Looking to learn more/possibly convert

[lm0913]

Hi, sorry if this question's been answered a million times but I'm new!

So, I've recently been getting really interested in the LDS faith (I've been Catholic my whole life, non-practicing for some years). I'm in a transitional phase in my life where I want to stop living selfishly and find God again, but I've never been very happy with Catholicism. I recently met someone who introduced me to your values and they align exactly with how I aspire to live.

Now, I'm interested in learning if the LDS Church is right for me. I'm a young college student in a big city and I have no idea how to go about doing this. I have an always changing schedule and I live in an apartment, so I don't know how requesting a missionary visit would work. What is the best way for me to go about this? There's a meetinghouse literally one block over from me and I was thinking of dropping by...but I have no idea what I would say/who to talk to!

Any help anyone could provide would be greatly appreciated! Thanks

[selek]

Hi, sorry if this question's been answered a million times but I'm new!

So, I've recently been getting really interested in the LDS faith (I've been Catholic my whole life, non-practicing for some years). I'm in a transitional phase in my life where I want to stop living selfishly and find God again, but I've never been very happy with Catholicism. I recently met someone who introduced me to your values and they align exactly with how I aspire to live.

Now, I'm interested in learning if the LDS Church is right for me. I'm a young college student in a big city and I have no idea how to go about doing this. I have an always changing schedule and I live in an apartment, so I don't know how requesting a missionary visit would work. What is the best way for me to go about this? There's a meetinghouse literally one block over from me and I was thinking of dropping by...but I have no idea what I would say/who to talk to!

Any help anyone could provide would be greatly appreciated! Thanks

You can find official statements about what we believe and teach at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

To be honest, that should be your go-to source for most of your questions, and they have a number of resources (including an Ask A Missionary chat room).

We're more than happy to help answer your questions: but the "straight dope" can be found at the website above.

Your first stop should be the MeetingHouse locator. LDS congregations are determined geographically, with multiple congregations sharing the same building.

The MeetingHouse locator will tell you not only where you should go, but what time and who the Priesthood leaders are.

As to the rest, I gotta be honest: LDS members are attracted by new faces. If you attend, one or more of us will seek you out.

Welcome to the boards, good luck in your search, and God bless.

[The Folk Prophet]

Ultimately you will want to have the missionaries visit, which you can request through most of the means selek suggested. Missionaries have a special spirit about them because of their calling and whatnot. They are dedicated full time to teaching and sharing gospel principles and thoughts. They are also quite flexible with scheduling and will work around your availability.

Best of luck!

[skippy740]

Welcome to LDS.net!

The The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints website is the official website that has EVERYTHING from the Church. It's a great reference tool.

However, I would recommend starting at Mormon.org | Beliefs and People of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It's a great 'beginner' website to begin with, as well as find meetinghouses and request a visit from missionaries.

Please be sure to let us know how things are moving along for you. We can help answer questions and provide input and guidance if you'll let us. :)

[SanctitasDeo]

When I was a missionary, we would often meet with people in the meetinghouse or at other locations if they could not meet at home for some reason.

Also, just going to a church meeting might not be a bad idea. There are probably missionaries there, and you could talk to them. They will be young men or women with black nametags. Or there will be a few guys up on the stand at the front of the chapel. That will be the bishop and his counselors. You could ask them questions as well.

[pam]

Also if you wondered what happens in a Mormon church service here you go:

[lm0913]

thanks for all your helpful responses! After reading them, I've decided to attend a meeting this Sunday (I will probably go to my own church's mass since it's Easter as well, so it will be interesting to compare).

I looked into the nearest MeetingHouse and it says (school) Student Ward. Does anybody have any experience with student wards? Do they have missionaries as well, as I imagine student wards would be smaller than regular ones?

Thanks again for all the help!

[bytebear]

Wards are assigned by geography, so you don't usually get to choose your congregation, but they do give options occasionally when there is a high young adult population, where you might not fit in a family ward filled with lots of established older families. So the church has student and single adult wards to accommodate people in a unique stage of their life. You can choose between a traditional family ward or a student ward.

Student wards are just what you think they are. They are filled with college age students. Some are singles only and some are families (but singles can attend those as well if they wish). But being that you are a college student, you should fit in just fine and hopefully have more in common with the other congregants.

[Roseslipper]

wow u have it easy since the church is right across the st from you. Just walk in, thats what I did. I went all myself and the sister missionarys must of thought I looked lost they came right up to me. haha if u dont look lost be brave like I was just walk in, and smile and ask for a missionary. Im sure u will feel comfortable and make friends quickly. Let us know what happens if u want u can email me on here. Ijoined the church in my college yrs.

[dahlia]

Aren't there online missionaries? Didn't Hyena start talking to elders online?

Anyway, lm0913, there are a lot of former Catholics on this board (myself included), so you aren't the only one who has had these feelings. There must be something about Mormonism that speaks to us.

[Roseslipper]

so im0913 how was your first experience at a LDS ward??? tell us what happened

[lm0913]

Roseslipper, it was a wonderful first experience! At first, it was a little awkward because it was obvious everyone knew each other/were good friends and I kind of faded into the background. But by the end of the first part, people realized there was someone new and made a sincere effort to welcome me and make me feel comfortable.

