My Very Brief Testimony

Taken from a brief talk I gave in Sacrament, earlier this year:

When I was first asked to share today about my conversion story, I was thrilled. And then Kevin told me I only had one to two minutes. I certainly won’t have time to tell you all of it, but I’d like to tell you one aspect.

Several years ago, while visiting family in California, I was reacquainted with a good friend of my brother-in-law’s. Corey was a member, and I remember there being something different and wonderful about him. I can still remember the feeling of the Spirit I got from just talking with him, even though it would be several years before I even knew what the Spirit really felt like. Over the next couple of years, I didn’t forget my encounter with Corey. My last semester before graduating from Bible College, I started to write a paper on LDS doctrine. Corey was the only reason I chose the Church as my topic. I knew there was something different about him, and that brief encounter years earlier was enough to spur my curiosity on. Six months later, I was baptized.

Those six months were the worst and the best of my life. I had dozens of questions and even more fears. Sometimes I felt like I would never see light again – but I knew I had seen it once, in a “Mormon,” and hope of finding it again was enough to keep me going.

The reasons why I joined the Church, the reasons that convinced me it was true, are many. But one of the most powerful, and certainly the most impelling, did not come from two Elders knocking on my door, or a Church advert, or even a free Book of Mormon. It came from a member, just being himself.

When we met years ago, Corey said nothing of his faith. But the Spirit shone threw him and into my life.

Today I would like to bear testimony not only of what God has done in my life, but of the incredible ability He has granted all of us to be His beacons unto the world. Every one of us who has the gift of the Holy Spirit bears an incredible light. And when we let it shine, that light brightens the world all around us.

Not every person you smile at or talk with is going to feel the Spirit, get baptized and become a member. But one might. And the one standing here today did. I know this Church is true, I know God lives and I know God loves us. I know God is every day at work in the world and that He uses the light and truth we bear to transform the world around us. I would encourage you today to go forth and bear that precious light more boldly. To raise it a bit higher and carry it more proudly. That light is the greatest gift we have to give the world. And you never know who might be looking for it. I leave these things with you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.