A new era of my family history is about to begin. I’m the convert for the Heuer family name in my tree. I’m the only baptized member in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Last night my family attended an ‘Eight is Great’ presentation by the primary presidency. It was a short program (meant more for parents I think) to talk about the various aspects of turning the age of 8 in the Church.
Our daughter turns 8 this year and was reluctant to go to this program. I think she thought we were going to drop her off or something. To be honest, I was reluctant to go as well because I had to put a suit on…sigh…I hate suits. The program was about preparing for the actual day of baptism (i.e., get your crap in order) as well as what it means for girls (activity days) and boys (scouts). I think our daughter half paid attention.
As I was listening to this though and seeing the baptismal day in my head, it dawned on me, that she’ll be the second Heuer in the Church for my family. This is my spiritual legacy beginning. I felt odd and pressured a bit. I’m not weirdly emotional about it, but perhaps when the day comes I’ll find it more inspirational. I’m looking forward to it and trying to be a good example to my daughter so that she can start paying attention better to the foundations of the Church and the gospel.
Weird though. 1995 I was baptized. 2010 will bring another in my tree into the gospel.
I got an email from Laurel today pointing me to a site that I think she’s involved with. I had a moment to check it out and thought it was cool. I can’t help think it is inspired by the Common Craft “Plain English” series of videos which are oft used to explain things in the technical community. I think this is a great way to simplify some of the frequently asked questions about the Church, the people and things of practice (meetings, youth involvement, etc.). Here’s an example of a 3 minute explanation of what to expect at a typical Mormon Sunday service:
Great idea guys and can’t wait to see what others you’ll have coming. My suggestion would be to enable some RSS feed so that I can be notified of when new videos are posted (hint, hint).
I just came across this video where ABC news did an interview with Elder Ballard and Elder Cook and talked about Temples, misunderstandings of belief, etc.
It was an interesting piece, but even interesting is that despite the interview they (ABC) did, where the Apostles mentioned that the FLDS groups are not a part of our belief, the news agency still included the Texas compound situation in the same sentences. I suppose titilating headlines/intros still prevail over truth.
As a convert though it is great to see more open discussions about the faith. We should not hide from our beliefs (nor should anyone) but be proud of them and declare the truths which we know.
Video and story: Mormons Open Doors to Discuss Religion.
I begin writing this after a healthy sampling of a McDonald’s chicken sandwich slurped down with some Hi-C orange drink. I’m fat. I’m actually the heaviest (and perhaps unhealthiest) I’ve ever been. In college I ate Taco Bell 3 square meals a day. Seriously, I did…I mean c’mon 49 cent tacos? Hello…that’s better than Ramen. But I also worked out at least 3 times a week with weights and rode a bike everywhere out of necessity. So the byproduct of my crap eating never showed. I was always around 165lbs and felt great. Now I’m…well, let’s just say NOT 165lbs…those days are a distant memory. As I was alone this weekend (wife away visiting family in Indiana) and realizing what I was feeding my children, I felt ashamed. It caused me to reflect on the Word of Wisdom a bit. We’re given counsel that:
And all saints who remember to keep and do these sayings, walking in obedience to the commandments, shall receive health in their navel and marrow to their bones…And shall run and not be weary, and shall walk and not faint. Doctrines and Covenants 89:18,20
And it came to pass, that I cannot run and not be weary! In fact, I get friggin winded playing with my kids on the floor! I could reflect over time and try to understand where this occurred, but let’s just agree that my metabolism has slowed alright? Moving on…anyhow, I think most people external to the Church (and perhaps some members or converts) look at the Word of Wisdom (D&C 89) and concentrate only on the alcohol/tobacco side of things. The history of the Word of Wisdom is actually an interesting and funny one as well.
The revelation was given to Joseph when he asked of God if it was okay that the men use tobacco in their meetings. Seriously, could you imagine? A member of the Bishopric getting up announcing the blessing of a baby only to pause and lean into the spittoon? Aside from the fact Emma disliked it as her and the sisters repeatedly had to clean up the floors, God basically gave the divine thumbs down. He then also provided an “oh, by the way…” with regard to a few other things…namely what is more commonly known in addition to tobacco are the “strong drinks” which we interpret to mean alcohol, among other things and the “hot drinks” which the Church has said refers to coffee and tea (hot or cold).
But examine the counsel further…
And again, verily I say unto you, all wholesome herbs God hath ordained for the constitution, nature and use of man. Every herb in the season thereof, and every fruit in the season thereof; all these to be used with prudence and thanksgiving. Doctrines and Covenants 89:10-11
So we know that we should be eating “healthy” by consuming herbs, fresh fruits and herbs. But who likes that? :-) — Let’s go to Costco, get some sweet rib-eye steaks and chow down…yum…
Yea, flesh also of beasts and of the fowls of the air, I, the Lord, have ordained for the use of man with thanksgiving; nevertheless they are to be used sparingly; And it is pleasing unto me that they should not be used, only in times of winter, or of cold, or famine. Doctrines and Covenants 89:12-13.
