Jean's Conversion

Remember the story about my friend Kent's conversion? Here is his Mom's story. It's awesome!

WHY I BELIEVE AND HOW I GOT THERE

I grew up with goodly parents and two brothers and a
sister.  My parents were great but religion was not
a part of their lives or ours as a family except on
the occasional Christmas Eve and Easter. Every now
and then we would go through a spurt and attend
church(Episcopal)for a little while but pretty soon
mom and dad were dropping us off and then pretty soon
that even went by the wayside. I'd have to say that
my knowledge of God and the Bible pretty much consisted
of the Christmas story and the Easter story.  I didn't
know anything about the Old Testament or the New
Testament, nothing about a second coming and nothing
about death and where we went. I knew two prayers,
"Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep" and "The Lord's Prayer".
I didn't worry about it, think about it and as such,
it wasn't a part of my life.

Heavenly Father knows so well when the timing is
right for a change and when the spirit is willing to
listen. After Ross and I were married and had our
three boys,Kent, Matt, and Colin, things began to
change and I had a yearning for something more and I
wanted to know what happens after this life,if
anything.  I began a search,began to read books,
Buddhism, Catholicism,Judaism and our church(Episcopal).
We even found an Episcopal church in Chicago where we
were living at the time and began to go on a more
regular basis.  I met with a w women's group,and at
one of the meetings the Priest was there and talking
about a group of 4 and 5 year olds.  He said that he
asked them to draw a picture of God and when they were
done,everyone without exception had drawn a picture of
a man. So I asked him what he would have drawn and he
said he would have drawn a picture of vibrant colors
and if possible a powerful source of energy.  It would
be an all powerful being that nobody could really draw.
So I asked again," So do we worship that powerful being?"
and he said yes. I thought there and then that was the
biggest rip-off, if after you die, you spend eternity
sitting around and worshiping a God that we couldn't
even relate to. That ended my church going there. There
were some things with each one of the churches that I
could sort of buy into but on the whole, I was left with
an emptiness in the area of the most important answers,
what happens when you die and what is expected of us,
or was nothing expected? And most importantly, who is
God?

Now we were living in Cincinnati, our boys were in grade
school and Kindergarten.  I know Heavenly Father knows
where we need to be for that which needs to happen.
Enter the Nielson family into the picture and into the
neighborhood.  Everybody found out in short order that
they were MORMONS!!   We knew nothing about Mormons.
I only knew because someone told me that Joe Smith was
a strong man who had carried cement tablets over some
mountains and they didn't plant grass, as at that time
the Nielsons had not yet put in their lawn.  It turned
out that their oldest son, Brett and our oldest son,
Kent, became best friends. They were never apart.
Their other son, and Colin our youngest became buds and
Matt was friends with both. David and Judith, the
parents turned out to be a really cool couple in the
neighborhood and came to all of our parties.  I began
to also notice that their family was different in a
really good way and I couldn't put my finger on what
it was.

During this period of time, my mom died unexpectedly
and that was extremely hard for me because it was the
first experience I had with death and I had all these
unanswered questions.   After mom's death, I remember
standing at the kitchen window watching the boys and
Ross playing football in the backyard.  It was a
beautiful day and I thought to myself, "Is this really
all there is?" Surely I must owe God something for the
good life I had.   My search intensified.  I signed up
for a transactional analysis class which was supposed
to help you know yourself, value yourself, and help
you help your children with self-esteem issues. I
pretty much felt like I did know myself but was
willing to take the class and see if I got anything
out of it.

During that period of time, Kent was going to some of
the Primary activities with Brett and came home after
one of the activities and said he wanted to be a
Mormon when he grew up.  I didn't think too much about
it at the time, but Heavenly Father works his plan...
I had a luncheon for the women in the neighborhood,
Judith came,left and came back after it was over for
some reason. I told her about the class I was taking
and she told me that you learn that from the time you
are a small child in her church.  Something went off
in my head and I began to feel feelings of great
excitement and told her about Kent's statement and
asked her if she had anything that I could read that
would tell me about the church.  I devoured everything
she gave me to read, it was if I couldn't read enough.
I knew what I was reading was true, and as I knew that
I had found what I had been searching for.  I was like
someone who had been without water for too long and
couldn't get enough. Every question that I had was
answered, I finally knew why I was here and where I
was going.  I knew I could have my family for
eternity. There was nothing that was going to keep me
from joining this church. We did listen to the
missionaries and as soon as we were finished, Matt and
Kent and I entered into the waters of baptism.  Ross
wasn't ready (another story as he is now a member) and
Colin was too young.

