CONVERSION OF GORDON SCOTT GARRETT

I was raised with the belief in God and a belief in Jesus Christ. I attended several different churches in my youth. I have been Catholic, Baptist, and Methodist. At every church I would always ask, “What does God look like?” And my pastors would always say "oh, he's a spirit and you can't see him," but when I would pray and close my eyes I saw a man like my father on earth. I always believed this, it seemed so simple to me. Didn't the Scriptures teach that man was created in God’s image and likeness? I continued attending different churches with this belief in mind hoping that one day I might find someone or some church that taught this beautiful doctrine.

In 1974, I moved to California to permanently live with my dad and stepmom, Barbara. As our relationship grew she became just as much a mother to me as my own. So, as I share my experiences in finding and converting to the church, she is the mother I refer to.

I remember a young neighbor girl that died of cancer and the effect it had on our family. My father had a dream one night that he saw this young girl happy and healthy sitting in heaven. He shared this with our neighbor, and it brought them much comfort. My father later recounted this experience to our family friends The Turners who were Latter-day Saints and was told "You saw beyond the veil." They told us that when we were born that God placed a veil over our minds so we would forget about our preexistent life. Heavenly Father wanted to see if we could be obedient when not in his presence.

A preexistent life? I had never considered this, nor had been taught this principle. However upon hearing this, I immediately knew it to be true. Once again I had received portion of the truth, line upon line precept upon precept.

I had always known that the Turner family were Latter-day Saints or as they described themselves "Jack Mormons" but outside of that I didn't know much about the religion. I remember visiting once when they lived in Redlands, California and attending church with their kids. I asked the Sunday school teacher what does God look like and the teacher said "well we're not talking about that this week" and Passed over my question.

Even though that true church of Jesus Christ was sitting right before my eyes I would have to continue my wait and search.

In November 1974 we traveled to Utah to visit the Turner's for Thanksgiving. While there our family had the opportunity to visit Temple Square in Salt Lake City. This is something that fulfilled my Mothers dream of one day visiting. Years before, she had passed through Salt Lake City on the way to California, and had been told she should go see Temple Square. She didn’t feel comfortable navigating a city on her own so she had only taken some pamphlets from the bus station. I remember her saying as we drove by "Oh can't we please stop" and Dad responded "we'll come back during the day when it's open". Mom was definitely the spiritual one in the family. We went to Temple Square and took the tour. They asked us to sign the guestbook unbeknownst to us that they would send missionaries out to our home.

A few months later missionaries did come to our door. We were busy and my mother asked if they could come back later. They said yes and came back later but only to hear the same thing. The third time they came my Mom said "let's make an appointment so that we can sit down and talk.

The elders came back for the first appointment and gave a lesson. I sat in the other room and just listened. Not being quite ready to take anything serious, and having become disillusioned in life and spiritual matters. Its funny how things like that can change…

Without getting into any details, I got into some trouble at school. As part of my punishment my dad took me to the barbershop and had my long hair cut off (ouch). The next day at school my teacher Mr. Grey, an LDS church member, said "Wow! I'm giving you an A for that haircut". I began to take my life more serious.

Looking back, 40 years later, that was the greatest thing that could've happened to me.

I began asking the missionaries a lot of questions. On one visit I asked them "how can you know there is a God?" They answered me by saying "do you believe in china?" I said yes. They said why? I told them that I'd read about it and learned about it in school. They told me that I could read about God in the scriptures and learn about him. They taught me about faith, that faith is a belief in things that we can't see.

This led me to ask the question I had sot my entire life "Tell me what God looks like?"

Elder Brinkerhoff smiled and said Heavenly father has a body of flesh and bones like ours but he is glorified and perfected. Hearing this important yet perfect truth brought great comfort to my soul and gave me that peace that I'd been looking for my entire life. The elders then taught me about the Prophet Joseph Smith and his story seemed so right, and I believed it from the moment I heard it.