So the Prophets have told us that the Word of Wisdom not only apply to alcohol and tobacco but to a health eating style as well. Those 4 steaks you had this week? Not so good. I know that people may scoff and say “hey, that’s a little extreme.” But we also hear the echo from President Snow nearly 70 years later reminding the members about the consumption of meats sparingly. One may be quick to point out that the “during winter” portion probably has some historic reference to the storage of raw meats and the missing refrigeration systems during those times. Nevertheless, regardless of refrigeration in modern times, the Prophets have not said “it’s okay now, we have freezers, go ahead and gorge yourselves.” Brigham Young’s made an assertion that the revelation given in the Word of Wisdom was a commandment from God (oddly enough only for those under the age of 90).
So why is it that we honor the alcohol and tobacco portions so easily (for most) but yet disregard a healthy lifestyle otherwise? Should the admonishing of refraining (note I didn’t say commandment) of caffeinated beverages be made a commandment? It certainly would be more in-line with the Word of Wisdom teachings. Surely it would be in the best interests of the saints? While a study has been conducted about mortality rates with regard to members and non-members, I’ve yet to see any study regarding expanding the principals of the Word of Wisdom and looking at obesity rates.
So as I look at myself and my eating habits I see that, in fact, they are NOT in line with the teachings of our Prophets. Why should I be so bold to assume that I’m following the commandments of the Word of Wisdom when I don’t drink/smoke, but my last 5 meals involved fried chicken, fast-food, and steak? I ask you, your thoughts?
I re-read my post about my intentions of this site and don’t want to make it only about my story, so I’ll dispense with the waiting, put this post up about my baptism and first year and move along to more philosophy :-).
Baptism
As I previously wrote, I was baptized about 6 or so months after I started the discussions. It was November 1995 in Flagstaff, AZ (for those not familiar with Arizona…it’s cold there). None of my family attended. None of my fraternity brothers or friends attended. Only my new friends (of which I barely knew) from the institute attended. I remember only 3 things from that day. First was the suit. They only had the one piece jumpsuits, and none in my size. I felt like the Michelin man for sure. I remembering having to roll the legs up about 10 times. It was pretty embarrassing walking out like that…especially since some of the ladies came to welcome me into the Ward. At any rate it was done. Bishop Mayes baptized me that day.
The second thing I remember was getting out of the suit. One of the Elders (the original pair had since transferred) was from Russia, Elder Kabanov. Man that dude could play piano. While I was getting my suit back on I started hearing the most beautiful rendetion of Canon in C I’d ever heard. To this day whenever I hear that song it brings me immediately back to that moment. It really was breathtaking. I have no idea what happened to Elder Kabanov, but I hope he is well…great personality even if he was a little too energetic.
The third thing was the confirmation. When Bishop Mayes said to me “receive the Holy Spirit” I think I felt what probably most people do. Whether it is anticipating that feeling or not, you definitely have a sense of something that goes through every sensory receptor in your body. It too, was magical. I remember a lot of tears…but it was a happy day. Nothing much more eventful happened other than getting some inscribed set of scriptures, which was pretty cool.
The next year
The next year wasn’t like I was set on serving a mission or anything. Quite the contrary was that I had some trying times. I met some great people (including my now wife) and my girlfriend and I split. I had some trying times with my fraternity and did some things, that while I still believe were right, alienated me from my life-long friends. I took a job with my international fraternity after graduating that year and started traveling the world. I lived in Iowa City for a while and attended a Ward there – very, very small and didn’t feel like I fit.
At each of my travels in the Northeast part of the country I made sure I stopped by all the Temples that I could even though I was not yet able to enter. They are remarkable structures that you can’t help but notice. I distinctly remember traveling near DC and coming up a hill on a freeway and seeing the majestic DC Temple peer over the freeway…it was inspiring.
The job didn’t pan out too well after I totaled my car in Pittsburgh and soon after I left back to Flagstaff. Upon my return I met up with friends again from the institute and begin being smitten with one of them (yes, female). A few months later I asked her to marry me. That was October. We were to wed in December of 1996. In November 1996 we decided to go to the Temple together for our first times. Knowing about the year rule and such we made plans accordingly (or so we thought). My Bishop and Stake President interviewed me and signed my recommend. We were set.