Now after many years in the church, serving in many
capacities, realizing the power of the atonement,as we,
who are so imperfect,deal with each other within the
framework of the church, how grateful I am for the
framework which is perfect and is the vehicle which
brings us back to Christ.  How grateful I am to have
the answers as we deal with the uncertainties and
storms of life that we all face. As we have dealt
with the tragedy of losing our youngest son, Colin,
to cancer at the age of 33, I'm not sure how I could
have weathered the intense storm of grief, if I
didn't know that this life is merely a blink and we
have eternity with our loved ones, we will be with
Colin again, in a few moments for him and longer for
us.  How glad I am tofinally know the answers.

There is no doubt in my mind that the church is so,so,
so true, that if we live by it's teachings, our
blessings are unmeasurable, the Holy ghost has
witnessed this to me.  As I look back on my life,
both before joining the Church and after, I see
Heavenly Father's guidance bringing me where I am
today.

Pioneers for Pioneer Day

I have always loved Pioneer Day. While I didn't grow up in Utah, I remember on several occasions I was here in Utah during the July 24th celebration. I remember being so excited to go to the parade downtown and I was never disappointed. It had all the feeling of the promised land for me and I dreamed about what it would be like to live here among all the smiling and friendly saints.

Growing up as a Mormon kid outside of Utah, I had a very idealized view of Utah and like a-lot of kids, I wished we could live here. It was tough in a-lot of ways growing up as a strange minority in Ohio and Georgia and I was always teased about my Mormon background. I don't regret this. I was never one to back down about who I am and I was very proud of my heritage. This didn't stop me, however, from looking with longing to live in a land where the majority held my beliefs and standards. I know that lots of kids living in areas where they are the religious minority feel the same way. The sad thing is that sometimes the reality of living in Utah doesn't live up to what we thought. We sometimes become disillusioned because some people here don't live up to our naive expectations. That's not Utah's fault. It's just that our young dreams of a perfect world aren't yet reality and we haven't grown up enough yet to understand that.

My former bishop told me a story once that illustrates how one could get disillusioned here. My former Bishop is Mexican-American and his family came to Utah many years ago. Most of his family was born in Mexico and they all converted to the church. Once as a young man he was at a party where several prominent LDS people were in attendance. One of the well respected women at the party made an interesting comment. It went something like this: "Well, you aren't anyone if you didn't descend from the Mormon pioneers." My bishop was taken back a little by the comment but smiled and replied, "I come from pioneers. When my family was driving to Utah and their car broke down in the desert, they all just jumped out of the car and started pushing!" Thank goodness my bishop had a sense of humor and didn't let the comment hold him back from progressing in his testimony. It's beyond me how educated people can make such ignorant comments, but unfortunately they do occur sometimes. Luckily, I think that comments like these are becoming less and less common.

I come from Mormon pioneers myself. Some of these pioneers were close friends of the prophet, Joseph Smith, and many came across the plains to settle in Utah. When I go back and read their stories, I'm amazed and awe struck at their sacrifices and testimonies and I am so proud to call them my ancestors. I can't wait to someday meet them. I want to thank them from the bottom of my heart for what they've done for me and my children. Because of what they accomplished, my children and I have so many blessings and opportunities. Truly, without them I could not be made perfect as the scriptures allude.

I am very well aware, notwithstanding, that I can't make it back to live with Heavenly Father based on their lives and sacrifices. I can in no way take credit for them. It's all up to me to live my life as a true disciple of Jesus Christ. At the final judgment, I don't believe that the Savior will look at me and consider who my ancestors are. If anything it will count against me if I don't live up to their legacy. I can just hear him say, "I gave this man a wonderful heritage of faith. He had righteous examples placed before him, but he chose to ignore them and become a law unto himself. He cannot enter in with those who took up their cross and followed me. He is not worthy of that association."

