Part 1

Part 2

I grew up in the Queens borough of New York City. New York City is a wonderful place that is full of excitement and entertainment. As a youth I was heavily involved with rap music, and my brother and I belonged to a rap group called CBS. No, it was not the television station. The acronym CBS stood for Can’t Be Stopped. We thought the name was cool.

We traveled throughout the city performing at wedding receptions, high school dances, and block parties. During the summer months different rap groups would visit the neighborhood park to perform free concerts. Most of the youth involved with rap visited the parks to listen and, at times, compete with the other rap groups. Often, however, these free concerts attracted drug deals and promoted random violence.

It was during the summer of my 14th year that a random violent event occurred—which I will not go into—that provided me an opportunity to leave New York City and changed the course of my life forever.

During that time I was fortunate that my mother decided to send the family money and invited all of the children to come live with her in Hawaii. The money came at the right time, and that week I purchased a one-way ticket to Hawaii.

When I arrived in Hawaii, I quickly recognized its many differences from New York City—the ocean’s clear blue water and the fresh cool breeze at night. I also recognized the many different nationalities and cultures. After my first day of attending Mililani High School, I came home and told my mother that it had felt like I was representing Africa at a United Nations meeting.

During the first few weeks of high school, the basketball coach noticed that I was one of the tallest young men on campus, and he invited me to try out for the basketball team. While living in New York I had not played much basketball. I enjoyed baseball and was on the bowling team, but I had never played on a basketball team. I believe it was because of my height that I started on the varsity team as a sophomore.

We won three basketball games that year, and everyone in the community was excited because it was three more games than the team had won the year before. In my junior year we won six games, and by the time I was a senior we had won 14 games and we became the Western Division champions, which advanced us to the Hawaii state play-offs. Because of my successful senior year, I was recruited to play basketball for BYU–Hawaii. All I knew about BYU–Hawaii was that it was a church school similar to Notre Dame or a St. Mary’s University.

At the start of the fall semester I was instructed by my academic advisor that I needed to take several religion courses to graduate from BYU–Hawaii. For my first semester I decided to take a New Testament course, and for the first time I began to understand in part the importance of a Savior. While living in New York I had been a converted Muslim. The Islamic faith regards Jesus Christ as a great man or prophet, similar to Moses or Abraham. I had not realized the importance of Jesus Christ and His atoning sacrifice until I read about His life in the Gospel of Luke. I studied how the Savior healed the sick, raised the dead, and made the blind to see and the deaf to hear.

Imagine for a minute that we all lived during the time of the Savior and that we watched from a distance as He called His apostles and performed many miracles, including feeding the 4,000. Imagine that we also watched as He took upon Him the sins of the world.

In Luke 22:39 it reads, “And he came out, and went, as he was wont, to the mount of Olives; and his disciples also followed him.” The word wont means “usually.” When the Savior wanted to be alone, He often visited the Mount of Olives and similar places to pray.

The scripture continues:

And when he was at the place, he said unto [His apostles], Pray that ye enter not into temptation.

And he was withdrawn from them about a stone’s cast, and [He] kneeled down, and prayed. [Luke 22:40–41]

Picture in your mind the Savior instructing His apostles to pray to overcome temptation and then His withdrawing Himself “from them about a stone’s cast”—around 30 to 40 yards. He then knelt down to pray, saying, “Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done” (Luke 22:42).

At this moment I believe the Savior knew that He would take upon Him the sins of the world; nevertheless, He asked the Father if there was another way that this sacrifice could be made. If not, His response was, “Not my will, but thine, be done.”

And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.

And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. [Luke 22:43–44]

The Savior felt the pain of our sins. You know how it feels when you have made a mistake and your heart begins to ache. The Savior felt our heartaches and our feelings of guilt and anguish. He took upon Him the sins of all mankind—my sins, your sins, the sins of those who lived before us, and the sins of those who will live after us. The pain was so great that it caused the Savior, even Jesus Christ, to bleed from every pore of His body (see Mosiah 3:7, D&C 19:18). Well, you know the rest of the story. Judas betrayed the Savior with a kiss and Jesus suffered more pain before He was nailed to the cross. The Savior suffered death so that we might have life.

As the fall semester progressed, I was introduced to the missionaries. They visited my dorm room on a regular basis. I remember playing my rap music on my boom box, and I would ask the missionaries if they wanted me to turn the music down. For a long time I thought my music was the reason the missionaries came by my dorm room so often. It was not until I served my own mission that I learned that missionaries are not allowed to listen to music.

After about a week of daily visits, the missionaries asked if I wanted to take the missionary discussions. My first discussion with them was in the library on the BYU–Hawaii campus, and they showed me the video The First Vision. The movie talked about Joseph Smith and how at the age of 14 he felt confused about the many different religions. He wanted to learn the truth and to understand Heavenly Father’s plan more fully. Young Joseph searched the scriptures and read in James 1:5 that “if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God.” This scripture touched young Joseph, and he decided to exercise his faith and to ask God to direct him to the truth (see JS—H 1:9–13).

Joseph Smith went into a grove of trees and knelt to pray. As he prayed he saw a marvelous light, and in the midst of that light young Joseph saw our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ (see JS—H 1:14–20). As I watched this video, I felt in my heart it was true. Joseph Smith exercised faith, trusted in the Lord, and received the answer to his prayer.

The missionaries continued to teach me the remainder of the fall semester. It was fun and I learned a lot, but I had no desire to join the Church.

The next semester I again met with my college advisor and was again instructed to take a religion course. I decided to take the Book of Mormon course. I had no doubt about the possibility of additional scriptures because as a Muslim I had studied the Holy Koran.

My Book of Mormon instructor was Brother Gary Smith of the School of Business. As the course began I started to read about Nephi and how as a young man he listened to the Lord. And when Father Lehi instructed his sons to return to Jerusalem for the brass plates, Laman and Lemuel complained whereas Nephi simply said:

I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them. [1 Nephi 3:7]

Nephi exercised faith, trusted in the Lord, and obtained the brass plates.

