I was born and mostly raised in Tampa, Florida. My mother and father were divorced by the time I was three. I lived with my father's father for a bit and he took me to his church. It was fun. They sang really loud and people would get up and wave thier hands in the air and speak in words I couldnt understand. It was a pentacostal church. they had revivals and potlucks and weekday evening church. It was an atmosphere of fellowship and worship of God. At another point my brother and I stayed at a home kinda like daycare where you slept and lived. The church bus would come and pick us up and we would attend church..I am not sure what church it was. I also remember once attending a youth group with my Aunt. There was alot of singing and it was very fun. I think it was baptist. My mother and I moved around alot and attended several elementary schools and a few junior high schools and I went to six different highschools by the time I graduated. But during all of the moving around I met some great people. One of my friends that I met in junior high took me to thier church. It was fun. Lots of singing, mid-week evening church and one time I remember them asking the congregation to come and be saved...I went up to the front and they took me in the back and asked me if I believed in Jesus Christ and that he died for my sins. I said yes and I was saved. I then was baptized. It felt good to be saved and be a part of that group of people and go out to eat after church and participate in youth programs. It was a Southern Baptist Church. This was all before the age of 16. As I look back over my childhood...I can say that I have always been drawn to religion. It made me feel good to be a part of something that made me feel good inside. I never really paid much attention to the deep doctrine of each religion or church that I went to. The basic knowledge that Jesus Christ was my Savior and that he died for me was pretty much taught in all the different churches that I attended. When I was sixteen I was living with my Father and his girlfriend...they had invited two young men to come into thier home and teach them a gospel message. They invited me but I was too busy. One night though I decided to sit in and listen to thier message. It was a good message about where we were before we came to this earth and who we are and why we are on this earth. It struck me with a strong impact on the message the were sharing with us and suddenly I felt such a strong sense of who I was...A daughter of God in the spirit and that I had come here to this earth to obtain a physical body and to be tried and tested. With this message fresh in my mind it gave me for the first time in my life a clear understanding of myself . I had already known that Jesus Christ was my Savior and that he died for me but this was more. More of an understanding of the beginning of where knowing that would take me and what it really meant for me and how much I needed that. I continued to listen to the message the two young men shared with me and we set up additional times for them to teach me more. It was amazing to me that my testimony of Jesus Christ began to grow and swell within me as I continued being taught by these two young men. They expounded on what I already had in my heart as true and I search pondered and prayed that the things that they shared with me were true. When the lessons they were teaching me were over Iwas left with an understanding that Jesus is the Christ. The Savior to all mankind and that through Him and His Atoning Sacrifice that we can be saved. That though we are not perfect we can strive to live his commandments in our daily lives and repent often of our sins and he will make up the difference through his grace. The two young men then asked me to be baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I prayed for myself if this was true and right for me and I recieved an answer that it was. This was over thirty two years ago that I was blessed by these two young men who had sacrificed two years of thier lives to go out and teach the gospel of Jesus Christ to all who would listen. Today I still live as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. My relationship with My Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is most sacred and personal to me. I believe he was born of Mary and is the Son of God. I believe he suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane and died on the cross on Calvary so that all mankind might be saved by the gift of his atoning sacrifice. I believe he was resurrected three days later and that he will come again, I whole heartedly believe Him to be our only hope on this earth . It is through Him that I have an example of Love and that I can love others. I am a disciple of Christ.
There are those on this earth who would like to say that I am not a christian because I believe that God still reveals scripture, that God still speaks to a Living Prophet and that I believe the Trinity to be three seperate beings, God the Father , His Son Jesus Christ both being of Flesh and Bones and the Holy Spirit and that I believe the Book of Mormon Another Testament of Jesus Christ to be the word of God, that I believe in personal Revelation.
So I ask myself...Am I a Christian? I know what I live, I know what I believe because I live it everyday. I do not need anyone to define for me whether I am a Christian or not because I believe in Jesus the Christ and my religion and my life are based upon the teachings of Christ
Jesus Christ is the Son of God (the same Jesus prophesied of by Isaiah). He came to this earth and was born of the virgin Mary. He lived a perfect life. He is the only one who has walked this earth that was without sin. He is the one and only Savior of this World He is the Prince of Peace, The lamb of God and our Redeember.
