This weekend Ray and I were able to see "Meet the Mormons" when in opened in the theater. It was an inspiring story of 6 Latter-Day Saints from different backgrounds. It brought back memories of a book with this same name from when I was a child. Not that my story is particularly interesting, but nevertheless it is still worth documenting for my posterity. So here goes.
My
parents met at a Protestant church in Seattle Washington, which is
funny because neither one of them was very religious that I knew of. They were
married and a couple of years later, shortly before I was born, my dad was
offered a job at Kennecott Copper and so they moved to Utah, which was their
introduction to the LDS faith.
Just before I started kindergarten my parents moved to a new neighborhood in Taylorsville where we lived for about 5 years. I had two good friends my age who lived a couple of doors down. One of them, Teresa Taylor, was a Mormon. She would often invite me to play and would also invite me to go to Primary and Sunday school with her. In those days Primary was held on a weekday after school and Sunday school was held on Sunday morning and Sacrament Meeting was later on Sunday afternoon. I do not remember going to Sacrament Meeting, just Sunday school. At the time I went with them just because that is what most of the other kids were doing.
When I was in fifth grade my family moved to Orem. Again, I became friends with another Mormon girl, Sherrie Dearden, who lived a few doors down and was close to my age. The Dearden family was very faithful and it wasn’t long and they were inviting me to Primary and to go to church with them on Sundays. I think my mom may have mentioned to them that I had gone to Primary before we moved there. Sherrie and I were in different grades but we became good friends and her family invited me along on many of their family activities as well as to church. There was something I felt when I was at her home and with her family. At some point, someone in the ward asked if the missionaries could come and teach my family. They came and taught us and I remember they were anxious to baptize us, but my dad didn’t have much interest. About this time my mom went to work for ZCMI in the book department. This store carried many LDS books and because of working there, my mom had the opportunity to read several of them, so I learned more about the church through my mom and her books.
My family moved again when I was in eighth grade, this time to an apartment while our home was being built. We lived there for about a year or so. I babysat for a cute couple, Ron and Ann Barrett, across the street who were very active in the church and I remember feeling something special when I was around them.
During that time I became a Candy Striper (volunteer) at Utah Valley Hospital when I was 14 and became acquainted with two girls from Orem, Kerry and Wendy, who attended a different Jr. High than I. The summer between Jr. High and High School we found ourselves all in the Orem High School Marching Band. We all played the flute and became good friends because of all of the band activities we had. We ate lunch together all through high school and we hung out a little bit outside of school. These girls were the best examples to me. They were friendly, happy, and smart. They were the kind of friends who inspired everyone around them to be better. During high school I was never really invited to go to church or seminary, so I never went. I think many people assumed I was Mormon because I lived their standards.
Then
I went to college. This is the time that
many LDS kids seemed to forget they were LDS.
It kind of bugged me that they would profess to be LDS when I saw some
of the things they were doing. For a
while I didn’t want anything to do with it.
Then after the first semester I started thinking about the kind of future
I wanted to have and remembered the feeling I had when I was around my friends
from high school. Every night I lay in
bed and prayed that someone would invite me to church again. I think I was looking for a sign that this
was right for me. A couple months later
I met a boy, Dan Perry, in one of my classes.
He was a returned missionary and very friendly. When we had some religious discussions he didn’t
invite me to church, but asked if I had any interest in learning more from the
missionaries. This time I was ready and
didn’t have to worry about whether or not my family was interested. After a few months of studying I knew I was
ready. So on the evening of May 20, 1980 I was baptized in
Ephraim, Utah. My parents and some friends made the hour
and a half drive to be there to support me.
I
have never looked back. While some of my
extended family members were very shocked (still to this day) that I got married in the temple
where my parents couldn’t be, my mom and dad understood. They were both at the temple waiting and I am
grateful they have always encouraged and supported my church activity.I believe that was the right time for me to be baptized. I have wondered if I would have remained faithful had I been baptized as a young girl because I may have done it for the wrong reason, instead of because I had a testimony of the gospel.
It took more than ten years, lots of study, and the example
of many friends to convert me. We
never know when someone we are acquainted with is watching our example and can
feel the light of the gospel through us. I hope that I am the example I should be, like those who I saw in the movie this weekend.