I read about King Benjamin and how he served the people with all his heart, might, mind, and strength. He loved the people he served and, more important, he loved the Lord. During his last days upon the earth King Benjamin built a tower so he could teach his people many things pertaining to the kingdom of God. King Benjamin stated:

I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God. [Mosiah 2:17]

King Benjamin served his people as we must serve one another. King Benjamin exercised faith, trusted in the Lord, and brought peace to an entire nation.

I read on in 3 Nephi of how the resurrected Lord visited the people on the American continent. The Savior was introduced by His Father:

Behold my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, in whom I have glorified my name—hear ye him. . . .

And it came to pass that he stretched forth his hand and spake unto the people, saying:

Behold, I am Jesus Christ, whom the prophets testified shall come into the world.

And behold, I am the light and the life of the world; and I have drunk out of that bitter cup which the Father hath given me, and have glorified the Father in taking upon me the sins of the world, in the which I have suffered the will of the Father in all things from the beginning. [3 Nephi 11:7, 9–11]

The Lord told the people:

Arise and come forth unto me, that ye may thrust your hands into my side, and also that ye may feel the prints of the nails in my hands and in my feet, that ye may know that I am the God of Israel, and the God of the whole earth, and have been slain for the sins of the world. [3 Nephi 11:14]

The Savior—my Savior, the resurrected Lord—extends His hands of mercy and love to all who will come unto Him. The Savior. My Brother. My Friend. I stopped reading.

It was near the end of winter semester. I completed my finals and was preparing to return home to the other side of the island. My scholarship did not cover the spring term, and I was prepared to work for the spring and summer to save some money for the fall semester. On the day I was prepared to leave campus, I received a note in my mailbox from Brother Gary Smith, my Book of Mormon teacher. He wanted to see me. I returned to my dorm room, where I received another note stating Brother Gary Smith wanted to see me. I thought to myself, “Why would he want to see me? Will Brother Smith give me an F grade for religion? No one ever fails religion.”

I dropped by his office, and the secretary mentioned that Brother Smith was at the Seasider, a mini-cafŽ on campus. I found him, and, as we talked, Brother Smith proceeded to tell me how I knew the Church was true and that it was time for me to join the Church. I looked at him amazed, and I wondered what he had been drinking.

He continued and said, “From what I’m about to tell you, either one of two things will happen. You will join the Church right away or it will take you awhile.” He quoted a scripture in Ether that states:

And now, I, Moroni, would speak somewhat concerning these things; I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith. [Ether 12:6]

I thought, “What does this scripture have to do with me?”

Brother Smith explained that he believed I was waiting for some type of miracle or vision to take place before I would join the Church. He said, “You need to act upon what you already know to be true before you will receive a greater witness. ‘Wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial [or exercise] of your faith.’”

Brother Smith was right. I thought, “Why can’t I receive a vision like the Prophet Joseph Smith?” I wanted a greater witness. Well, it took me awhile to join the Church.

I returned to the other side of the island and started to hang out with my friends. Toward the end of the summer I began to feel somewhat empty, confused, and uncertain. I was missing school and the wonderful feelings I had felt at BYU–Hawaii. I knew something was wrong because I could not wait to return to school.

Two weeks before school was to begin, I received a phone call from Coach Ken Wagner. Coach Wagner was the assistant coach at BYU–Hawaii, and during that summer he had received the head coaching job at Dixie College in St. George, Utah.

He asked if I wanted to play for him at Dixie College. I said yes. That first year I did not play basketball; I redshirted. This gave me the time to watch the Mormons. As I watched, I noticed that at least three types of Mormons seemed to exist.

The first type is similar to you: students who attend institute and seminary and take religion classes on a regular basis. Their personalities glow, and they always seem to have smiles on their faces. When tough times come upon them, they know whom they can trust and that the Lord will help.

The second type of Mormons are the ones who realize that they are away from home for the first time and no one will know what they are doing. They party and get involved in immoral relationships. They believe they are having fun when in their hearts they feel unhappy. They do not have the “glow.”

The third type of Mormons are the ones who “sit on the fence,” unsure about who they are. When the winds of temptation blow their way, they seem to follow in that direction. They look confused more than anything else.

As I noticed these types of Mormons, I thought, “Peter, what type of Mormon do you want to be?” I wanted to be just like Rick West, my first roommate at BYU–Hawaii and a returned missionary; Bob Barnes, a teammate at Dixie College and a great friend; and Coach Wagner, who had helped me to understand the importance of family. They had the glow.

I thought, “If I am going to be a Mormon, I must learn how they date.” So I enrolled in an institute class called Dating and Courtship. And I guess the other 28 male students in the class thought the same as I did.

Soon afterward, a good friend, Trudy Smith, began to take the missionary discussions. She invited me to attend with her. This time the sister missionaries taught me about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As you know, sister missionaries teach the gospel differently than do the elders. After each discussion they would cry as they shared their testimonies, and they wanted so much to hug me but realized that it was against mission rules. Toward the end of the discussions they asked me to do something the elders had not. They asked me to fast and to pray about the truthfulness of the gospel. I was familiar with fasting. As a Muslim, we fasted during the month of Ramadan, a sacred time for worship.

I fasted, and when I was done, I returned to my dorm room at Dixie College, knelt down on my knees, and simply asked, “Heavenly Father, is the Book of Mormon the word of God? And is Joseph Smith a prophet?”

No, I did not receive a vision or a visit from an angel. I felt warmth in my heart, a feeling I had felt many times before—a feeling I had felt when I attended BYU–Hawaii and took Brother Smith’s Book of Mormon class. It was the same feeling I had felt when I saw the movie about Joseph Smith. This time, however, the feeling of warmth came when I was by myself, and I knew it came from God. He answered my prayer. I had a testimony.

