Becoming Mormon

It was the summer of 1960.  Our little family loaded up all of our earthly possessions and left the green, fertile Salt Lake  Valley.  Destination...Rangely, Colorado.  Dry, desert oil field country.  Home of two grocery stores and numerous bars. I was 8 years of age at the time.  We left  maternal extended family, subdivision lifestyle, and the Methodist chapel behind.  Replacing it with  paternal extended family, 'camp' housing lifestyle, and numerous churches,  none that were Methodist.

Kearns, Utah only evokes the best of memories! Night games, cousins, an adorable and loving grandpa, swinging in the back yard, playing hopscotch on the driveway and making a Popsicle stick craft at the Methodist church!  Rangely also evokes the best of memories, but notice I did remove the word only!

As for religion. Neither one of my parents were actively involved in religion of any sorts. My mother was Methodist by birth, my father was Mormon by birth. Neither one seemed to possess any knowledge or testimony of either religion. We children were allowed to attend the church of our choice or to not attend church should that be our choice.  I remember attending the pink Baptist church (there was the grey Baptist church and I am certain they had specific names, but that was how I remember them), the Catholic church, the Christian church with Reverend Menge, and the Mormon church. My brother and sister soon became involved in the Mormon church. He was the first to be baptized, but my sister and I soon followed. Thus I became a Mormon by name. A sheep so to speak.

Once moving to Rangely it did not take long for my father to become involved in alcohol substance abuse.  Headquarters bar becoming his home away from home.  Our world was turned upside down.  This would actually prove to  be a great blessing in my life.  Three to four years later I would be posing the question 'what is the purpose of life?'  I asked and I received.  It was a simple answer.  "Before you came to this earth you lived with your Heavenly Father and Mother.  You came to earth to fulfill a mission.  When it is over you will return 'home'."  It was a truth revealed in response to my questioning. It was a truth I recognized. A truth I would not forget.  "Through the Holy Ghost the truth is woven into the very fiber and sinews of the body so that it cannot be forgotten. When spirit speaks to spirit, the imprint upon the soul is far more difficult to erase." Joseph Fielding Smith

It would be some years later when I would learn of the Great Plan of Happiness or the Plan of Salvation as taught by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, sometimes referred to as the Mormon Church.  When it was taught to me I recognized it as the earlier truth revealed in my youth. Thus I became a Mormon not just by name, but by heart and soul. I now possessed my own knowledge and testimony. I posed other questions I received more answers.  Once again recognizing revealed truths.  I still pose questions, I still receive answers.  That, my dear friends, is how I became and become Mormon.  Yes, it is still a learning process.  I suppose it always will be.