After everything, I met and had a great conversation with someone about my interest in the church (he said he went on a mission, so I'm sure his experience with teaching the faith helped). Overall, I really loved the personal feel of the meeting as opposed to the really ritualistic, almost cold Catholic masses I'm used to. It definitely made me even more interested!

[dahlia]

lm0913 You could go to a year of Masses and unless you ran into a friend, no one would know if you were there and no one would say 'hi' if they didn't know you.

With the LDS, people will ask to sit next to you if they don't recognize you and if you miss a service, someone might call or send you an email to see if you are OK. : ) And if you missed because you were sick (as opposed to forgetting to set your alarm clock for the time change, just saying...) , someone may show up at your door with food so you don't have to get out of a sickbed to cook. : ) It's a different world.

[M_T_E]

Hi, sorry if this question's been answered a million times but I'm new!

So, I've recently been getting really interested in the LDS faith (I've been Catholic my whole life, non-practicing for some years). I'm in a transitional phase in my life where I want to stop living selfishly and find God again, but I've never been very happy with Catholicism. I recently met someone who introduced me to your values and they align exactly with how I aspire to live.

Now, I'm interested in learning if the LDS Church is right for me. I'm a young college student in a big city and I have no idea how to go about doing this. I have an always changing schedule and I live in an apartment, so I don't know how requesting a missionary visit would work. What is the best way for me to go about this? There's a meetinghouse literally one block over from me and I was thinking of dropping by...but I have no idea what I would say/who to talk to!

Any help anyone could provide would be greatly appreciated! Thanks

I apologize for not taking the time to read all three pages of responses before posting my own, just alot of info to take in and not alot of online time currently.

I kind of started off like you, both curious and unsure how to go about learning about the LDS Faith. Ironically and thankfully for me someone submitted my info to a pair of online missionaries just shortly after I ended up at the Portland Temple one day.

I found this website as well and there is a wealth of information on here. If you are uneasy about meeting face to face I would recommend you search here and also utilize the online missionaries.

I met with the local's for my area once, but life has been "wake up, go go go, sleep, and repeat" for me so beyond texts its hard to maintain contact with them.

Welcome by the way.

[Hyena]

Aren't there online missionaries? Didn't Hyena start talking to elders online?

Anyway, lm0913, there are a lot of former Catholics on this board (myself included), so you aren't the only one who has had these feelings. There must be something about Mormonism that speaks to us.

Yes I did. I talked them for months. It really helped make things less awkward and nervous. I'd recommend it to anyone. Honestly, by the time I had met real missionaries I was pretty much prepared for everything to the point that I'm certain my missionaries thanked Heavenly Father for such an easy conversion. By the time I had met them I had already Learned the basic lessons, had read the Book of Mormon, determined it to be true, fully believed Joseph Smith was indeed a prophet, and was pretty much an LDS member in my heart.

The only obstacle to overcome was my fear of meeting new people and the actual act of life changing baptism/conversion.

Since then my quality of life and mental health (ie happiness) have improved 10 fold.

I love this church. My only regret is that it took so long to find my family and home. I think of all the years wasted and I weep.

[dahlia]

My only regret is that it took so long to find my family and home. I think of all the years wasted and I weep.

I wish we had found the Church when my husband was alive. It might have helped him fight some of his demons left over from Vietnam. It also would have given him a place to be around other men with families. We might have had a whole 'nother life.

But, I have had all his work done and we only need to be sealed. I can't tell you how happy that makes me feel.

[skippy740]

My only regret is that it took so long to find my family and home. I think of all the years wasted and I weep.

While conference is beginning tomorrow, I felt that it was appropriate to link to Elder Holland's talk in April, 2012.

The Laborers in the Vineyard - general-conference

My beloved brothers and sisters, what happened in this story at 9:00 or noon or 3:00 is swept up in the grandeur of the universally generous payment at the end of the day. The formula of faith is to hold on, work on, see it through, and let the distress of earlier hours—real or imagined—fall away in the abundance of the final reward. Don’t dwell on old issues or grievances—not toward yourself nor your neighbor nor even, I might add, toward this true and living Church. The majesty of your life, of your neighbor’s life, and of the gospel of Jesus Christ will be made manifest at the last day, even if such majesty is not always recognized by everyone in the early going. So don’t hyperventilate about something that happened at 9:00 in the morning when the grace of God is trying to reward you at 6:00 in the evening—whatever your labor arrangements have been through the day.

I hope that this talk and the parable can help you to weep for the joy of today, instead of thinking about any regret of the past.

The past is the past and we all have a journey that takes us step by step. Let's just be happy for where we are and where we are heading towards. :)

[lm0913]

So, I'm dragging up this old post to thank everyone that responded and helped me during this time in my life. I ended up investigating the church for a while, but eventually stopped.

Fast forward 7 months, I received multiple signs and feelings that I should begin investigating again. I was just recently baptized and I have never been happier! It's all thanks to people like you all, who I met during both phases of my investigation who made me feel so comfortable to ask questions and develop my faith in Heavenly Father and this church.

A big THANK YOU to all of you. You are amazing :)

[classylady]

Congratulations Im0913! This is wonderful news.