I told the missionaries that I wanted to be baptized, but first I wanted to return to Hawaii so my mother could witness my joining the Church. I thought that as soon as I got off the plane I would find the missionaries and join the Church. Well, that did not happen. I started to hang out with my old friends, and I returned to my old habits. Toward the end of the summer the old feelings of uncertainty and confusion returned.

In August 1986 I was at home in my room, and I decided to read the Bible. I read in John, “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15). I knew I loved my mother; she is a source of strength in my life. I knew I loved my family, but did I love God?

I knelt down to pray and told my Heavenly Father for the first time that I loved Him. Later that day I was on my way to the gym to play basketball when I noticed two missionaries riding their bikes. I almost ran them over! They pulled to the side of the road, and I asked them to come by my home that night. They thought it was a miracle. The next week I was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

I returned to Dixie College that fall and played my sophomore year. We had a great team. We won 32 games and lost only three. I was recruited by several NCAA Division I universities, but I decided to postpone my college education to serve a mission. I was called to serve in Alabama. In Alabama I met people and families who exercised their faith and trusted in the Lord. Because of their faith, their lives were blessed.

One such individual was Sister Eva Oryang from Uganda, Africa. While living in her home country she had held a top political office and served as a prominent member of the government. However, in the summer of 1988 government officials of Uganda received several death threats, and Sister Oryang feared for her life. She left Uganda and arrived in Tuskegee, Alabama, where her oldest son was attending Tuskegee University. After two weeks of living in the United States, she became discouraged and very depressed. She had left a few of her children and a husband back in Africa, and she was unsure as to when her family would be together again.

Sister Oryang had learned of God back in her country and had faith in Him. One night she prayed. She prayed all night until the next morning, and all she said in her prayer was this: “Heavenly Father, I know I need a church. Will you please send me the right church first?”

In the morning there was a knock on the door. Her daughter answered the door and returned to her mother’s room. “Mother, you have visitors.”

Sister Oryang thought to herself, “I am a stranger in this country. How can I have visitors?” Seeing the young men at the door, she thought, “America is a strange place. Parents send their children outdoors with names on their shirts.”

The missionaries introduced themselves. Sister Oryang told them, “I have just finished my prayers, and I asked the Lord to send me the right church.” Of course the missionaries smiled with joy and stated that they were representatives of the right church.1

As Sister Oryang led the way into the living room, there was another knock on the door. It was a minister of another faith who lived across the street. He had been watching the family for the past week and thought this would be a good time to visit. Comparing this older gentleman to the missionaries, Sister Oryang wondered, “How can these young boys tell me anything about God?”

She led the minister into the kitchen. As he sat down, there was another knock at the door. Two older sisters of yet another faith had been proselytizing in the area and decided to knock on the Oryangs’ door!

Sister Oryang thought, “I have just finished my prayer, and I asked the Lord to send me the right church first.” She said good-bye to the minister and the two other sisters and listened intently to the missionaries. Within weeks Sister Oryang joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Other family members soon joined the Church as well.

Before the Oryang family joined the Church, the Tuskegee Branch had about 10 members attending each Sunday. Following Sister Oryang’s conversion—and through her example of faith and testimony—the branch grew in just nine months from 10 to more than 60 people attending church. And her son David became president of the Tuskegee Branch a few years later.

Sister Oryang, like others, was blessed with the fullness of the everlasting gospel—a gift she shared with many. She understood the influence and the power of the Holy Ghost and how it helps to change lives and bring people closer to our Heavenly Father. I worked with Sister Oryang following her conversion, and she helped me understand the three key ingredients necessary to ensure happiness and peace in this life and give us a taste of what life will be like in our heavenly home.

The key ingredients are faith, family, and friendship.

The first ingredient, faith, is essential for us to obtain the power necessary to understand the love that our Heavenly Father has for us and His desire for our success. Faith is the power that moves us to repent and instills in us the desire to improve. Exercising faith allows us to overcome discouragement and heartache as we recognize that the Savior suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane so that the suffering and pain we feel at times can be relieved and peace restored.

There is a difference between having faith and exercising faith. Having faith denotes a belief in the Savior; exercising faith requires action. When we exercise faith, we allow our belief to guide us to pray, to read and study the scriptures, to repent, and to keep the commandments of God. It is through exercising faith that our belief, knowledge, and love for the Savior grow and thereby strengthen us.

The second ingredient is family. Having a solid family relationship is imperative in helping us to understand the principles of forgiveness, service, and selflessness. President Spencer W. Kimball, our 12th president of the Church, suggested that it is through families that we master the teachings of the gospel of Christ. He stated:

Spirituality is . . . nurtured in our actions of patience, kindness, and forgiveness toward each other and in our applying gospel principles in the family circle. Home is where we become experts and scholars in gospel righteousness, learning and living gospel truths together.2

Families come in all shapes and sizes. Some children are raised in a single-parent home, some are adopted, and some are taught and raised by grandparents and other relatives. I was raised by a single parent. My mother always taught me to have faith, and she helped me to understand the workings of God in our lives.

Now I am married and have been adopted into Stephanie’s family. I continue to learn a great deal from my in-laws and how important grandparents are in raising and teaching our children.

The third ingredient is friendship. President Larry Gibson, president of the Highland Utah West Stake, defines a friend as “one who is attached to another by affection, by esteem, and by respect. It is these attributes that lead to a desire to be with a friend and seek to promote prosperity and happiness.”3 Good friends provide support and guidance.

In April 1997 general conference, President Hinckley, our beloved prophet, declared that every member of the Church needs three things: “a friend, a responsibility, and nurturing with ‘the good word of God’ (Moroni 6:4).”4 Later he suggested that becoming a friend is probably the most difficult. To get outside our comfort zone and to extend a hand of friendship is challenging. It takes time to develop friendships—but this is the time we need to take.

At some point we will all be tested. It is a part of life. When those times come—and they will come—it is a great feeling to know you have a friend at school, at work, or in your ward to show you love, to listen to your concerns, to be an example of goodness, and to testify of truth. These are the attributes of friendship. The Savior called us His friends when He said, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). And in Proverbs it states, “A friend loveth at all times” (Proverbs 17:17). We need to take the time to become friends. There are those whom you associate with who need your friendship and support.

