I was first introduced to the Book of Mormon in August 1977. I had just gotten married to Susan Klein. We went to visit a friend of hers, Ruth Olson. Ruth was investigating the LDS church at that time. A copy of the Book of Mormon was laying on her table. I picked it up and started to look at it. Ruth told me that it was a history of the ancient Americas. I was very skeptical, as I had been a history major in college and had read much on the ancient Americas and never heard of any “Book of Mormon.”
A few weeks later, we visited Ruth again and the Book of Mormon was still on the table. I picked it up and started to look at it again. Ruth said if I would like it, I could have it, as she could get another from the missionaries. After some discussion, I took the book home. Almost from the first reading, I had the distinct feeling that it was a book of scripture rather than a history book.
I had been raised a Methodist, but didn’t go regularly and hadn’t read the entire Bible. I had attended Vacation Bible school as a child, which was the basis of my religious understanding. Reading the Book of Mormon recalled feelings I had as a child in those vacation Bible school classes. It was a good feeling and I continued to read.
We knew we couldn’t visit Ruth on Sunday mornings, as she would be at church, so it was a Sunday afternoon in December 1977 that we went to visit Ruth. She was on her way to church. It was District conference that day and they were having a brief sacrament meeting at 4 p.m. Ruth invited Sue and I to go with her. We weren’t dressed for church, but Ruth wouldn’t take no for an answer. I was struck by the starkness of the chapel; no crosses, no pictures, just the light stone at the front of the chapel going heavenward. I thought this must be what a Calvinist chapel would look like. I don’t remember much about the service other than the involvement was by members. They prepared the sacrament and distributed it. The branch president, Neal Taylor. didn’t have a big role. That was different than I had been raised with, as the minister did it all.
It wasn’t until late January before we got back to church. Since it was a regular Sunday, many more of the members were there, including a person I worked with at St. Francis. Mary Iverson and I had worked together for several years, but I didn’t know she was LDS. This was in the days before the block schedule we have now, and La Crosse had Sunday School with sfirst, then a half hour break, then sacrament meeting. She invited me to sit with her for sacrament, then as the congregation separated for their Sunday School classes, she didn’t tell me about the investigator class. I was in Gospel Doctrine class. As it turned out, I had just read in the Book of Mormon the chapters they were talking about. I was very shy in those days and can’t believe I opened my mouth to contribute to the class, but I must have, as after the class, one of the members asked me where I moved from. I told him that I wasn’t a member. He said I knew more about the Book of Mormon than he did.
We attended church for about a month, when I asked my friend Mary what we needed to do to join the church. She said we needed to have the missionary lessons and be baptized. Sue and I talked it over and found the missionaries and told them that we wanted the lessons and to be baptized. After they picked themselves off the floor, we set up our first appointment.
The month of March was hard. It seemed that every time the missionaries were to come, Sue and I had a huge fight. We had been having marital problems before, but it was the worst during that month. We got through it and were baptized on March 30, 1978.
The marriage ended shortly after we were baptized, but I always felt like the church was an anchor that helped me from going adrift. The divorce was finalized in November of 1978; I moved to Salt Lake and was called on a mission in June of 1979. I was one of the last divorced missionaries before the rules changed that didn’t allow previously married young men to serve a mission.
The gospel has been the greatest single thing to influence my life and get me on the road to return to Heavenly Father. I know the church is true and that this gospel has been restored by Jesus Christ through the prophet Joseph Smith and that we have a living prophet on the earth today.