In conclusion, I celebrate all true pioneers both ancient and modern. Those who truly follow Christ deserve the title of pioneer whether they lived in the 1800's or now, whether they have light skin or dark, whether they be rich or poor, whether they be educated or not. Those who choose to follow Christ are my true brothers and sisters and I claim their stories of faith as I claim the blood of the early Mormon pioneers in my veins. All who follow Christ are from the same family and will receive the unsurpassed joy of the spirit and the grand association of a loving family of true hearted believers.

Below are some pictures of some true pioneer women and a little bit about them.



This is Lydia Knight. She and her husband Newel were personal friends of the prophet, Joseph Smith. They were the first couple he legally married as minister of a new faith. Lydia was left almost destitute with a small child by her first husband. Later she heard the gospel preached by Joseph Smith himself and became a courageous convert to the gospel. She married a wonderful man named Newel Knight who had also lost a spouse to illness. She never wavered in her faith even though she was left again while on the plains in route to Utah. Newel, her faithful companion died in Nebraska of illness related to exposure. Lydia was miraculously preserved on her journey to Zion and died firm in the faith of Jesus Christ.






This is my beautiful Grandma Mary Schindler Nielson. Mary was born in London, England at the turn of the 20th century. She was an orthodox Jew and remembers being persecuted by the local people of the time for being Jewish. Both her parents died while she was still a child. She and her two sisters struggled to make ends meet being orphans and being despised for no other reason than being Jewish. She was introduced to the gospel of Jesus Christ by her sister Rebecca. My grandmother said that when she first entered the doors of the Mormon church in London, she knew immediately that it was the true church of God. She did not hesitate to be baptized over the vehement objections of the local rabbis. She was shunned by the local Jewish community.

At the age of 16 she alone boarded a ship to America and worked as an indentured servant when she arrived. She managed to save enough money to bring her sister Leah over to America as well. Later she moved to Salt Lake, married my Grandfather, and remained faithful to the end of her years. If you asked my Grandmother how she felt about giving up Judaism she would reply, "I never gave it up. I extended it. "

A Tennis Story for Budding Young Tennis Stars

I was losing this tennis match the other day and I wasn't liking it. The heat was bearing down so hard at just under 100 degrees Fahrenheit that I couldn't think straight. I willed my body to move but I felt like a bag of wet towels just pulled out of the washing machine. "Move your feet!" I kept telling myself. "Wake up! Your energy will kick in any minute now."

I had felt sluggish from the beginning. I felt none of my usual spark. I wasn't feeling great that day to begin with and now I was down 5-2 in the first set. I squinted my eyes and peered toward the other side of the court where my opponent was preparing to serve.

Pow! His first serve came flat from his racket at high velocity down the middle of the service line on the deuce side, a perfect ace. 15 - Love.

I moved to the add side. This time he hit his first serve into the net. His second serve was softer and I moved forward to take it, trying desperately to hit my lefty cross court forehand winner. The angle was good but I went for too much and the return flew wide. 30 - Love. Dang it!

I moved to the deuce side again. This time I blocked back a hard first serve and began a rally. After several strokes I managed to pull him wide to my right. My opponent scrambled to get to it and managed to send a bullet back, but it went into the net. 30-15.

The next two points and the first set were lost by a forehand slice into the net and an overzealous lob attempt on my part. Dang! What a disaster! I was down a set and hadn't even tested my opponent yet. What was wrong with me? I couldn't move. I was dieing of thirst, and the only way to win now was to fight my way back to take two consecutive sets. The heat was stifling and I could see that even my opponent had started to slow down some.

The second set started better. I had been getting beat when I approached the net so I decided to only approach when I had a good reason, like a short weak ball from my opponent or an exceptionally good approach shot. It began to dawn on me that the longer I could keep him in a rally the better chance I had of winning the point. He was prone to over hitting so if I was patient it might work to my advantage. I took the first game.

