Missionaries and a New Church

Around the time I started elementary school was when the LDS (Mormon) missionaries encountered our family. They were referred by one of my dad's co-workers.

I remember that their names were Elders Garitt Slater and Kevin Freeman. Elder Freeman was British and was the first person I ever recall meeting that had an accent. He was a convert to the LDS Church and had tattoos on his arms. He also was the first person I remember meeting that had tattoos. He took an immediate liking to me and we shared a bond because of our same first name. Elder Slater was extremely nice and became connected with our family after his mission. I will discuss Slater further in future posts.

At the end of the first visit they told my parents if they had any questions to write them down and they would try to answer them during their next visit. When they came back, my dad was busy doing something so my mom invited them in. While they were waiting my mom remembered about the list of questions my dad had written and said that she would give it for them to read while they waited. She warned them that it was really long. They took it as a joke but a few moments later she came in with the list. It was like 5 pages long. A bit intimidated, they were able to bit by bit answer the questions that my dad had. As mentioned in a previous post my dad had lots of questions regarding religion, and the LDS missionaries were the first people to have the patience and give the answers that my dad was looking for. 

As they learned more my parents decided to join the Church. Though my dad had more initial interest, he wanted to make sure he was making the correct decision, but my mom decided to take the leap and got baptized. I remember my mom's baptismal service better than my dad's. I recall a special video that played that had music and pictures while my mom was getting changed after being baptized.

The decision of my parents to join The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was by far one of the most critical steps in my spiritual journey. For the next couple decades Mormonism would serve as my primary framework of understanding religion, theology, and God. It did cause some conflict with family, especially with Nona, but with time came understanding and acceptance. 

What factors were the most critical in choosing your spiritual beliefs? Did you, your parents, or other close friends/family choose a faith tradition other than the one they were raised in?