"I grow up in Utah and a lot of my family members are really active members in the church. They really had a big influence on me in my upbringing. I was around it my entire life. I have been around active members. My life was almost Gospel like before actually being baptised before fully having the Gospel in my life..."
"I was never pushed to be baptized. I know when I was eight years old. I went into have an interview with my bishop. I had the interview. The missionaries would come visit me weekly. My parents got a divorce that was what kind of put a hold on it; unfortunately, that was the way it was. After my parent got divorced, they went inactive; therefore, my baptism was put on hold. After that I was really down..."
"Ten years later after that interview with my bishop, I am baptized. In those ten years, I always wanted to be baptized. After moving, we had to move because my mom could not afford the house, and my dad moved out. I was living with my mom. My mom could not afford the house because she was a stay at home mom. We had to move, and we stayed at our grandparents in Murray. I always wanted to go to church and join the church. I always told my mom 'hey mom we should go to church on Sunday.' She would be 'okay lets go.' I would try and push her, but we never went. I was not my mothers fault at all. I could have gone if I wanted to. I don’t want to blame my mom, but that was how life was..."
"I was in Utah over winter break, moving out to Santa Cruz. It is really different here obviously. I could see a difference in the people that had the Gospel with my friends and family. I could see a difference there obviously. Just how they go about life compared to people here. Its just different because I am not able to connect on a great level with people here in Santa Cruz that don’t have the Gospel, so I thought about the church because that is all that I grew up in. That is what I am use to. That is the path that I wanted for myself. I did not want to go down that road of smoking weed, drugs. Thats very common in Santa Cruz..."
"One day I said okay, I am going to seek out the missionaries. I have been thinking about this for months before I did it. I was really thinking about baptism because that was on my mind for all those ten years. I just never did anything about it. I felt I was in the gospel, and I was living a good clean life. I was hanging out with the right people, doing the right things, having the right influences in my life, and having the influence of the Gospel. I talked with my parents about it, and got their impart on it. They were ecstatic about me, making my own decision, and actually going through with it. That is how a lot of my family are. I am grateful to know how happy they are in my decision to be baptized, so I just went on to Mormon.org, and Elder Jamaias and Wulfenstein showed up at my door..."
"I always looked forward to them coming over. Teaching me something new...It answered questions that I had. I would write down question that I had from reading scriptures throughout the week and what not, and we met on a weekly basis, but the first time we met. I told them I wanted to be baptized. There was no question. I was familiar with the church. It did not spark me as a wild decision..."
"When I was baptized, my testimony was very strong and still is. It was like. I did not know as much as I know now, so it was kind of small. In a sense it was kind of unknowledgeable yet not unknowledgeable, but small amounts of knowledge. Now I have more knowledge, so my testimony is therefore stronger than it was before..."
"I am a lot more happy now because I know my purpose in life and stuff like that. I just have answers for things; where-as-before, I was baptized I did not know the answers to those questions really. I knew the beliefs of the church and stuff, but I never really thought about it. Having the Gospel in my life has made me a lot more happier...I am grateful to have the Holy Ghost. I know the truths of the Book of Mormon. I know that Joseph Smith was a true prophet. He restored the Book of Mormon and restored the Gospel. I know that Thomas S. Monson is a true prophet. I know that this church is true. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen."
"I was never pushed to be baptized. I know when I was eight years old. I went into have an interview with my bishop. I had the interview. The missionaries would come visit me weekly. My parents got a divorce that was what kind of put a hold on it; unfortunately, that was the way it was. After my parent got divorced, they went inactive; therefore, my baptism was put on hold. After that I was really down..."
"Ten years later after that interview with my bishop, I am baptized. In those ten years, I always wanted to be baptized. After moving, we had to move because my mom could not afford the house, and my dad moved out. I was living with my mom. My mom could not afford the house because she was a stay at home mom. We had to move, and we stayed at our grandparents in Murray. I always wanted to go to church and join the church. I always told my mom 'hey mom we should go to church on Sunday.' She would be 'okay lets go.' I would try and push her, but we never went. I was not my mothers fault at all. I could have gone if I wanted to. I don’t want to blame my mom, but that was how life was..."
"I was in Utah over winter break, moving out to Santa Cruz. It is really different here obviously. I could see a difference in the people that had the Gospel with my friends and family. I could see a difference there obviously. Just how they go about life compared to people here. Its just different because I am not able to connect on a great level with people here in Santa Cruz that don’t have the Gospel, so I thought about the church because that is all that I grew up in. That is what I am use to. That is the path that I wanted for myself. I did not want to go down that road of smoking weed, drugs. Thats very common in Santa Cruz..."
"One day I said okay, I am going to seek out the missionaries. I have been thinking about this for months before I did it. I was really thinking about baptism because that was on my mind for all those ten years. I just never did anything about it. I felt I was in the gospel, and I was living a good clean life. I was hanging out with the right people, doing the right things, having the right influences in my life, and having the influence of the Gospel. I talked with my parents about it, and got their impart on it. They were ecstatic about me, making my own decision, and actually going through with it. That is how a lot of my family are. I am grateful to know how happy they are in my decision to be baptized, so I just went on to Mormon.org, and Elder Jamaias and Wulfenstein showed up at my door..."
"I always looked forward to them coming over. Teaching me something new...It answered questions that I had. I would write down question that I had from reading scriptures throughout the week and what not, and we met on a weekly basis, but the first time we met. I told them I wanted to be baptized. There was no question. I was familiar with the church. It did not spark me as a wild decision..."
"When I was baptized, my testimony was very strong and still is. It was like. I did not know as much as I know now, so it was kind of small. In a sense it was kind of unknowledgeable yet not unknowledgeable, but small amounts of knowledge. Now I have more knowledge, so my testimony is therefore stronger than it was before..."
"I am a lot more happy now because I know my purpose in life and stuff like that. I just have answers for things; where-as-before, I was baptized I did not know the answers to those questions really. I knew the beliefs of the church and stuff, but I never really thought about it. Having the Gospel in my life has made me a lot more happier...I am grateful to have the Holy Ghost. I know the truths of the Book of Mormon. I know that Joseph Smith was a true prophet. He restored the Book of Mormon and restored the Gospel. I know that Thomas S. Monson is a true prophet. I know that this church is true. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen."