Little by little I began to notice a few other chinks in his armor that I might take advantage of. One was that he liked to charge the net. This had worked to his advantage in the first set. I began to concentrate on hitting deeper balls to him and moving him back and forth along the base line. Soon I had him running more than me which is always a good sign in a match. I went up 3-2 in the second set.

Next, I began to notice that when my opponent approached the net, he would come straight up the center leaving a nice gap for my down the line forehand. I passed him several times on this and his advantage at the net began to erode. I reduced my own net errors by choosing my spots to approach. It was so hot and I was so tired I wasn't too anxious to go to my weaker net game anyway. I'm not bad at the net in doubles but I haven't worked it all out in the singles game yet. I went up 5-3.

Lastly, I began to slow down on my stroke, not the stroke speed, but the stroke timing. I've always been a little quick on the draw. I concentrated on letting the ball drop a little more and I made sure that I didn't travel if I could help it during the shot. If I got my front foot down and waited for the ball to drop more, I could hit a more effective ground stroke with topspin or under spin. I won the second set. 6-3.

Now, what to do in the third and final set? Remember, I was exhausted and it was almost 100 degrees out. We both were dieing. If I could manage to win this one, the match would be mine. I decided to stick with what had helped me in the second set. He hadn't been been able to stop me with those tactics so why was I going to change now? It turned out that I was right to stick with it. I ended up winning the last set 6-2 by continuing to do what was working for me.

By the end of the match, we both nearly collapsed from heat exhaustion but I came out the happier of the two of us. I won 2-6, 6-3, 6-2. So children, here's the moral of the story. Here's what I learned.

1. In tennis as in life, you never give up at any point no matter how bad you are losing or how bad you feel.

2. In tennis as in life, you figure out what it is you are doing wrong and stop doing it.

3. In tennis as in life, you figure out what is right and keep doing it.

4. In tennis as in life, when you go off course, you make on court adjustments. You don't keep doing the same thing that doesn't work over and over again and you don't wait 'till the next day. You do it now!

5. Always be nice and obey your parents. Oops! How did that get in there? It's good advice anyway, so do that too!

Finally, lest you think that I'm boasting here, you should know that I've lost as many matches as I've won so far. The one thing I can say is that I learn from every match, win or lose.

Gratitude for this Country and its People

Recently I had a moment to reflect on the incredible miracle known as the United States of America. I think we constantly need to remind ourselves of the fabulous blessings we enjoy as a result of living here. Very few countries on this earth have ever been blessed with so much freedom, opportunity and prosperity. I feel so grateful because I recognize that everything I have has come to me as a result of living here and being a citizen of this wonderful nation.

Personally, I don't believe that it was an accident that this country was established and I do believe that it was for a divine purpose. That purpose has to do with our Heavenly Father's desire to bless his children. This country has acted as a catalyst for good things around the world in my opinion. Although we have made mistakes, I would hate to see a world without the United States.



Some may wonder, how can I support this country after all the mistakes it has made? Is this not the country that allowed the practice of slavery? Did we not act horribly in our treatment of Native American tribes, forcing them off their land and breaking treaties with them time and time again? Is this not the country that allowed mobs to force the removal of thousands of innocent adherents to the new LDS faith in the 19th century? Is this not the country that is so eager to rid itself of all illegal aliens while at the same time enjoying all the benefits they provide?

The truth is, our intolerance against minority groups has always stunted our growth. If we've done as well as we have in spite of this fact, think of what we could do if we were able to eliminate that anger and hate of groups different from us.

If you look back on what past empires have done in this world you can draw some interesting conclusions. The ideas I present here came from a wonderful book called: Day of Empire: How Hyperpowers Rise to Global Dominance -- and How They Fall by Dr. Amy Chua. What Dr. Chua does in the book is to walk us through the rise and fall of the most successful empires. They all have a couple of things in common. They rose and reached their apex when they successfully included and tolerated differences amongst the vast peoples of their realms. Conversely they began to decline and eventually fall as a result of moving away from those principles.

