The One Where I Found My Faith
- Jules
- Aug 12, 2019
- 9 min read
I'm by far not an expert in all things about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, but I wanted to give you a basic overview. Especially since I will often refer to aspects of my church life throughout my posts. Any information about the church is incomplete without my personal journey about my baptism though!
I joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in 2014. I had several introductions to the Church prior to this time but, this was when everything clicked and felt right. My first boyfriend in High School was a member of the Church. About 15 years later I started dating another guy who also a member of the Church. His family welcomed me in as one of their own and I slowly got exposed to the culture. Around 2012 I started attending church with some of the family regularly for about 3 months. I however told my family friend/brother (Josh) that I DID NOT want the missionaries sent to me.
In the beginning of 2014, I had a rough start to the year and due to such started attending weekly church services with my family again (different building and congregation this time). Shortly after I started going with them, we had our Stake Conference (a gathering of all the members in each ward in the stake). There are 2 parts to Stake Conference, The Adult only session is on Saturday night and the full session with everyone, including children is Sunday morning. I attended the Adult Session with several members of our family and during one of the talks, our Stake President shared a story about how his co-worker was basically like "why don't you share about your church with me?" His message was "are you missing the signs from someone in your life that they are ready to learn about the church?". At the end of the adult session, my friend/sister Cassie, (Josh's wife) looked over to me and said "are we missing a sign from you? When would you like to meet with the missionaries?" As this was right before the Super Bowl we no longer speak of (seriously, in my world the Super Bowls go 47, 49, 50...not sure what happened to Super Bowl 48), I told her I was busy until Feb 4th. So we set up a meeting the week after the Super Bowl, I actually think it was the Monday after the Super Bowl.
The missionaries assigned to our ward at that time were definitely not there by chance. I met with Elder Croft and Elder Campbell and clicked instantly with them, especially with Elder Campbell. I would have meetings with them, which we called discussions, where we covered some key doctrinal points. A lot of the time they'd ask me questions and I'd answer with "well duh". I wasn't trying to be a jerk or my whitty self. I legitimately thought the answer to their questions was a given and easily understood by all. Missionaries will serve in areas for 6 weeks a time. We call these 6 weeks a transfer. It's not uncommon for them to serve in the same area for longer than one transfer, especially if you are brand new to the mission field. After Elder Croft got transferred, Elder Miller came to serve with Elder Campbell. During the time with Elder Campbell and Elder Miller they kept asking me if I wanted to get baptized. Now's a good time to tell you that if you grow up in the church, you can get baptized at age 8 which we believe is the age of accountability. Anyway, I kept telling them I wasn't ready but continued to meet with them. On March 25th I was walking Abbey after work and wasn't thinking about anything in particular. All of a sudden I got the feeling I needed to text Josh. I ignored it and kept walking the dog. Again, I felt the thought, or prompting, that I needed to text Josh. I thought it was weird but also felt the prompting to pray. So in the middle of my walk I stopped and closed my eyes to say a prayer. I didn't even get 2 words out before I burst into tears. It was then that I knew I wanted to be baptized as a Member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I'm sure I was quite the site walking my 80 pound pit bull crying!
I set the date for May 31st not because I thought I needed time but because very important people in my life were gone much of April. Additionally, we had some family conflicts the beginning of May.
I continued to meet with the Elders between the end of March and the end of May. During this time, Elder Campbell got transferred to Boulder. Elder Croft was also in Boulder, but they were not in the same ward. Elder Rickords came to join Elder Miller. It's not normal for missionaries to get to leave their assigned area. However, both Elders Campbell and Croft were granted permission to leave Boulder for a day to come up to Fort Collins to attend my baptism. Since they didn't have a car, my family detoured from Northern Denver area to Boulder to pick them up for me. My Mom, both of my brothers, one of my nieces and her then boyfriend all came up from Denver area. I also had my best friend and family from up here in Fort Collins as well. I was so blessed to have so many people attending!
Josh performed my baptism as well as gave a talk about the Holy Ghost. I asked other family members to give talks and prayers. I also asked the Beehive class (these are young women in our church ages 12 and 13), whom I was starting to form relationships with, to sing the song "I'm Trying to Be Like Jesus". Since I was lucky enough to have all 4 missionaries who taught me attend my baptism, I asked them all to share their testimonies as well. I felt so loved to have so many people attend!
Doctrine Basics
Again, I am not an expert by any means. Please visit the official church website: TheChurchofJesusChrist.org. The below video is from their site and if for some reason it doesn't load then you can watch it here.
First and foremost, we believe in and worship Jesus Christ. We believe that He is the Savior and Redeemer of not only members of our church but every person on this earth.
I believe we are all children of Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother. We have lived in the spirit world together before our mortal existence and came to earth as children to gain earthly bodies, gain experiences and prove ourselves worthy to return to living with our Heavenly parents again someday.
We believe in and use all of the scriptures. The Bible is the word of God as is the Book of Mormon.