Brothers and sisters, I know God lives. I know Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and the Only Begotten of the Father—our Redeemer, our Savior, and our Friend. I know we have a living prophet, even Gordon B. Hinckley, and this is the Lord’s Church upon the face of the earth.

We have been given much; therefore we must give of ourselves and incorporate and strengthen faith, family, and friendships. Doing so can ensure happiness and peace in this life and help us begin to understand, in part, what life will be like in our heavenly home.

My friends, take full advantage of the Lord’s goodness. His arms of mercy and love are extended, and all are invited to come. For the Lord has said:

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. [Matthew 11:28–30]

The Savior loves you and me. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Notes

1. The missionaries who knocked on the Oryangs’ door that morning were Elder David Steab and his companion. They taught and subsequently baptized the Oryang family in 1988. Peter Johnson served in Tuskegee, Alabama, from September 1988 to May 1989—after the Oryangs were members of the Church. It was during this time that the branch grew from 10 to more than 60 people attending sacrament meeting on a consistent basis.

2. Spencer W. Kimball, “Therefore I Was Taught,” Ensign, January 1982, 3.

3. Highland 27th Ward Conference, Highland Utah West Stake, 14 January 2007.

4. Gordon B. Hinckley, “Converts and Young Men,” Ensign, May 1997, 47.

This testimony was first published at Peter M. Johnson

Slate editor Jacob Weisberg threw down the challenge after reviewing some of Joseph Smith’s more extravagant assertions. “He was an obvious con man,” Weisberg wrote. “Romney has every right to believe in con men, but I want to know if he does, and if so, I don’t want him running the country.”

I wanted to tell you briefly why I believe in Mormonism. When I was a boy of about 11-13 , I had a singular experience. I went to church, and the lesson was on how everyone must be baptized to go to heaven. It seemed true, but at the same time deeply disturbing. What about the billions of people in India and China that haven’t even heard the name Jesus Christ, let alone had the chance to be baptized. How could God be fair if this was true? With this on my mind, it was either the same day or the week after, my two older brothers expressed similar doubts. One said something like ‘if God is God of the whole earth, why did he only speak to people in Israel?’, and the other said ‘what bothers me is, in the Old Testament, God is a vengeful god, even ordering the extermination of entire cities, while in the New Testament, he is described as a God of Love. That sure doesn’t sound like he’s an ‘unchanging god.

Over the next several years, I became an agnostic as a result of these doubts. When I came in contact with Mormonism years later, I found it had plain and simple answers to these questions. If you are interested in what I believe those answers to be, I have links below which explain my beliefs.

I agree somewhat with Mr. Weisberg: either Joseph Smith was a con man of the first degree, perhaps the greatest on record, or he was who he purported to be. There can be no middle ground. Jesus said ‘beware of false prophets’, then went on to say ‘by their fruits, ye shall know them’. Most, if not all churches interpret this to mean that there would be no more prophets at all, but clearly, this is not what he said. The Book of Mormon is the fruit by which we can know the truth of Joseph Smith. It is convincing evidence that he was truly a prophet of God.

There are many, many criticisms of Mormonism, but it all comes down to whether the Book of Mormon is what it claims to be, or if it is a fake. It is the keystone of our religion – if it is a fake, so are all of our beliefs. The opposite is also true. I encourage people to be as skeptical as humanly possible when reading it. I tell them to ask themselves with every page, whether Joseph Smith, or anyone else could have made up the book, then ask God if it is true, and that somewhere between the first and last page, they will come to know with absolute surety that it is a true record. There are many theories as to the origin of the Book of Mormon. Had Joseph or anyone else written the book from ‘whole cloth’, it would have been infinitely more miraculous than the account of its divine origin, as given by Joseph Smith. As one man said ‘A wicked man couldn’t write such a book. A good man wouldn’t write it, unless he was commanded to do so.’

If you are interested, here are the answers to my questions:

What about the requirement that you be baptized to enter heaven? (Mormons believe in baptism for the dead, which is performed in our temples. Everyone will have the chance to hear and accept the gospel in the next life, and accept or reject these ordinances done in their behalf. See 1 Cor. 15:29 )

Why did God only speak to people in Israel ? (This is the message of the Book of Mormon , a record of his dealings with people in the Americas - see http://scriptures.lds.org/en/3_ne/15/14-17,21#14 )

How can God be the same yesterday, today, and forever, yet order the extermination of cities in the Old Testament, and be a God of Love in the New Testament. (see http://scriptures.lds.org/en/1_ne/17/32-45#32 , When nations ripen in iniquity, the Lord destroys them. ( 1 Nephi 17:37-38, 2 Nephi 1:7 , Alma 45:16 , Ether 2:8-12 ). Before destroying them, he sends prophets to warn them ( 2 Nephi 25:9 see also Amos 3:7). In the case of the Canaanites, parents were sacrificing their own children to false gods, and there was no hope for breaking this cycle. God is a gardener, of sorts, and he sends prophets to weed those gardens, but when the weeds totally overcome the garden, he uses Roundup. The same principle applies in our day, especially with reference to the Second Coming. )

If there is a God, would He be a fair and just God if he wouldn’t provide a way to prove that He existed? Likewise, if the Book of Mormon is scripture, wouldn’t God provide a way to know of a surety that this was truly scripture? (see http://scriptures.lds.org/en/moro/10/3-5#3)

The Book of Mormon makes the audacious claim that it would contain many plain and precious teachings that were once in the Bible, but were removed, either deliberately, or by error. There is an article on the internet that lists over a hundred of these plain and precious Book of Mormon teachings. (see http://www.fairwiki.org/index.php/Plain_and_Precious_Book_of_Mormon_doctrines )

I know this is the work of God. Joseph Smith was indeed a prophet of God. The Book of Mormon is convincing evidence that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, and that the Church has been restored to the earth.

