What Being Mormon Means to Me

I've been Mormon my whole life.  My parents have been Mormon their whole lives.  I come from a long line of Mormons, and non-LDS people might think I'm crazy for saying this, but I'm glad to be Mormon.

I've had a testimony of our gospel since before I even knew what "testimony" meant.  And although I always knew that nothing could sway me from the gospel, I didn't always outwardly express that I was LDS.  OK.... maybe I said that wrong.  Let's just say that one of my goals in high school was to make sure that no one found out what religion I belonged to.  Horrible, I know.  And lame.  And stupid.  And I regretted it then just as I do now.


But then I had an experience my senior year of high school.  I had just been in a bad accident and was recovering at home.  I had missed close to a week of school and I was on the line about whether or not I was ready to go back.  Now, let me tell you that normal Heather would have said, "I am totally skipping school."  But for the first time in my life I felt a strong impression that I actually needed to be somewhere.  So I went to school, obeying my feeling. 

When I got to my 2nd period Sociology class I knew why.  We were studying religion and on the overhead projector was posted: What are Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses and why are they cults?  My stomach lurched and my heart started pounding.  I said a quick prayer in my mind and felt instant peace even though I wondered why someone would consider us to be a cult.  My teacher handed out small pamphlets and each row was either to study Mormonism or the Jehovah's Witnesses.  To my luck, I got to study Mormonism.  It was all from LDS.org and I even got to read some of the first few chapters of the Book of Mormon.  Easiest assignment ever.  After she gave us time to read through the pamphlets she asked us what we learned about Mormonism.  No one raised their hands (including me).  Frustrated, she asked, "Heather, why don't you tell me what you learned about the Mormons."

I shrugged and said, "Well, I am Mormon."  The whole class shifted in their seats and stared at me.  Over half my class had their hands raised, asking me the most basic and bizarre questions.  People were surprised by how similar we are to other Christians.  We take bread and water each Sunday to remember Christ's sacrifices for us.  We celebrate holidays.  We're allowed to dance (in fact, our church holds social dances often) and have blood transfusions.  We believe the Bible as well as the Book of Mormon.  Of course not everyone thought I was in my right mind (I'm pretty sure I heard someone talking about how I was brainwashed).  And people didn't seem to comprehend the purpose of why we don't drink coffee or alcohol (which I think is understandable). 

But when questions started popping up about the Book of Mormon my classroom morphed into almost a battlefield.  I explained that the Bible is the recorded testament of Christ in the Eastern Hemisphere and the Book of Mormon is the recorded testament of Christ in the Western Hemisphere.  People couldn't put their heads around how ancient Americans in the West could possibly know about Christ.  I explained about revelation and how Christ visited the Americas after he died.  Someone in my class said, "He can't do that."  I remained silent but I remember thinking to myself, "How sad is it that you can believe that he died for you, taking upon Himself all of your sins, but he can't possibly visit another land after he was resurrected."

I remember going home from school that day crying.  And that's when I learned a real life lesson.  I didn't want to keep my religion secret because I was insecure about it.  I wanted to keep it secret because I didn't want people to mock what I hold to be very dear and sacred. 

I had a Sunday School teacher once tell our class that even though she knew the gospel to be true, if the day came when she learned that it wasn't true she would still harbor no regrets.  I thought about it and realized the same.  My church doesn't make me feel like I've missed out on life, but instead, I feel like I have had a better, more fulfilled life.  Instead of learning to focus on ourselves, we learn to uplift others, to mourn with those who mourn, and "...to stand as a witness of God" (Mosiah 18:9). 

Everything in our religion points to Christ.  Our goal is to become Christlike - as impossible as that may seem.  And when I realize our gospel's purpose, I don't understand how people can claim that we preach blasphemies and teach false doctrine.  Is my blog post considered blasphemy because it was written online instead of in the Bible? 

I am grateful for the church and for the impact that it has made in my life.  I am thankful for Christ, that He willingly sacrificed himself through life and death for our own happiness and welfare.  I am thankful for the gift of the Holy Ghost, that through years of practice and patience I have been able to receive my own inspiration and retain the blessings that followed.  I'm thankful to know that life will not end when I die and that I will be able to spend eternity with my family. 

If you have any questions concerning Mormonism (or rather, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) please go to the church's official website, LDS.org, or email me at puebar at gmail dot com.