There were living prophets on the earth during the times of the Bible. We also believe that there is a living Prophet today.
We receive modern day revelation. Not only does The Living Prophet receive revelation for the whole Church, but I can pray and receive personal revelation as well.
I believe that there are 3 God Heads - Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ and The Holy Ghost. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have bodies that resemble our earthly bodies where as The Holy Ghost does not.
Families can be together forever in all time and eternity through covenants and promises made inside the Temple. We are sealed together as a family for all eternity.
Jesus set up his church while he was living and we are members of His restored church today.
Twice a Year, Church is listening or watching General Conference, where leaders have prepared messaged for all. You can attend the conference talks live in Utah, stream them at home or watch them streamed at a local church meeting house.
Sunday Overview
Starting in 2019 we started a new 2 hour Sunday Schedule. Prior to this, we went to church for 3 hours on Sundays. President Nelson, president and prophet of The Church revealed this change to us during the October 2018 General conference. We are moving towards a home based learning that is church supported. To compliment this, we have been given a weekly breakdown of suggested scripture study. In 2019 we are studying the New Testament.
We have weekly sacrament meetings. During this 60 minute long session we partake of the bread and water that has been blessed to symbolize the body and blood of Christ. We do this do renew the covenants (promises) we made at our own individual baptisms. We will sing songs and hear from speakers. Unlike other churches, we don't have a minister or bishop that will preach or give us sermons every week. Our Bishop may give talks, but it is unlikely that we hear from him consistently. Instead, members of the ward (congregation) will be asked to share a talk with us. Usually there will be a youth speaker and 2 adult speakers. We start and end every sacrament meeting with song sung by the congregation and prayer given by a member.
Every 1st and 3rd week of the month, the adults and youth will have Sunday school. The purpose of Sunday School is to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ and strengthen individuals and families through teaching, learning, and friendship. Classes for the youth are divided by age. Children between the ages of 18 months to 11 years attend Primary. A separate class or classes is held for adults. Volunteer teachers who are assigned by the local congregational leader (bishop or branch president) follow curriculum that focuses on a different volume of scripture each year, rotating between courses on the Old Testament, New Testament, Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants and Church History. As I said, in 2019 we are focusing on the New Testament.
Every 2nd and 4th Sunday; adults and youth ages 12-17 will go into our individual classes. For the youth in the church aged 12-17 they will attend Young Men or Young Women. They are divided into smaller classes based off age and gender. Adult men who are over 18 years of age will go to a class called Elders Quorum. Adult women over 18 years old meet together a class called Relief Society. In this classes, previous General conference talks are covered and discussed.
Church Organization
Based off where you live, you will be in designated a ward (congregation) to attend with in your ward boundaries. You will attend weekly services at this ward. If there are not enough members in the area, then the congregation will be called a branch. Each ward or Branch will have a bishop, plus his 2 counselors. There will also be presidencies in other areas of the ward broken into groups of Elder Quorum, Relief Society, Young Men, Young Women, Primary and Sunday school. Each of these organizations within the ward will have a president. Where numbers allow, each president would then have 2 counselors and a secretary. There are other areas to serve within the ward that may not fall into these organizations. Ultimately, the Bishop is in charge of the ward though. All of these jobs, or callings, are voluntary and are unpaid positions. We serve as a way to express our love to Heavenly Father and those others in our ward. Also worth noting, our wards are assigned which meeting house, or church building, to attend on Sundays. Multiple wards will meet in one church building in a day. Because of this, each ward has an assigned time. In our building start times are 9a, 10:30a and 12pm. Also, we do not attend weekly church services in our temples - those are reserved for sacred ceremonies and performing work for our ancestors.
Close to your ward, there will be stake boundaries as well. In this Stake, there will be a stake President that presides over 5-12 wards/branches depending on numbers. The stake will have similar structure as far as organization and presidencies. The President of the stake, could be thought of as the Bishop of the stake. Instead of one ward that he's presiding over, there are 5-12. We just refer to him as Stake President. Ward Bishops with in the stake boundaries report to the Stake President.
Additionally, the church is broken into global regions. There is an President of the Seventy assigned to each of these global regions. The Stake Presidents report to their assigned President of the Seventy.
Presiding over everything in the Church is the President and Prophet. He has his counselors that make up the First Presidency. Along with the first presidency, there are 12 apostoles. The General Authorities consist of the First Presidency, the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, the Presidency of the Seventy, the First and Second Quorums of the Seventy, and the Presiding Bishopric.
Ultimately though, Jesus Christ is the head of the church and the General Authorities guide us all under His direction.
What it Means to Me
Where as it's nice to understand the structure and organization of the church it all boils down to my love for the Savior. I ultimately joined the church as a way to show my love the for Savior and be more like Him. The information provided about how to do this felt right and like the correct way for me. I love our Savior and although falter frequently, I strive to be like Him. I am thankful for the restored gospel and the full set of scriptures to help me grow closer to Jesus.
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