Take Spain for instance. While Dr. Chua admits that Spain was never a hyperpower, they perhaps could have been had they not decimated their own strength when they sought to exclude all Jews and Muslims from their society. They did this via the abominable Spanish Inquisition. Spain never reached its potential as an empire because of its extreme intolerance for anyone not professing belief in the Roman Catholic Church. They killed the innate talent of those groups on which they depended and thus denied themselves of the benefits that they undeniably brought to the table.

The Roman Empire, a true hyperpower, succeeded for many centuries because they offered citizenship to all conquered peoples thus incorporating the talents of individuals of many diverse groups. Conquered peoples actually began to have more of a stake in their own realities after being conquered by Rome than they had enjoyed under their previous governments. The empire began to decline when it moved away from this model. Rome began to form its own special Roman club that no one else was allowed to join. This attitude led to their eventual overthrow by the Goths. The disenfranchised eventually had enough and they revolted.

Prejudice also stymied the United Kingdom. India for example was loving being part of the British Empire until they realized that no matter how they served, they were ever to be loathed by the British for their brown skin and different religion.

This cycle has repeated itself many times over the centuries. The Macedonian, the Mongolian, the Ottoman, the Byzantine, and the Ming Dynasty in China all rose and fell because of what we are discussing here.

The United States although not an empire in the same vein as those mentioned, nevertheless has been a hyperpower since the fall of the Soviet Union. We have continued to capitalize on the talent and ability of a country full of immigrants and diverse peoples. We have done this in spite of the overwhelming prejudice of many individual Americans. I think this success has to do with our constitution being written the way it is. I believe that it is an inspired document. I also think that although prejudice exists, there are still more people here who want to do the right thing than those who want continue in blind prejudice and hatred. Many things that were wrong here have been righted. Slavery no longer exists as an institution and the civil rights movement was a tremendous success. The government has done just about everything it can do to erradicate discrimination in the work place and some can argue that the government is now doing too much, citing the evils of political correctness and racial quotas. I'm sure that these individuals have some merit in their arguments but no one can deny the the progress that has been made in the United States on the issue of tolerance and the outlawing of discrimination based on race, color, creed, or religion. Thank goodness that the country has continued in a positive direction in this regard instead of embracing the racial superiority model espoused at the end of the great Ming Dynasty in China or the horrific abomination of Nazi Germany.

How much longer can we continue to prosper? I hope indefinitely. I think there is still much work to be done in helping our brothers and sisters, our fellow Americans, to give up prejudice and intolerance in their hearts where it resides the deepest. I think we can also still work to erradicate those feelings from our own hearts. We must admit that many of us were raised to think and feel that way, but we must reject that and hold to the good. Remember this scripture in the Book of Mormon, 2 Nephi 26: 33

For none of these iniquities come of the Lord; for he doeth that which is good among the children of men; and he doeth nothing save it be plain unto the children of men; and he ^ainviteth them ^ball to ^ccome unto him and partake of his goodness; and he ^ddenieth none that come unto him, black and white, ^ebond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the ^fheathen; and all are alike unto God, both Jew and Gentile.

What a beautiful truth is presented here. "All are alike unto God, both Jew and Gentile." Can't it be so for us as well? I hope so, because if we can't overcome this part of ourselves, how can we expect to live with Heavenly Father again? He is no respecter of persons and invites all to come unto him. Can we do the same?

In conclusion, if someone were to ask my advice, this is what I would recommend regarding our treatment of our fellow human beings: Next time we feel ourselves getting riled up inside when we see a person with brown skin working on a home in our subdivision, or see a black child in our daughter's class, or we see those Asian kids speaking in a language we can't understand, let's stop for a moment and enjoy. Let's permit ourselves to love them, appreciate them. They are children of God just like we are and remember that he loves them. They are our brothers and sisters. They come from beautiful cultures and they have endless possibilities, just like we do. We may even want to greet them and be friendly to them. We may even want to learn from them.

I think that if the majority of us embrace these ideas, our country will continue to grow and prosper and we will also help prepare this country for its ultimate destiny, the establishment of true Zion. I don't know about you but I'm for that. Let's join together with our diverse heritage and remember who we are, true brothers and sisters of a loving Heavenly Father.