From that moment every principle that the elders taught me I believed. I never questioned anything. I later learned that the reason I felt this way was that the Holy Ghost was bearing witness to me. I accepted their invitation to attend church, and met many people that I knew from school. They were all so friendly and did many things to help me. It was like coming home.

I remember early on attending mutual and immediately feeling like I was part of something. They asked me one night if I wanted to go with them to the Stake Center and I said, “Sure! Sounds like fun.” The guys all got a good laugh when we got there and I asked, “When do they serve the steaks?”

One Sunday while visiting church I was greeted by an older gentleman after Sacrament meeting and he said, "I understand that you're studying about the church,” and I said "Yes, sir." He replied, "I want you to know that it's true!!" I later learned that this gentleman was Elder Le Grand Richards, an apostle of the church. I met Le Grande Richards years later while having the honor of serving in the Oregon Portland mission and I said to him, “Elder Richards, do you remember me? I was investigating the church in your granddaughter's ward, and you told me that the church was true,” and he said "I was right, wasn’t I?”

The elders extended a baptism challenge to me which I readily accepted. The week before my baptism a neighbor gave us a book that they said was about Mormons, it was called kingdom of the Cults. I remember telling my mom I didn't even need to read that book, because I already knew that the church is true. However it seemed that Satan was not done trying to ruin my baptism plans.

That week I took a bad tumble off my skateboard while attempting a speed record down Pearl Ave. My friends clocked my speed in a car. They said I doing 35 mph when I hit the rock! The skateboard stopped, but I did not stop! I'm not really sure how far I flew, my friends swore it was at least 20 feet until gravity won out and I was reintroduced to the asphalt, fracturing both hips and breaking my left arm. To this day I'm not sure if anyone in the family knows, but it’s safe to assume I'm the reason Dad never let anyone else have a skateboard!

I remember the doctor was able to put a soft cast temporarily on my broken arm so that I could get baptized on Saturday, June 11, 1975 by my Algebra teacher Mike Gray. 

Being new to the church I didn't know where everything was so I would just follow the crowd assuming that they would lead the way and thus began my nickname “Shadow.” I was not offended by the name I thought it was funny and endearing and it was meant in that sense. Even now years later if I see somebody from the Redondo 1st ward they say, “How’s it going, Shadow?”

It was about two weeks later when my mother and father entered the waters of baptism and joined the church as well. I remember my mother sharing with me that she had told some of the sisters at the Methodist Church that she attended the baptism of her son Scott and was shocked when they said, "Mormons? They're not even Christian.” Well, I think it's safe to say that this is one of the things that led her to join the church.

On March 13, 1980 I entered the Missionary Training Center. I served the Lord and the people of the Oregen Portland Mission for 2 wonderful years.

My conversion to the church has been a life’s work in progress. Now over 38 years later I am amazed how much I have learned and how my testimony is strengthened each and every day.

As the years passed I thought I had everything and was happy and content. Then I began to feel a whole in my heart. I was sealed to my wife and my children, and we are an eternal family. Then, I realized the emptiness I'd felt was that I'm not sealed to my parents. So on a visit to Utah in 1995 Mom, Dad and I went to the Ogden Temple and there I was sealed to my parents for time and all eternity and the feeling of joy I felt cannot be described. 

That's what the church is all about- families! It's about the saving ordinances that bring families back to live in the presence of Heavenly Father. The gospel of Jesus Christ has brought so many blessings into my life. I have had the opportunity to enter the Lords Temple and be endowed with power and blessings that reach beyond the grave. To serve an honorable full time mission and watch as the gospel changed the lives of others through the spirit.

I have been blessed with a wonderful wife and three wonderful children. And to know that we are sealed for time and all eternity as a family is the greatest blessing of all.

I bear witness to my family that Jesus Christ lives, that this is his true church and gospel, restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith. I bear witness that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. I also bear witness that we have a living prophet on the earth today, who leads and directs this great work. I want my family to know that I know these things to be true, and that happiness only comes from living and adhering to the gospel principles. This is the most important declaration I can leave to my family and I do so in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.