I remember my biggest question was: Where are the prophets, where are the apostles? We didn’t have them anymore. So I stayed for a long time in the church, still having my questions. So when I got to Tunisia, I became a surfer so I started to the beach and surf and stopped going to the church. And I remember there was a guy called Elson and he went to surf every day, but on Sunday. And so, I was wondering about it. So one day I asked “Elson, why you don’t come to surf on Sunday?” And he said “Because I’m a Mormon”. And that was interesting. And I said “What’s a Mormon?”

So he starts telling me about Mormons, about their beliefs. And then he gave me a job offer to work for him. And he kept teaching me and letting me know about the church and one day he said “Do you want to meet the missionaries?” And I said “What’s that?” And he said “Two young men – they teach about the church, they answer the questions.” And I said “Yes, bring them.”

And it was interesting because the first day we met, they asked me “Do you know why you are here?” And I said no. Then they asked “Do you know what’s gonna happen after you die, about your family, your mom and dad, your kids, the future?” And I realized I didn’t know and then they explained to me that God had a plan for my life.

The third time we met they told me the church had a prophet today, had apostles today. It was really interesting. And they gave me a book – The book of Mormon. I read some parts, went home. And by the end of the book, I had a promised that said “If you want to know about yourself, open your heart and ask God. And if you do that, you will know by the Holy Spirit, Holy Ghost”. So that night I prayed and I fell asleep after that, I remember and I heard a voice. I don’t know, in my dreams, maybe. And it says “Son, follow that path that will guide you unto me”.

So then I decided to be baptized and the next day we met, I said, Elders – I want to be a member of this church. I have found what I was looking for. So October 1992 I was baptized and since that day, my life has changed for better. Now I know who I am, I know God’s my father, I know after this life, I can go back to live with him, with my family, my friends. It’s something really special with me that I want to share with you. And sometime, if you have the same questions, the desire to know – go look for some member of the church, go look for some missionaries. I’m sure they’re gonna help you to find for yourself as I found by myself.

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Now Joseph Smith, when he was 14, he went into a grove and he knelt down to pray to find out which church to join. And in doing so, he had a vision. And in this vision, he saw the Heavenly Father and he saw Jesus Christ. And they spoke to him and told him not to join any church. He would later go on to meet an angel by the name of Moroni. And he was told where there were some golden plates buried in the ground. And he took these golden plates and he translated them into what we have now – The Book of Mormon.

And on the plates was information about the people who lived on the North and South American continents. Now Jesus, when he was resurrected, he came to Jerusalem and other areas around there and showed himself to his apostles and to others. And he said “Other sheep I have which are not of this fold”. And that’s in the book of John, in the Bible. Now, I believe that the other sheep were the people over on this continent. So when he came over to this continent, the people saw him and were excited and they kept a record of it. And they wrote it down.

And that was part of what was on the plates that Joseph Smith translated. This is my message today. And I bear my testimony to you that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is true and it’s the one and only true church on the earth today. That Joseph Smith is a prophet, that the Book of Mormon is true and that Jesus Christ is the son of God and I say this in his holy name. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

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The only thing is, they never really told me one little small thing and that was that two young men in suits were coming to deliver that book in person. So, one day I get a knock on the door, here are these two young guys and they said that they’re representatives of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and they had my copy of the Book of Mormon. They actually came back on several occasions and we talked about quite a few things – a lot of things that I found to be interesting and we talked.

I basically told them eventually that, even though I was interested in what they were teaching me and I appreciate their time and everything, I had decided to leave home and join the military. So I went into the military and one day, while on station in San Diego, I came across a book store and being a lover of books, I went inside to take a look around, not realizing it was a LDS bookstore. But that didn’t take too long to figure out.

And I bought some things there. One of the things I bought was a set of conference tapes. I bought another copy of the Book of Mormon and I also bought a book that was entitled “In the Lord’s due time”. What’s so interesting about that book is that, I did not realize that at the time, but it was that that book was actually written by a black brother of the church and he, the person who wrote the book was Joseph Freeman, who actually was the first black to receive the priesthood after the 1978 revelation.

In my mind I was going: first of all, what is the priesthood and what is the revelation? What does all that mean? I went back to my ship and I actually listened to the conference tapes, I read the Book of Mormon, read brother Freeman’s book but I decided once again, I’ll just tuck those neatly away and I’ll get back to those someday.

It wasn’t really until the Lord sent me, years later, down the line. He sent me to Kflavik, Iceland of all places in the world. And when I was there one day in my room, I was doing a search of the Mormon Church and I decided that I was going to ask for a subscription to the church news, just to see what was going on in the church at that time. Much to my surprize, I get an email back from one of the editors of the church news. He asked me, first of all: What are you doing in Iceland? And second: What is your interest in the Mormon Church?

And I told him that I just want to know what the church is doing at this time in Iceland because I’m stationed here with the United States Navy. He said “Well that sounds great! Now, don’t get upset with me, but I’ve contacted missionaries on your behalf”. And thinking to myself that since I’m on a secure naval base, that they would never find me. I agreed to allow him and go ahead and contact the missionaries and let them try to find me. Much to my surprize, I did get a phone call and that phone call was from the missionaries. And to make a long story short, I met with those missionaries for over a year before I finally made the decision of the baptizing.