Upon arriving to the Temple I set off on the process and then was halted. The Temple President came to find me and let me know that I was one week before my year date and there was an issue with that. Hmm, odd that two of the other leaders what would have missed that. They had been trying to get in touch with my Bishop (who was on his way from Flagstaff and there wasn’t great cell phone coverage at that time). When he finally arrived there was some long delay but we continued. Later when I asked him what he had to do, he stated that they had a conference call with the office of the First Presidency. Um, whoa.
Now before I mention my Temple experience I should note that prior to this being in a fraternity I became infatuated with rituals. I had done about as much research as you can do on the subject and had the Masonic ritual virtually memorized.
The Temple was great in a weird and confusing sort of way. After I went through that day in November 1996 I returned every day for the next 20 or so days. I’m not kidding. I would go right after work. I needed to soak it in. I can’t say that I fully comprehend anything still but it was a pretty intense month. My most favorite part of the Temples is the Baptistry still.
Marriage
In December 1996 I married Lisa as planned. My father and mother (still going through a divorce) were there and my mother, along with Lisa’s grandmother, attempted to enter the Temple themselves (both non-members). They apparently made a little scene and the Temple President came out to talk with them. They waited in the lobby area until we got out. I never heard the end of it for a long time and occasionally Lisa’s grandmother still reminds her she wasn’t there to see her get married. We had 4 people plus the sealer in our ceremony: our Institute Bishop and his wife and Lisa’s parents. That’s it. It was quick. She was beautiful (and still is). Marriage hasn’t been super easy but after 11 years we’re getting the hang of it now and have two great kids. Our daughter Zoe is almost 6 and our son Zane just turned 2. Great kids. Great family.
12 years later
This year will be 13 years a member for me. I haven’t looked back. I’m confused about some things, disagree about others and try to find things to question always…it’s in my nature. But I’m a better person today for becoming a member, I’m sure of it. There were times of inactivity for me, but we now live in a great area and super strong family-driven community. I couldn’t imagine living without our friends that we have now. My neighbor across the street is Bruce Porter, who was one of Hugh Nibley’s research partners…so you could imagine how intense Sunday School is when he teaches…I’ve learned so much. I don’t celebrate my baptism at all with any fanfare whatsoever. In fact this year I didn’t even think of it at all…I guess that’s a good thing. My family has now seen me bless our two children, I’ve given blessings to my father during a heart transplant ordeal and I think they all have ‘gotten over it’ about my choices and see what good it has brought to my life (and theirs in my family). I look at my patriarchal blessing and cringe if those all come true…I better start preparing now :-0 – especially since the new Bishopric for our Ward that was just called is all my age. Yikes.
Since I consider this a site about my ‘musings from a convert’ I suppose it is appropriate to tell my story of conversion. I’ve told this a few times now in various Wards and to friends, and I’m sure each time I embellish a little more – I’ll try to keep it real here :-). Conversion experiences can be deeply personal ones and affect people differently. I hope not to offend anyone in the process of telling my story.
I attended college at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona. About my sophomore year I found out my parents were splitting after 25 years of marriage. By this time my sister (whom also went to NAU) had graduated college and moved on with her life. The news of this impending divorce struck me hard. Real hard. The details are scandalous which made it even worse. Let’s just say it wasn’t a split of the “we’re just not getting along anymore” type. It struck me to the core enough that I still don’t think I’ve fully recovered a definition of family…but that’s for another post I guess.
During the next few years I struggled trying to rectify this and became close with a bunch of people, namely my fraternity brothers (I’m a Delta Chi in case you were wondering). I was glad to have a close family of ‘brothers’ that I could escape reality with. And being around sorority girls didn’t hurt either. During this time I became involved in educational leadership quite a bit. I went to a lot of leadership conferences across the country. One was a Sigma Phi Epsilon conference. At the time, their motto was “Balanced Man” (it is now a little more politically correct with ‘Balanced Leaders’). The Balanced Man was a philosophy of living a balanced life in the categories of emotional, physical and spiritual well being. I was at this conference and attended a session about the Balanced Man philosophy. It was presented by a Zig Ziglar graduate so you know it was good. He talked about these areas of your life and why they are such key pillars for a foundation of well being. At this time I was weight-lifting at least 4 days a week and rode my bike everywhere (a stark contrast to 60lbs later today). Emotionally I was in a high. I was dating someone great, had great friends and was pretty much on my own living what I felt was a responsible life. I was happy. Spiritually…hmmm, not so much. It wasn’t that this ever bothered me before, it just wasn’t in my life anymore – in any form. Spirituality in this philosophy wasn’t just about religion, but to me it was – and made me reflect on my life at that point in this category.
I was raised Catholic (my father is Lutheran, but now practices under the ‘I believe there is a God, I just don’t think I need to be a part of organized religion to believe that’ church. At this point I was working for a great guy, Frank Shushok, who was a devout Baptist. I told him about my reflections and he invited me to talk about it more with him. He invited me to his church as well, which I attended. I also went back to my Catholic roots and attended church. Nothing I found felt right…at all. I can say that with all sincerity.
