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Former Non-Denominational Member
"Generations Of Accepting the Gospel Of Jesus
Christ"
By Adam Barnes
How can one begin to describe a life? A life time
of activities? A life time of memories? Of love, of feelings, of
experiences? A life time of different emotions; joy, happiness,
pain, sorry, excitement, pride, and hope?
How can one begin to describe the beauty of a
sunset? How may one go about describing a work of art, such as the
Sistine chapel, to someone who has never seen it? What about the
musical works of Beethoven and Mozart, to someone who has never
heard them?
Have you ever climbed to the top of Mount Everest?
What would a person who has say about it? How would they describe
it? What about an astronaut that has seen the majesty of the Earth
from space? How can you even begin to express your emotions at the
awesome sight?
It is something very personal to them, and no
matter how many adjectives are used, it is something that must be
experience in order to truly understand it.
Such is the challenge for me when I was asked to
speak on what being a member of this church means to me.
On July 24th, pioneer day, my family will
celebrate our 19th anniversary of being baptized into this church.
Into this ward, the Baybrook Ward, as a matter of fact. July 24th,
1988.
I remember it fairly well. I was 11 years old at
the time. But let me give you some back story. I was raised going to
sort of a non-denominational church. I remember the Sunday school
lessons, learning the book of the bible, etc. I never had anything
against it, but I would usually be glad when we didn’t go because I
could stay home and watch transformers or Voltron.
One day after not having been in a while, some one
from the church came over and said that it was about time that I be
baptized. "Baptized? What? Me? Why?"
For a while I went along with the idea, with the
preparation. But when the time came, and the man came over to our
house, I hesitated. Here he was at our house, ready to pick me up. I
had a change of clothes and a towel, and everything. We were on our
way to the church even, yet, I didn’t want to go.
I hadn’t been exactly looking forward to it or
anything before, but now, when it was decision time, I said, "No. I
don’t want to."
Now, saying this was not a premeditated action. I
didn’t plan on going along with the plan for a while just to pull
out at the last minute. But at that moment, I felt a strong, clear,
and resolute impression. "Don’t get baptized." There has been only a
hand full of times in my life in which I "was led by the Spirit, not
knowing beforehand the things which I should do." This was the first
of those.
"What? Come on, lets go!" the man said. I stepped
back from him and said, "I don’t want to." The man stepped forward
towards me. But right then my dad held my shoulders and defended me.
"If he doesn’t want to, he’s not going to."
I felt so relieved to have my dad stick up for me.
I felt then that somehow, my dad was slightly relieved that I had
said no.
So, we continued to struggle with church. Being a
kid, I didn’t realize what my parents were going through
spiritually. They wanted more in their religion. They were searching
for the truth, even though they didn’t realize it at the time.
After a while, I think we stopped going to church
altogether. That was fine with me; I wouldn’t have to dress up
anymore. But, while I was seeing the short term gains, my parents
were looking for something much more. Read [John 4:7-14]
My folks had been taking sips of the water from
the water. Their thirst would be temporarily satisfied, but soon, it
would return. They were looking for the "well of water springing up
into everlasting life." That is where it all started.
One day at a little shop my mom used to run, she
was talking to an old friend about church, and how she was currently
in-between religions. It just so happened that there was a Mormon
stake missionary in that shop who couldn’t help but over hear this
conversation between my mom and her friend.
Once the friend had left, this faithful stake
missionary headed the prompting and bore her testimony of "her
church". She mentioned that she had two friends of hers that were
full-time missionaries, and that they would love to come over and
tell her more about the church if my mom wanted.
Not wanting to be rude, my mom courteously
accepted, thinking that it would just be another get together of
"churchy people" where not much would come out of it. But a week or
two later there came a knock at the door. It was two sister
missionaries! Girls?! I didn’t know they sent girls!
They each had smiles that would light a room. They
were oozing happiness and were beaming with the Spirit. We welcomed
them into our home, and quickly we were talking about the pleasures
of life. Even my dad sat in on the discussion!
Scuba diving, art, stuffed animals and Barbie
dolls were all brought up. We loved having them over again and
again. We quickly felt a love for them and them for us. To this day,
the Sisters hold a special place in my heart.
Needless to say, we were quickly becoming very
involved in investigating the church. Many members of the ward were
instrumental in our fellowship. Brother Canon, who was the ward
mission leader at the time, played a vital role in helping us over
come some trials.
And when the time came to be baptized, I said yes.
I jumped up and smiled. "Yes!" I knew then, that I had said no
earlier for a reason. I knew that this was right. A year later, we
were sealed together in the Dallas Temple.
This leads me to one of the most significant
reasons why I love this church so much, the Temple. The sacred
sealing power of the priesthood. The eternal nature of families.
Everything that is good in my life, I have because
of this church. Without this church, I would not have gotten
baptized. I would not have been sealed to my parents and sister.
I would not have served a two year mission to
Brazil, (my second favorite country on earth), and there I wouldn’t
have met and taught the wonderful people and eternal friends there.
Often I have thought about that wonderful sister
missionary, Sister Green, and the results of her righteous actions.
Her relatively small action has lead to generations of people
hearing and accepting the eternal gospel of Jesus Christ. I can only
hope that one day we will all see each other in the celestial
kingdom.
And then there is MY family. My wife and our
children. I can’t even think about them without tearing up. Without
this church, I would not have met my eternal companion, Katherine,
without whom I cannot even imagine living without.
Without this church, we would not have been sealed
for time and all eternity in the holy temple. And of course, we
would not have had our 3 wonderful children Michael, Matthew, and
Ryan. They bring me so much joy, so much happiness, so much pride.
My family is my life, and without the church, I would not have had
my family.
And so you see, brothers and sisters, how
difficult it is for me to convey in words what being a member of
this church means to me. That is why the Spirit can teach it far
better than I. It is my prayer that it does so today.
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