I grew up in an LDS founded town, in fact, a few of my ancestors had helped settle the area I once called home.
My family has several generations within the church but, with my father and most of his siblings, the generation before mine fell away. (As a side note: my father was born in 1944.)
My dad fell away after he became a deacon. His friends joked with him in his old age that, 'he was the oldest deacon in town'. He never explained much. I'm assuming he didn't want to taint my personal views.
In elementary school, I sometimes went to the LDS church with my neighborhood friends. Most of the time, I went to church with my mom or other friends which began at a Baptist church and eventually I settled into the Methodist church. Becoming a member of the Methodist church was not an easy decision. It was my freshman year in high school and I was going to seminary with my friends during lunch and on Sunday's I was attending church service at the Methodist church. Whenever missionaries came to our door, they were never allowed in because of what had happened in my father's past. It was confusing as to which I should become a member of. I had no pressure from either side, nor my family. The decision was all my own. After getting out of town, having alone time, and praying with my Heavenly Father, I felt the best decision was to become a member of the Methodist church. I made the most amazing friends whom I'm still friends with to this day, young and old. It was not the wrong choice. I stayed a member and stayed extremely active until I moved to Las Vegas for school in August 2008.
I tried several Methodist churches in the area and no matter how hard I tried, it didn't feel the same. I stopped going to church altogether unless I was visiting my family back home. That was the same year my dad was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, so I went home a lot on the weekends. That was also the year I met my husband.
Come 2009, my pastor from back home was called to serve in Henderson, NV and I started to attend there because it was hard to always go home with my new job. When I was back home, the feeling was the same as I felt when I first came to Las Vegas, so I didn't attend church all that much.
My husband and I started dating in July and I met his family. They are members of the LDS church. My dad passed away in October, my husband and I broke up in April 2010 and by May I had hit rock-bottom. I still tried finding a church home in Las Vegas and couldn't still almost two years later. The Methodist church in Henderson was great, but something still felt missing. I remember my husband's family saying if I wanted to go to church with them that I was more than welcome to. We were still in contact so I asked and I went. I felt whatever it was that I had been missing.
I sort of began taking missionary lessons but because I was moving in July, we didn't do a whole lot of lessons. Once I moved, I began taking the lessons. Come September, I was baptized and confirmed a member of Christ's holy church.
I've had many highs and many lows since I've become a member of the LDS church. All were meant for a reason!
After our long break-up, during which we both had personal lessons that needed to be given, we got back together May 2012, engaged in September, and married/sealed in December. We had our precious baby girl just shy of our 1 year anniversary.
I'm eternally grateful to be a member of the LDS church. It was a journey that took 23 years. So do not give up hope on friends and loved ones, or anyone for that matter, because the way you live your life or the things you may discuss can become the building blocks for those who will become members in the future.
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