Brian Palmer

Until I could find this church, I attended my family’s church, though I already knew it wasn’t the special church I had been told about. When I graduated from high school, I attended a nursing school owned by another religion and read everything in their library on their faith that they had. I also observed the students and teachers of that faith and asked them questions. I concluded their church was not the one I was looking for.

What followed was years of attending and investigating as many churches as I could, which introduced me to many strange beliefs. All I could learn about Mormons was what my family told me and from reading about Joseph Smith and Brigham Young–prophets and polygamy. I was impressed with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, the Osmonds, and the Church’s emphasis on family, but that wasn’t enough to overcome my conviction that the religion was all wrong. When I thought of prophets, I thought of Charles Manson. When I thought of polygamy, I thought that my Heavenly Father wouldn’t denigrate me like that and so it couldn’t possibly be right.

When I was 34, I lived in Florida, had two children, and had just been divorced. I had stopped going to churches several years before and had told God that He’d have to send the church to me because I couldn’t find it. When I saw young men knocking on doors across the street from my house, I thought they were from another church I’d already rejected and told my sons that I wasn’t even going to answer the door when they knocked. Time passed and I’d forgotten about them when I was passing the front door and heard a knock. Suddenly I knew who was kncoking and while I intended not to open the door, I watched my hand reach out–as if it had a mind of its own–and open the door. I remember thinking, ‘What is my hand doing?–I’ll never be able to get rid of these people!’

When I saw the faces of two young men smiling at me, I was surprised: They were glowing! I only half listened while they explained that they were missionaries with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I couldn’t remember which church that was. At my puzzled expression, they said, “The Mormons.” I said, “Oh,” and thought ‘prophets and polygamy–oh, well–be polite but get rid of them.’ And I proceeded to try to do just that.

Finally one of the missionaries said something that stopped me completely. He said, “Do you know there’s a prophet alive on the earth today?” A prophet?–one of the very ideas that I thought disqualified the church as being the one I sought. But it was as if a bell rang: I thought, ‘You know, God could do that–He could send a prophet to earth; he’s done it before, so why couldn’t he do it again?’ But I only said to them, “Well, I’m interested in religion, so you can come back, but I’m not going to convert.” Ha!

That was on Sunday evening, and they told me they’d be back at 2:00 either Thursday or Friday, depending on whether another appointment they had at 2:00 on Thursday was kept. I agreed and closed the door.

And Lucifer stepped in. That may seem a strange thing to say, but what happened was that I spent several days of torment, doubt, anguish. I had trouble eating or sleeping. I didn’t know what was wrong with me, but when 2:00 Thursday arrived, I was all churned up and waited for the missionaries at the door to tell them I’d decided not to talk with them. But they didn’t arrive.

That’s when a complete flip flop occurred. Suddenly I felt hysterical and began to sob. I cried, “I don’t how to get hold of them! I don’t know how to find them! I’ll never see them again!” I was inconsolable and didn’t understand why. Suddenly a thought came to me: ‘Didn’t they say they might not be able to come today, and if they couldn’t, that they’d come tomorrow?’ I immediately calmed down, and said, “Oh, yeah–they did.”

The next day–Friday–an entirely different person met them at the door than the one who would have met them the day before. I was calm and open to what they had to say.

Nevertheless, I intended to question them, to find out if what they claimed–that their church was Christ’s–his special, personal church–was true. We went through several “discussions” that night, and they gave me a Book of Mormon to read. I read for hours and prayed about it as they suggested, with no answer. I wrote down questions I had about what I’d read–115 of them– before I finally went to sleep.

Saturday morning the missionaries returned and I presented them with the list of questions. I thought they’d be upset, but I didn’t care. (They weren’t.) I was determined that if what they claimed was true, I’d find out. We spent several more hours in discussions and most of my questions they answered satisfactorily. Some they were to get back to me on, and some I thought they were wrong about so I made notes on those. Nevertheless when they asked me to attend church the next day, I overcame my entrenched reluctance to go (it had been years since I’d gone to church) and decided that if the church were true, when I set foot in their chapel and saw the people there, I’d know.

When I arrived at the church, it was nice, though plain. The people impressed me, but I thought, ‘They’re just very nice people. That’s all.’ I was particularly impressed with the fathers there. They acted like mothers, holding their babies, caring fror them, kissing and hugging them. ‘Nice,’ I thought. But that wasn’t enough to convince me.

Then the first hymn sounded on the organ: “Onward Christian Soldiers,” a song I’d heard in my family’s church and a dozen other churches, too. Only this time it was different. A spirit entered my heart so strong that I could hardly breathe, and that’s when it happened. I received the answer to my prayer. I had a special experience during that song that showed me for sure–nothing doubting–that I had found what I’d been told to seek.

I can tesitfy to you that I know many things now, after being in the Church for many years, but the most important thing that I can tell you is this: Christ lives and The Church of Jesus Christ is really–honestly and truly–His church. Listen to the testimonies of the missionaries and members. We come from all over the world. We come from all religions. Some of us had no religion and didn’t believe God existed. But we all come to the same truth and the same gospel.

My problem over polygamy? I received the answer to that three months after I was baptized. You see, God talks to us, especially if we talk to him. He’s concerned about the things that concern us. He wants us to be happy. I tremble when I think about the possibility that the missionaries might not have returned. I can’t bear to think about it. But that would never have happened, of course, because, as I said, my Father in Heaven wants ME to be happy and the Church shows me how to do that. And I am.

I was born to “goodly” Jewish parents in 1960. The US was still in a period of post-war boom and young families were leaving the crowded conditions of New York City and its five boroughs for the suburbs. I spent the first 5 years of my life in the little Jewish enclave of Manhattan Beach on Brooklyn’s Sheepshead Bay and then in 1965 we moved to Westport Connecticut, a lovely artists colony. And home to a growing Jewish population.

