Personal Response by Todd

“I know the Church is true…” I’ve heard the phrase many times growing up in the Mormon Church. Thousands of members of the Church say those words each day and millions each year. When I was in high school I started to doubt. I didn’t remember ever having spiritual experiences like so many talked about. It was hard to believe that my family and friends were really experiencing what they claimed. I grew up in South East Texas where the Mormon Church was a minority. I remember wanting so desperately to fit in, to be just one of the guys. However, one day as I was with a group of friends, I felt a powerful impression to befriend another kid at school who no one talked with. It kept pushing and pushing me. Of course I fought back. I’ve since come to recognize that impression to be the Spirit “which inviteth to do good…, and to persuade to believe in Jesus Christ…wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God” (Moroni 7:16).

That was the first time I felt something different. Simple I know, but it was the grand beginning of a witness. I will never forget the feeling of something beyond me encouraging me to ignore the attitudes of worldliness and seek for the world of a better. I knew at the very least that God was out there. Over the years I started to see God’s hand in my life. The principles of the gospel began to make more sense and I became addicted to learning and absorbing the doctrines taught over the pulpit and in the scriptures. My life seemed perfect. I found that I was much happier. Life’s burdens seemed lighter as I was trying to live like Jesus Christ. Eventually I decided to serve a full time mission, but it was while teaching the gospel in Mississippi and Louisiana that my perspective began to change. I had heard objections to the Church many times throughout my life, but I usually just dismissed them as farce. I had half-heartedly read some literature in the past but never found any substance to it.

One day as I was personally studying the scriptures, I came to a passage that made me really begin to doubt for the first time since I was a fourteen year old boy. The passage was in the Doctrine and Covenants and my interpretation of the verse challenged my reason. I had not read this in another organizations pamphlet…this was right there in the scriptures! It seemed totally perplexing to me. I read the passage again and again with no success of resolving my concern. After searching the Bible, the Book of Mormon and other references, I still was left confused and afraid. In this moment of total desperation, I dropped to my knees in humble prayer confronting my Father in Heaven, “I refuse to move from this spot until I have an answer!” I pleaded. Never had I prayed more fervently than at that precise moment. At first nothing came. I soon fell silent, waiting and pondering. I felt I should read the verse just one more time…as I did it was as if the Spirit of the Lord read it aloud to me and I immediately was overcome with a spiritual witness more powerful than sight. In an instant, my fear and anger melted away. Light, glory and truth seemed to burst out of me. I can’t remember a time when life seemed more clear. The answer came! My testimony for the first time was more than reason. Even my previous experiences of feeling the spirit seemed pale in comparison. I knew that what I was doing as a missionary was right. I knew the Mormon Church was true.

I know many out there are struggling, searching and feeling only darkness. I can only say, “Don’t give up.” Continue to look upward and trust in the Savior. I know God answers prayers. He wants all of His children to feel His love. He does live!

Personal Response by Nathaniel

Friends of other faiths have asked me why I wanted to go on a Mormon mission in the prime of my life. I was 23 years old, and most of my high-school friends had already graduated from college. My motivation for going on a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormon Church) stemmed not only from my parents’ encouragement but a conviction that a mission would draw me closer to God.

I don’t want to go into details into what a Mormon mission is. General information about missions and missionaries can be found on the official Mormon Church Web site at LDS.org. However, the mission was a period of significant personal growth for me. From September 2003 to September 2005, I traveled to, and lived in Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and Malaysia as a full-time volunteer representative for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon Church). I spent a lot of time talking to people on the streets and in the buses, knocking on people’s doors, and teaching in people’s homes. I would write or email my family and friends every Wednesday, but on the other days of the week, my companions and I would always be out in the streets-talking, knocking, and teaching.

This period was a period of deep spiritual refinement. Without the convenience of living at home, I learned to rely on God and not on myself; however, I struggled to put my faith in God. How could I find people to teach when I didn’t have the convenience of the Internet and the technology of search engines? How could I help people to change their lives when I wasn’t even making enough money for myself? These questions, along with many others, compelled me to seek help from a source who had all the answers-God.

I have always believed in God. I didn’t always express my belief publicly; nevertheless, I had my private and personal moments with Him. However, my experiences could not really prepare me for my mission. During the first few weeks of my mission, I struggled to know if what I believed was really true. It was a different matter altogether to believe in God and to teach someone about your belief in God. I asked many questions in those few weeks, and those questions didn’t disappear. It took weeks, months, and many spiritual experiences before I really developed a strong belief in God.

These spiritual experiences had always been precipitated by prayer. I remember an incident when I had lost my keys. My companion and I had just returned home from dinner, and I had reached into my pockets to get my keys when I found that my keys weren’t there. Fortunately, my companion had a set of keys, and we were able to enter the house. However, despite my frantic efforts, I could not find my keys in the house. Feeling very helpless and lost, I got down on my knees and began to offer one of the most sincere and humble prayers I had ever offered. I felt that there was no way that I could ever find those keys. They could have dropped out of my pocket when we were in the rickshaw. I could have misplaced them at the restaurant where we had dinner. There was just no way of finding them in the city of Lahore. I felt that the only way that I could find them was through a miracle.

A few minutes later, I heard the doorbell ring. My heart leaped as I ran down to open the gate. Standing in front of the gate was the rickshaw driver who had dropped my companion and I off at our apartment. He asked me if I had lost my keys-apparently, another passenger had noticed a set of keys lying on the backseat. I answered yes and began to thank him profusely.

I have often thought back to that evening where I had witnessed a miracle. In my mind, that evening was a watershed event because it changed my relationship with God. There simply was no other way for me to explain the experience, except that God had heard and answered my prayer. Through that experience, I learned for myself that God is real and personal. I also learned that He cares about us. I also learned that he hears and answers our prayers. I began to see Him as a fatherly figure. I began to talk to Him in the same way I talk to my own father.

Since that evening, prayer has become more than just a daily ritual. It has become a tool for communication. I begin to look forward to prayer, I no longer hesitate to get down on my knees to speak with my Father in Heaven, and the more fervently I pray, the closer I feel to God.