Trevor92

Will do! I did get to see the baptism area at the ward I toured, and it was pretty neat. It was a tiled area behind glass that fills with water, with stairs that take you maybe three feet down into it.

Thanks! Yeah, I'm meeting with them again tomorrow night before the Tuesday-night-scripture-study-meeting-thing (the name of which presently escapes me ). But anyways, hope you do find the opportunity to go! I presently work until 4:30AM Sunday mornings (from 8:30PM Saturday night)... So needless to say, I'm trying to change that haha. Fortunately I work where I go to school, though, and since classes haven't started yet I didn't have it last week.

Ha, that's funny about the dark hallway and the chapel! No, they didn't do that with me. I got there before them, actually, so they just showed me around and I met with them and a couple other members my age. Very casual and nice. Anyways, Sunday was awesome. I get super nervous with those sorts of things and I was a little shy when people were asking me about how I became interested in the church, etc., but boy once I was in the chapel for the sacrament service it felt so great. All these nice, welcoming people and families so happy to be there. I met the people presiding over the sacrament service ahead of time (the one who I assume was the bishop because he presided over the service as well as others who were sitting up there with him) and they were all such warm, friendly people. I swear I could feel the spirit in that room. Then we started with the hymn "I Believe in Christ", which was a wonderful hymn with such beautiful lyrics and as I listened to everyone sing it and I sang along, I really felt I was in Christ's church. The speakers were all great, too... especially the younger ones! I love the way that works, how people go up and make speeches and share their testimonies as opposed to just a pastor speaking the whole time. Each and every one of them seemed as though they were speaking for me. Oh, and the Priesthood meeting bit at the end was very interesting, talking about the keys of the priesthood and how they're given and how they're lost. This was something I was less familiar with and I was really interested to learn about. But yeah, overall a great experience. So glad I got myself to finally do this!

Went great! Got to meet the missionaries as well as a couple others, all of whom were super nice. They showed me around the meetinghouse, told me a little about themselves, and asked some questions about why I was interested in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. They opened our discussion with a prayer and asked me to close it with one, which was a little nerve-wracking haha but it went well. Going out now to buy a tie because I'm going to the service tomorrow :)

One more thing: Am I expected to dress up if I'm meeting them there? Forgot to ask them on the phone. Thanks and sorry for all the questions!

So I meet with them on Saturday at 2! A little nervous, but not as much as I expected to be after a lot of prayer. I feel a little guilty though because they asked if they could stop by and I told them I'd rather meet with them at the meetinghouse. Hope I didn't offend... my living situation just makes it a little difficult!

If somebody wouldn't mind indulging me, I have a question regarding baptism for the dead. Please let me know if I have this straight (I'm relatively new to LDS theology): In the spirit world, those who have died without receiving the gospel are given the chance to receive the gospel, but cannot be baptized (or receive other ordinances). Therefore, in order to be baptized, someone on Earth must be baptized as a proxy for them. Is that correct? Or is it that those in the spirit world cannot receive the gospel unless they are baptized by proxy on Earth? At any rate, what if not everyone is baptized by proxy by the time of the resurrection? That seems extremely likely, given the number of people who have lived on the Earth and the likelihood that some of them will be overlooked even if there were enough time to do everybody. Got this quote from a BYU source: So then the resurrection is at least 1000 years away? Also, I read that the church stopped baptizing certain individuals such as Jews who died in the Holocaust. Is the intention to begin doing that again later, or do they just go without baptism? Pardon my terrible ignorance, any help is much appreciated.

Well, after talking to the missionaries in the online chat, I gave them my info and they said I would be contacted. I told them I did not want to meet with the missionaries at my house and they said the missionaries would call first to set up a meeting wherever I wanted. I really hope they don't just show up! Way too shy for that.

Well I know they were still doing it as of ~4 years ago because that was the first and only time I've ever been visited by one :) (yes sadly I rejected them)

Yeah, I've taken a little Japanese myself and it's a tough language! That's why I asked

Thanks, this whole post was really helpful! It's funny, I was thinking of watching those children's videos myself. My issue is that I sort of started out investigating things from an atheistic/skeptical/critical standpoint, but increasingly found what I was learning to resonate intensely with me. As a result, I kept reading more and more over a long period of time (getting sidetracked often along the way), and praying, and thinking philosophically about life, and now I feel as though I have a significant understanding of Christian/LDS theology without having read the scriptures per se (other than what I've mentioned as well as a lot of it which I have simply read in the process of learning about these things over the past couple years... and I can also relate to the whole "knowing bible stories, but not the bible" bit :) ). But yeah, I'm thinking now I will go ahead and better acquaint myself with the parts of the Bible and Book of Mormon which I'm still fuzzy on, and read the most important passages for newcomers to the church that others have mentioned (something which I need to talk to the missionaries about I suppose). I did originally want to read the whole standard works first but I'm feeling that, as you say, there's plenty of time to do that and I don't want to wind up getting sidetracked again over the span of time it takes to do such a thing. Joining the church I would stay motivated because I'd be really putting things into practice, and it'd help me understand things better as well.

Japan? Lucky! Just curious, did she know some Japanese beforehand or do the MTCs really teach them that quickly?

Thanks so much, this is great!

Hello there! I'm a 20-year-old college student currently looking to join the Church and was hoping for some advice about how to best go about doing so. I feel I have come to truly know in my heart that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is Christ's true church, but am in a bit of a predicament because I grew up in an irreligious household and have not read through the Bible, let alone all the Standard Works. I did start reading the Bible a couple months ago, but only got midway through Numbers before I realized that I couldn't stand the NLT, which is the version that I was reading. Since then I've begun re-reading the Bible using the JST and am partway through Exodus (I also obviously read the Book of Moses since it's part of the JST, and I've also read the Book of Abraham). To put it mildly, the difference is night and day. I've also researched extensively the beliefs of the Church and have read through countless threads on this website as well as articles on LDS.org to help myself better understand. As such I now really want to join the Church, and after praying about it I truly feel that it's the right thing to do, but I'm still slightly conflicted about how I should move forward: Will I look insincere if I try to join the Church without even reading through the Bible (despite knowing what's in it for the most part)? Should I at least read the Book of Mormon first? My understanding is that it would take a year to read through all the Standard Works... On the other hand, if I were to go about joining the Church now, what would be the best way to do so? Just showing up at the nearest meetinghouse? Or would it be better to contact a missionary? To be honest, my shy tendencies make me nervous of doing either, which is part of the reason that I'm leaning toward reading more of the scripture first so I won't look like a fool. On the other hand, I feel bad delaying it any longer. Suggestions?