Like other Jewish boys of the Reformed branch of Judaism I went to synagogue during the high holidays and prepared for my Bar Mitzvah at age 13, the Jewish coming of age. I went to Hebrew school after regular school hours and enjoyed my studies. Early in my life I began to have a curiosity about the Dead Sea Scrolls and the people that wrote them. I began to wonder about the Messiah and why no one ever talked about Him.

From my earliest recollection I can recall believing in God, knowing that He loved me, that He answered the prayers of our family and that we should love and serve Him.
And from a very early age I began to be tutored by Him by many experiences and struggles in what I should make of my life.

When I was a boy, sometime between ages 11-14, I remember being home sick one Saturday afternoon and looking for something to watch on TV. I came upon a scene that was electrifying. An elderly man with a small microphone attached to his eyeglasses was speaking in gravelly voice from a great podium in a large assembly. As he began to speak I began to feel a very strange feeling inside me. I changed the channel but never forgot that first exposure to the Lord’s prophets and the spirit of conference.

When I was 13 I also began middle school. The first middle I school I attended had some boys that used to bully me and so it was decided that I would attend another middle school across town and that was by the Lord’s design. It was there that I met the young man who would introduce me to the gospel. I rode the bus across town with other kids who for one reason or another needed to attend that school because it had ramps as well as stairs. One such boy was Kent Hickenlooper. Kent was born with Hemophilia and sometimes needed to be in a wheelchair when his joints were inflamed. Kent’s family moved from Utah and their roots go back to pioneer stock. One day Kent and I had a discussion about God. I don’t exactly recall why but I remember his answers were articulate and made me curious about his Mormon beliefs. I went home and looked up the Mormon Church in the Encyclopedia, which had a lengthy section on LDS beliefs. I asked him if there was a copy of the translation of the gold plates available (thinking it was like the Dead Sea scrolls – only available in libraries and such. He played along and said “oh they are very hard to come by but I think my father can get you one if you will take the time to read it.” And I looked forward to it and read it as soon as it arrived in my possession. As I did so many questions began to form in my mind.

I asked Kent some of these questions and he suggested I meet with two of his “friends” who do nothing for two years but answer people’s questions about the church. This began my discussions with the missionaries. As I continued to read I began to have my doubts about the truth of the Book of Mormon but another LDS boy in our school was very patient and kind and took the time to read with me over the phone Alma 32 and invited me to put that seed-planting challenge to a test. How grateful I am for that life-changing conversation. As I continued to study I began to feel a great love and hunger for the doctrines of the gospel but I was left with a monumental question as to the divinity of Jesus Christ. To further complicate matters, my investigation of the church was a source of great concern to my family. As I continued to study, to ponder, to feel the warmth and power of the doctrine and the love of my newfound LDS friends, I began to wonder more how could this not be true versus the other way around and yet the Savior and His divinity were a great stumbling block to me.

One night, during the discussion that used to be called “Our relationship to Christ” the Elders invited me to pray about the Savior and promised me if I did, If I was unafraid of the consequence of knowing that Jesus was the Christ, that if I asked as Moroni instructed, that the answer would come. I decided to put that to the test.

I retuned to my home and in the quiet and privacy of my room late one evening I knelt and began to vocalize my desires to God, first to thank him for the blessings I had received, for the new friends who loved me, for the missionaries who taught me such wonderful things then humbly I asked for a witness that Jesus was indeed the savior of the world, the awaited Messiah. As I began to pray my Star of David pendant given to me by my beloved Grandmother began to dangle in front of me causing me to reflect on my great heritage and what I was potentially asking which in my mind at the time refuted all I had grown up believing. Feeling the star was a distraction from my fervent prayer I closed my eyes and prayed ever more earnestly. Then summoning all the faith I could muster at that young age, I closed my prayer, mostly in a spirit of hope, in the name of Jesus Christ. Upon arising from my knees the spirit whispered to me with power and certainty that Jesus was the Christ, That God had heard and answered my prayer, That Joseph Smith was indeed a prophet and brought forth the restoration. That the Book of Mormon was absolutely true and that Spencer W. Kimball was God’s prophet. I was elated and I was terrified at the implication of what had taken place. I knew God in all His majesty had reached down from His Heaven and, like the brother of Jared, had touched me. And thus began my education of the things of the spirit.

This prayer began my hunger for reading everything I could about the restoration and the Savior and His church. My family allowed me to attend church but not seminary. I could attend Stake dances and MIA but I was not allowed to be baptized. For two years I attended my meetings, held callings, wrote music for youth conferences and road shows but was denied the blessings of baptism. I prayed and fasted and pleaded the Lord to soften the hearts of my parents to allow me to be baptized. My friends advanced from deacon to teacher to priest and I felt so very left behind.

Finally in 1977, at the age of 17, I could wait no longer. The denial of the blessings of baptism also meant I could not attend the magnificent newly built Washington Temple.
I pled with the Lord in a long tear-filled prayer under a mighty fir tree on the edge of our property. And then I waited in faith for a miracle.

The miracle came on Memorial Day morning and while I cannot share the details of the experience, I will share the result, against all odds, two weeks later I was baptized and soon thereafter I attended with the other youth the beautiful Washington DC Temple. I felt I had finally come home.

It is my prayer that this story might attest that the God of Israel knows His children, He delights to hear and answer our prayers. He looks beyond our weakness and frailty and He knows the longings of our hearts.

God our Eternal Father loves His children, he hears and answers our prayers. He knows us individually and is involved in our daily iives in a myriad of ways. I testify that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son Jesus Christ as a Savior and redeemer for all mankind and through the atonement of Christ, we are made eligible to live with our families and loved ones in Eternity thorugh our faith and obedience to gospel laws and commandments.

I testfy that Our Heavenly Father in company with His beloved son appeared to the prophet Joseph and there in a lovely woodland setting in upstate New York ushered in this last dispensation when young men dream dreams and Elijah would return to turn our hearts to our fathers.