One of my requirements, before I became baptized, I told the missionaries I would not be baptized until I had the Book of Mormon in its entirety. And anyway, I did that. I was inspired to develop a 40 day reading plan and so, for 40 straight days I read all 3 of those and then called the missionaries and invite them over. And on March the 10th, 1998 I was baptized and the rest is history.

I know that the Bible and the Book of Mormon are both the book of God. I know that God lives and that Jesus Christ is our saviour and that he loves each and every one of us. He loves each and every one of us so much that 2000 years ago he willingly gave his life and he became since the final sacrifice. He paid a debt that he did not owe and a debt that none of us could ever pay. He is my Lord, he is my saviour, he is my King and I bare that testimony in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

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And then, one day I remember they came to my door and they said they had a couple of friends they wanted us to meet. So we went upstairs, as I lived on the first floor, they lived on the 3rd floor. So we visited with the missionaries and they asked if they could come by. I was only 12 and I said “Sure!”

So a week later, they come knocking on our door. My dad was home, my whole family was home and they introduced themselves. So we sat down through the visit for 10-15 minutes. And then they gave us the very first discussion. And my dad was impressed and my dad, for a while, had been going to the Baptist church. He was quite had with the Baptist church, but he wasn’t a very active member. As a matter of fact, I don’t think he was ever baptized.

And so, the missionaries left a very good impression. A week later, they came back. They taught us a second discussion. Now this time around, our friend came with them. So it was a very interesting thing cause we felt very comfortable having our friend, our neighbor with the missionaries. So my dad started to get really interested in what the missionaries had to teach. And another week went by and they came back with a third discussion – but this time they said “Well, we want you guys to come to our church to see what it’s like, I’m sure you guys will have a very good impression”.

So we went to church. And the church, of course, was located about an hour away from where we lived. Bus ride would take at least an hour and 10 minutes. And there was another member that lived nearby, he had this huge car and he said “I’m sure I’ll be able to accommodate all of you guys in this car”. So, there was all six of us, the driver and sister Ozeta, the friend that referred the missionaries to us.

We get there and a huge, absolutely big coincidence happened. The branch president back then, his name was Milo Campanello. My dad knew him from back in the early 50’s. So my dad worked for a lifeboat factory called GE and this man, he used to sell shoes. He used to own a shoe shop and he an idea to go to this factory and offer this shoes to the employees, for all the workers for a very good price. And he sold a bunch of shoes. He even sold the shoes to my dad.

So my dad knew him and, of course, he knew my dad and they chatted a little bit and he said “Yeah, I’m a branch president and I’m so happy to see you here”. So that left my dad extremely excited about the fact that he knew someone in the church and that pretty much kept us going to church. So another 2 weeks and the missionaries came to our house and gave us a baptism challenge. We all accepted a baptism challenge and I remember, back in those days the church was very small in our home town. There was only one building if I remember correctly – just one building.

The church was packed that morning because a family of six – which was kind of new back in those days – was being baptized. And so, it was an extremely interesting story and I’ll never forget that day. My mother was extremely touched by the Spirit – she was crying all the time. My dad was crying and it was a very uplifting moment. This was back in ’68. Back in ’75, seven years later, I was ready to go on a mission. So I was a full-time missionary for the church.

But before going on a mission, I wanted to have the opportunity of going to the temple. So I flew to Washington D.C. There were no temples in Brazil. And the very same missionary – Dale Roberts – who has baptized us on May 12th, 1968, was the young man that took us through the temple. He and his wife Linda – and it was quite of a unique experience. Extremely touching experience. Two months later I was sent back to Brazil to serve as a full time missionary.

So it was an extremely interesting experience. And I want you, if you’re not a LDS member, to listen to the words, pay attention to the missionaries. Maybe one day you’ll run into them on the street, maybe you’ll have the chance of them knocking on your door. Listen to their message just like I did, just like my dad did back in May 12th. And the great impact and change that has caused in our lives – we’re really happy, we are a very happy family. And I challenge you if you’re not LDS or if you’re not longer an active LDS to return.

I know this Gospel is true and that Joseph Smith was a prophet used to restore the Gospel.

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In mid-1998 when I joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, I was taught by a couple of young men. We call them missionaries. We had good discussions, we talked about life, we talked about spirituality, life before you come to earth, life after earth and I had a wonderful time asking questions, things that have never made sense to me before and were answered by these two young men. And the most amazing thing I learned was that the Supreme Creator is still there and he loves us so much, he wants us to know his plan and be able to live that plan long enough to prepare us to return to him again and to have a better life.

I actually have a very good relationship with this Supreme Creator, which is who we call God. He loves me very much and the more I know about him, the more I’m convinced that he loves me, that he has some good things and good plans for me to do in this life and then, better yet, he has a better plan for me after this life.

Man:Ki was born in Laos. He met and married his wife in Australia. Today, they and their 5 children live in Oakdale, Minnesota. He was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in July, 1998.

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