As it was I was living in my fraternity house (we were the only ones with a physical off-campus house, so you could imagine the lifestyle :-)). I was surrounded by great guys, but all a bunch of pranksters. Unknown to me the girl I was dating at the time was LDS. I didn’t really know what LDS was to be honest. I grew up in an area that, upon reflection, probably wasn’t a high LDS population. There were no seminaries near my schools and I didn’t recall any friends (granted I was – and maybe still am – a dork in high school) really mentioning anything. So my prankster fraternity brothers decided that it would be funny to call the missionaries for me. I didn’t know this was happening of course, nor did they know I had been seeking some spirituality. I get a call that went something like this:
Caller: Hi, Tim? This is Elder <whomever> from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We received your inquiry about a Book of Mormon.
Me: huh?
Caller: Didn’t you call a number on the television?
Me: (chuckling) No, but what can I do for you?
Caller: Well, we’d like to talk with you about our Church if you are available?long pause
Me: You know what, sure.
Caller: Great, when can we come over?
Me: Um, probably not a good idea to come here. Where can I meet you?
And you know how it goes. I began meeting the missionaries at the Institute in Flagstaff. It was an interesting experience. I did feel welcome. I also sensed the newness of the Elders at that time but I listened with real intent. Things started to feel right (and some a little odd). I remember attending my Business Law class one day (I graduated with a criminal justice degree and now I’m a software developer, go figure) when my instructor, Tom Palmer, approached me in the hallway. So how are those missionary discussions going? Fine, I replied with a freaked out look. He just walked away with a smile. Turns out he was the Stake President. Nice. Total sidenote: but best professor I had…ever. The same experience happened with the father of the girl I was dating. Turns out, he was a Bishop. What is going on?! I was thinking to myself. I had lunch with Bishop Mayes one day and he asked me how things were going and was curious why I wasn’t telling his daughter that I was taking the discussions (and I wasn’t telling anyone at all). I told him this was a very personal process for me and I couldn’t have it clouded with external influences – any decision had to be my own, completely.
Well after the course of 6 months or so I took all the discussions and was baptized in November 1995. It was a beautiful day and process of which I’ll share at some point here as well…maybe the next post. I was surrounded by great people who helped me learn and discern for myself what the right decision was. From President Palmer, Bishop Norman Mayes and Bishop Dennis Kelley were all great men that have inspired my spirituality to-date.
So there you have it. Fraternity prank gone bad (for them) is my ultimate conversion story. And no, my current wife is not the girl I was dating. As you could imagine it was a tough road to explain to family and friends my decision. Actually it was only tough for them to accept it (and some still haven’t). Everyone becomes an expert on theology when you decide to make a decision for your life.
So that’s my story…hmm, now on to the balanced man physical part again – maybe I should go back to that conference.
Hey there. I’m Tim and I’m a convert.
Hi Tim.
I’m a program manager for Microsoft working on some wicked cool technology, but that’s not what this site is about. I have a site dedicated to that and my other geekiness if you are interested in reading about that stuff. About a month ago I was having lunch with some friends in our neighborhood, some good friends, and we started talking about Ward stuff like neighbor friends always do. It got me thinking to all the thoughts I have floating around in my head about the Church. Things I don’t know, things I might disagree with, questions I have, etc. I had no place really to journal my thoughts. Sure a literal journal is probably the best thing I could do in this predicament. I can’t remember the last time I’ve used paper and pen to journal anything though (shame on me I know).
My other site is super geeky. I didn’t want to dilute my content over there or alienate any readers over there who weren’t interested in my questions of the Heavens. I’m not ashamed of who I am or my faith. I’m very proud of my individual beliefs. No, I don’t walk around with a Book of Mormon sitting on top of my laptop or anything, nor do I have any CTR rings, stickers, or anything. I’m generall the same guy I’ve always been, but now I’m just LDS :-) — when people learn this it usually sparks an I thought so feeling in them. I hope that is because my actions are a good example for others.
So I decided to start this site, A view from the Font, my thoughtstream from a converted member. I hope I don’t offend. Heck it might be an echo chamber for all I know. But I know it will make me feel good about writing some things down at least. I was inspired to do this after I saw the Church embracing more technology, more outreach and encouragement of digital missionary work. Also my good friend runs the Mormon Archipelago and maybe he’ll think I’m cool enough to link there. He’s a pretty smart dude and I’ve learned a lot from him and other neighbors these past couple of years.
Anyway, it’s an expirment if anything else, so here goes. I encourage comments where you feel inclined to do so.
Comments from others…