I think it was in June 1965 that Al asked me one day if I was busy that next evening. School had ended for the summer, so I had lots of free time, so I said sure. He told me that they were playing a film at his church called “Man’s Search For Happiness”. He made the film seem really interesting. He said that they had played the film at the World’s Fair in New York City a couple years earlier (all true). He made it seem really cool, so I said I would come.That was my first exposure to the church.
I went to the Battle Creek chapel the next evening to see “Man’s Search for Happiness” I was really intrigued. This was the first time in my life that I had heard of a “pre-existence”. If you go to church at all (any church), you hear of an after-life and everyone wants to go to Heaven, but I had never heard of an existence before we were born. It kind of blew me away. Al Henderson asked me how I liked the film and I told him what I had learned. Rather than push me too fast, he just said that I should come to church on Sunday and find out what the church was about.
So I did. The thing that impressed me most about my first Sunday meeting was the people. They were all so friendly. I had attended an Baptist church in Biloxi, Mississippi when I was in the Air Force. I had gone into the meeting, listened to the minister and had left the building without one person saying one word to me. Maybe they knew I was a Yankee or that I wasn’t an Baptist. But no one said a single word to me. I never went back. But at the Battle Creek ward, all of the young adults (my age), came up to me and welcomed me and asked about me and who I was and told me how pleased they were that I was there. I really felt like they were glad I was there.
One fellow who Karen will remember was named Mike Peterson (I think I have the name right – Karen, let me know if I’m wrong). He told me they were having a fireside that night at someone’s home and would I like to come. So, I did. It was called a cottage meeting with the missionaries asking questions that had answers that would lead into a gospel discussion. I found myself answering questions that I had never know before. Everything they said just seemed to make sense to me. I had not felt so comfortable in a long time.
And so, I began the discussions. Since Al Henderson was a Seventy and a Ward Missionary, he and another Seventy in the ward actually gave me the discussions. It took us about 4 weeks to go through them all. I was a golden convert. I had a few questions, but everything just seemed to make sense to me. I will always remember the feeling I had when Al and his companion asked me to say my first out-loud prayer. I told them, I’ve never prayed out loud in my life. And not that much silently. They said it was easy, just follow the formula:
1) Open by addressing the father
2) Tell Him what you’re thankful for
3) Any requests?
4) Close in the name of Jesus Christ
I stumbled through it, but suddenly a feeling came over me. I just knew that everything they had been telling me was true. I haven’t always acted like it, but I did then and I still do have a testimony of the church and all that it means.
I want anyone who reads this to know that I know the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is true, that Thomas Monson is a prophet and that Joseph Smith was a prophet. I hope someday to be able to say my life reflects those words.
Dad