I testify that the Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ is the word of God, translated by divine means and brought forth in our day by the prophet Joseph Smith.

I testify that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the kingdom of God restored to the Earth for a new and final dispensation.

I bear witness that there are living prophets and Apostles and that President Gordon B. Hinckley is the Lord’s prophet today.

And I testify that all who seek a witness of the truth as to things of which I have here testified need only ask sincerely in prayer and our Heavenly Father will answer that prayer through a unique feeling of peace, joy and serenity felt in the heart and mind of any who ask in faith.

I offer this testimony with the hope that it might invite others, and most especially those from the house of Judah, to come unto Christ, the holy one of Israel and to
his restored gospel and do so in the holy name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

June 2005
Darien, CT

About the author

Jim Davis was born in Brooklyn New York and was raised in Connecticut. He was a convert to the Church at age 15 from the Jewish faith.

From an early age Brother Davis developed a love for music and by the time he was 18 had written over a hundred songs and was on his way to a promising career as a song writer and recording artist.

After high school Brother Davis attended Ricks College, now BYU Idaho, and there formed a band called Davis & Holmes in which he began writing and recording LDS popular music. He served a mission in the England Manchester Mission and there wrote and directed the LDS missionary music group “The Ambassadors” which toured, recorded an album and was featured on television and radio. Upon his return from England, Brother Davis was signed to Embryo Records where he recorded two albums of his music in partnership with LDS composer Lex de Azevedo. As partners Brother Davis and Lex De Azevedo also created the first LDS motion picture shown in theaters called A Field So White. After completing
“A Field So White” Brother Davis shifted his musical pursuits to the advertising business writing music for commercials and the popular daytime drama As The World Turns.

Brother Davis continued in the advertising business for the next 20 years and was one of the early pioneers of Internet Advertising. He has remained heavily involved in developing new means of leveraging emerging media to foster and maintain relationships between consumers and brands such as The Walt Disney Company, Philips, HP, Pepsi and Unilever.

Brother Davis has served as a gospel doctrine teacher, an institute instructor, bishop’s counselor, ward mission leader, stake mission president’s counselor and as a councilor to three full-time mission presidents. He currently serves as Special Representative for Public Affairs for the Church’s Public Affairs Department and a family history consultant.

He married Christie Kinkead and they are the parents of four children.

As the years went by, I went to a Nazarene church among others including but not limited to: United Church of Christ, United Methodist Church, Pentecostal Churches, Free Methodist Church, and Baptist Churches. None of these satisfied me.

One day, I prayed to God for something and He answered my prayer in the negative. So I got really angry with God and I became an Atheist for about a week. After this, it took a lot of apologetics reading and stuff to get back to my faith in Christ. I had really damaged my faith by becoming an Atheist for a week.

I have had experience with Wicca (witchcraft) and the Occult in general. It was boyfriends who led me into this stuff. I practiced it for a year or two and then I got out of it and came back to Christianity.

One day while on a website, I saw a Catholic guy. I suddenly became interested in Catholicism. I asked him some questions and was instantly hooked on Catholicism and wanted to convert. So I went to my local priest and asked him to help me convert before Easter which was only about two weeks away. He gave me a book to read and we had discussions about Catholicism. Come Easter, I freaked out and did not become Catholic.

It wasn’t too much later that I entered RCIA. The Summer before RCIA, I decided I wanted my sins washed away at that moment and so I got baptized in a Pentecostal Church at the first available opportunity. Needless to say, they did not have the proper authority to baptize me and so my sins were not washed away even though I thought they were.

As I went through the RCIA process, I became more and more engrossed with Catholicism and I finally became confirmed as a Catholic on Easter 2005. This was after a period of some doubts about Catholicism though.

I was a devout Catholic at first but soon I found that I wasn’t satisfied. I tried to do what I could to stay Catholic but it just didn’t work. I found myself going back to Protestant churches trying to find the truth. I couldn’t find the truth anywhere!

Finally, I decided to look into the LDS Church. I started out by looking at htp://www.mormon.org and also http://www.lds.org. I chatted with the missionaries online and finally I visited a nearby ward in my area. I found the missionaries and asked them if they’d come and visit with me and teach me. I found the Mormon church to be very friendly and inviting.

So the missionaries started coming to my apartment to teach me. I already had a Book of Mormon which I had pretty much never read until then. The Mormons told me how to know whether or not the Book of Mormon was true and so I prayed about it and indeed, I felt that it was true. Before long, I got baptized three weeks later after the missionaries first visit. I was baptized in the wrong ward though and nobody knew it was the wrong ward because the boundaries had recently changed. I received the gift of the Holy Ghost a week after my baptism.

I soon fell away from the Mormon church unfortunately. This was because of my own selfish desires to sin. Finally, I came back and confessed my sins to the bishop. Much to my surprise, I was not punished but was only told not to offer prayers in public until I had dealt with my sins thoroughly. I am now back to being a Mormon again and I’m loving it!

–PaladinMormon02 20:16, 21 October 2007 (MDT)

As a Child…

I still remember standing at the top of the stairs as a child wondering who I was and why I was on the earth. I hungered for that knowledge like no other, and I felt spiritually starved. I attended a Christian church but asked what to them were unanswerable questions. I posed a few like these: “Well, who lived in heaven and took part in that war besides Jesus? (If there was a war in heaven, as taught, then there had to have been more than two people there, I reasoned.); Why do I have to confess the same sins twice?” and “How can God and Jesus be the same person?” I lived as if on a daily spiritual fare of milk and toast, not knowing there was a buffet table divinely set and beckoning me.

What’s My Purpose?

Questions about the purpose of life sprang up as consistently as crocuses do in spring, any time I was willing to allow them to pop through the soil of my soul. At one particular point in my life, I began to despair that I would never know my purpose or the answers to the questions of my heart. Without those answers, the desire to live waned. The world looked cold and senseless. How could I function from day to day without knowing ‘why’ I was functioning? I couldn’t tick if I didn’t know why I was ticking.

