Looking to join the Church

[Vort]

Seattle moved to Russia?

It's not as much of a move as you think.

(Plus, we're only about 300 miles from Moscow. No kidding.)

[pam]

It's not as much of a move as you think.

(Plus, we're only about 300 miles from Moscow. No kidding.)

I actually thought about that after I posted.

[Jason_J]

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 the true and living 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?

Hi, welcome! I'm a convert to the Church, it'll be 2 years next month.

The best thing to do is contact the missionaries through mormon.org. Just put in your contact info, and they'll call you in a couple days. They'll want to meet with you, so you'll set up a time that works for you, and they can meet with you anywhere, such as your home or at the church building. You could also show up at your nearest meetinghouse on a Sunday (just put in your address at maps.lds.org and that'll show you the nearest meetinghouses, as well as the meeting times for the various congregations. Since you're a 20 year old college student, I'd look for one of the Young Single Adult (YSA) congregations, as those will have many people around your age), and the missionaries will be there as well.

Yes, you should read the scriptures on your own at this point, since it's a good thing to read God's word! As someone mentioned, the missionaries will ask you to read some passages in the Book of Mormon, so it would be good for you to start reading it on your own. They'll also refer to passages in the Bible, so you can also start reading the Bible as well. The official version used by the Church in English speaking countries is the King James Version. The KJV can be difficult to understand in some places, so I and other sometimes supplement it with a more modern translation in our personal study, such as the ESV or NIV.

You shouldn't delay it any longer if you feel like this is the place where God is leading you. No, you won't look like a fool if you haven't read the Bible or the Book of Mormon through. That isn't expected of you. The missionaries will teach you some basic lessons on various aspects of the LDS faith. They will also ask you to make various commitments, such as reading a passage in the Book of Mormon, attending church on Sunday, etc., all leading up to you following the example of Christ and being baptized. The great thing about the LDS faith is that you don't have to wait a month or a year to be baptized. While there are benefits to that, I find that the LDS way follows the Biblical precedent, where we are baptized after exercising faith in Christ and knowing, through the Holy Ghost, the Truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Once you have that witness, you repent of your sins, and are baptized. The missionaries will work with you to determine when would be the best time to be baptized. There is no set time period. Some people take months, some take years, some take 2 weeks (such as myself ). You say that you know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints really is the Lord's Church, and you have prayed about it and received an answer, and feel that this is the right thing to do. Then, I'd say either go on mormon.org and put in your contact info for the missionaries, or go to maps.lds.org and find your local congregation, and attend Sacrament Meeting this Sunday, and look/ask for the missionaries!

Good luck, we'll be praying for ya! Please let us know how your journey progresses!

[Jason_J]

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!

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!

Whoops, should've read the whole thread before I posted!

That's great (funny, I'm also meeting an "investigator" with the missionaries tomorrow/today at 2pm, hmmm...haha)! No, you didn't offend by asking to meet at the meetinghouse. That's what I did as well, and many people do this, it's not out of the ordinary.

No, you can wear regular clothing. I wore jeans and a shirt during my meetings with the missionaries.

Enjoy, let us know how it goes!

[Trevor92]

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 :)

[dahlia]

Trevor - did they walk you around the perimeter in the dark hallway, with big pictures on strategically placed chairs? And then you come out of the dark into the lit chapel (the light of God and all that)? : )

I appreciated the effort, but I had to smile a little.

Don't worry if you don't have a tie. Tell us how it was after you come back.

[M_T_E]

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 :)

Glad to hear it went well! I work early on Sundays otherwise I would give attending a church service a try at a local meetinghouse.

Vancouver has quite a few on its maps.

Have you scheduled a time to meet again?

[Trevor92]

Trevor - did they walk you around the perimeter in the dark hallway, with big pictures on strategically placed chairs? And then you come out of the dark into the lit chapel (the light of God and all that)? : )

I appreciated the effort, but I had to smile a little.

Don't worry if you don't have a tie. Tell us how it was after you come back.

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!

Edited January 21, 2013 by Trevor92

[M_T_E]

Sounds like things are progressing well for you, are you going to meet with your missionaries again soon?

I see a baptism in the future.

[Trevor92]

Glad to hear it went well! I work early on Sundays otherwise I would give attending a church service a try at a local meetinghouse.

Vancouver has quite a few on its maps.

Have you scheduled a time to meet again?

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.

Edited January 21, 2013 by Trevor92

[M_T_E]

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.

There are several wards in my area, three different stakes run through just local building as well. We have quite a few here in Vancouver from what I understand.

My typical Sunday is a 5:30AM-2:30PM, not very exciting.

Eventually I will attend a service to learn, my main thing is I wanted to view an actual baptism but in handing my phone number to someone to give to the Bishop, I can imagine I'll be handed off to local missionaries first. And well, I can assume the Bishop is a very busy man as well.

Keep us posted on how things progress!

[PaPa]

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?

Reac...KJV 1611 , the follow JST Versiom.

[Trevor92]

There are several wards in my area, three different stakes run through just local building as well. We have quite a few here in Vancouver from what I understand.

My typical Sunday is a 5:30AM-2:30PM, not very exciting.

Eventually I will attend a service to learn, my main thing is I wanted to view an actual baptism but in handing my phone number to someone to give to the Bishop, I can imagine I'll be handed off to local missionaries first. And well, I can assume the Bishop is a very busy man as well.

Keep us posted on how things progress!

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.

Edited January 21, 2013 by Trevor92

[M_T_E]

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.

I believe the baptismal fonts should be warm too.

Coming from a Baptist upbringing they tried to get me wet... In a cold river during early spring. I said no (I was younger) very fast lol.