mind that we should pray.  I told my friend my thought, and we folded our arm, bowed our heads, and prayed to Heavenly Father for help.  Immediately after the pray, I had the thought to “follow the stream”.  I saw the stream close by us, and we followed it.  After a short time walking, we began to recognize where we were and found our way back home.  I knew from this that God hears and answers prayers, and the conversion light in my heart was being to shine over the horizon.

That light grew brighter over the years.  Usually, it was unperceivable, but occasionally a bright shaft burst through.  The next scene that comes to my mind was when I was twelve years old.  I was at church on a Sunday, and I was walking through the halls after sacrament meeting.  I do not remember anything special about that Sunday’s meeting; however as I walked, I felt the peace that comes from the Holy Ghost.  That feeling again confirmed the love of God in my heart.

My teenage years brought the normal storm clouds of confusion as I transitioned from a boy to a young adult.  The light may have dimmed, but it did not go out.  However, the clouds quickly dispersed and the light continued to grow shortly after I started college.  My freshman year of college was the first time in my life that I was completely on my own to attend church on Sunday or not.  Fortunately, I decided to attend church even when my friends did not.  What a blessing in my life!  Because I was acting for myself and choosing to follow Christ, I was blessed with increasing light.  It was during this time, I came to know for myself that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that He knows and loves me.  The first edges of the sun over the horizon began to be seen.

Since that time, my experiences in this church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, have confirmed in my heart that this is the Kingdom of God on earth today.  The light of Jesus Christ is throughout the world today and felt by many.  The full light of the Gospel is within this church and can be felt by the honest seeker of truth.

Jerry Bregg
Otay Lakes Ward