Lacking Some Key to the Universe

Lacking some key to the universe, I sat despondently on the edge of my studio bed, staring at a bottle of sleeping pills. I thought about my circumstances. I had little impetus for moving forward from day to day. I was tired of fumbling for house keys in the cold, of working for work’s sake, of studying theories spilled over in classes without a rod to evaluate them. So I planned to give up on life. At that time, though, I was caught by surprise- by a gentle but profound strain of impressions from a loving Father through what I now recognize as His Spirit. I was told, through those welcome whisperings, that “every moment of love and every moment of discovery in my life had not been wasted” and that I “must have the courage to live on.” I was also told, in fact spiritually guaranteed, that I would find the purpose of life. I accepted with confidence those impressions though I didn’t quite comprehend their appearance on the screen of my soul.

Receiving a Spiritual Witness

I spent the next months contemplating my life. On one remarkable occasion, as I was jogging around the neighborhood under the exquisite light of a full moon, I received what I can only describe as an injection of truth–a stunning, indelible witness that God lived. I recall sitting down on the curb, sobbing, tears of joy. I was changed instantly. I felt loved, and I felt an overwhelming inclination to love like never before. I knew there was a God which thing I hadn’t known for myself just moments before. I knew, at last, I had a purpose. This was so delicious to taste. I longed to know more about God, his plan for me and my duty and responsibility towards Him and others.

So Which Church Is True?

I borrowed a Bible from a Catholic Church, lay out in the field behind the rectory, and read through the New Testament for the first time. I marveled that this book had been preserved for me– and anyone else looking for truth. I particularly recall pondering the word, “saved” and the atonement of Christ. I was filled to know that the Lord, who had just literally saved my life physically, had also died to save me spiritually. I knew that I had an advocate in whom I could completely trust.

I then began to identify and list in my trusty silver notebook, points of doctrine Christ had espoused and the characteristics of his Church. A little like Joseph, I wanted to know which Church taught the truth about the Savior. I learned much from that first scriptural immersion. But three ideas particularly prepared me for the fullness of the gospel. First, I knew that we could become perfect even as God is, for the Savior Himself taught the doctrine of perfection to his apostles as recorded in Matthew 12:48. Secondly, I anticipated more revelation than the Bible for the Lord told His apostles (in Mark) that there was more to be revealed that they were not ready to bear. Thirdly, I embraced the truth that there was only one, true way to salvation as the scriptures indicated: “one faith, one baptism.” In fact, I envisioned a time when all quarrels among churches would end, and all denominations would be subsumed under the one true church. I decided to begin a search for the true Church, thinking, again, that it was, likely, not on the earth. After visits to dozens of churches–from Swedenborgian to Methodist–and reading through many books and pamphlets, comparing their teachings with those I learned in the scriptures, I always came up empty. No one, it seemed, scored on every point. There was always some disappointing deviation from what I learned from the scriptures to anticipate in Christ’s Church.

Finding Truth in the Strangest of Places

During another investigative visit to a different denominational church, I found myself, again, disappointed. This time, I was on the brink of abandoning my quest altogether. It was too painful to think that so many who professed the Christ did not know the full truth about Him or about the ways He indicated we should administer his ordinances. Just then, on my way out of the building, I discovered an “anti-Mormon” brochure on a rack in the vestibule. As I was in the habit of collecting whatever I could grasp on various religions, I clasped it eagerly and tucked it away to read at home. When I arrived at the Baptist minister’s home, where I was a guest, I began to devour this pamphlet. I read eagerly some of the claims of the Church, namely, that we could become perfect (”As God is man may become.”); that there was additional revelation than the Bible (something called a Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants); that there was a code of health (which I ‘d anticipated through the Spirit); and more. The critical comments seemed superfluous, and I recognized those “Mormon” claims as true from my own reading of the New Testament.

I was electrified and knew I had found something more than a kernel of truth. I searched for a Book of Mormon and found one in a small library in Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania and took it home with a half gallon of ice cream. I dipped into both that night and hardly slept. I knew it was true. Before I found the book, I located in a different library a file of pamphlets on the purpose of life left by a missionary whom I do not know but will one day embrace. In there, I found the purpose of life clearly explained. It thrilled me and I barely contained my emotion. It was all I could do to refrain from squeezing the whispering librarians stacking the shelves. I recognized it immediately as the truth.

I eventually looked up “Mormons” in the phone directory, and read, “See The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.” It made perfect sense to me that the Savior would reserve His full name for His true and living Church. I eventually called the Church and, through a wonderful Australian family, the Lovelands, later met the missionaries. I read the Joseph Smith record of the first vision and knew that he had written and described truthfully his search for truth and his unexpected beautiful answer in seeing personally the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. I testify his account and experience are true. I felt in some small measure that I understood his search, for I had made one myself, for the same reason. I felt gratitude, for his prayer was answered in a marvelous way, to bring back the light that I had only to accept.

I entered the waters of baptism a short time later and received the gift of the Holy Ghost, and feel like the lights have been turned on in my life as the lights of the gospel were turned on through the restoration of Christ’s Church. I have come to love Joseph more and more for his willingness to stand alone often and immovable against mobs, opposition, and persecution in order to defend and sustain the kingdom. I love him for his love of the Savior and for his understanding of the gospel and of temple ordinances. I love him for being true, even to death, that we might know Christ through his restored teachings.

I love the Savior and know that He is perfect in every attribute. I know that He loves each of us and that He has a plan for our lives. I testify that He lives as a glorified being, that He is separate from the Father, and the Holy Ghost, though they are one in purpose, mind, and will. I testify that the Savior actively intervenes in our life through His word, Spirit, and living oracles—including twelve apostles and a living prophet. I testify that His Church is upon the earth, even The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and invite all honest truth-seekers to investigate for themselves these eternal doctrines.

For more information, please feel free to visit http://www.mormon.org, ldsblogs.com, MormonWiki, or http://www.moregoodfoundation.org.