This is pretty much my entire conversion story, up to the time I started taking the discussions.  Sometime I might add the story of that as well, but that will be at a later date.  I wrote this for a youth fireside I gave in August.  I hope you enjoy it. 

 

Ted Diehl’s Conversion Story:

 

I’m a big believer that things happen for a reason.  I believe that little in life is random, but that everything happens to fulfill some sort of plan God has in store for us.  Before I start talking about the events which directly led to my conversion, I want to give you a little background as to where I was coming from, and the circumstances which paved the way for the Gospel.  I look back on the many events of my life and realize now what significance they had because they led the way.

 

I had been raised Episcopalian (Church of England) and Lutheran.  My mom was raised with a strong foundation in the Lutheran church, but when she married her first husband, she started going with him to his Episcopal Church in Beverly Hills.  Her first husband died of brain cancer, and when she met and married my dad a few years later, she was still going to the same church in Beverly Hills.  My dad, having been raised with only going to church on Christmas and Easter, was not very religious.  In fact, impressed by his many LDS friends when he was in the air force, he took the discussions when he was young, but didn’t want to be baptized.  However, he felt the need for some sort of belief in his life so he started going to church with my mom.  Now when I came of age for the Lutheran confirmation class, which begins when you are in seventh grade, they felt I should have that because they have strong training.  So we began to go to the same church the rest of my family went to in Arcadia.  Because my dad has always had great respect for Mormons, he always explained their beliefs to me in a positive light, and was always a great supporter of them.  Although he would hate to hear this, he was very responsible in my accepting of the Gospel!  Even though the Lutheran Church would always preach against Mormonism, I retained an open mind.

 

Sometime during high school I stopped going to church regularly.  It started because I would have too much homework to do, and I would stay home.  Most of the time I used that as an excuse though, because church was so far away and I didn’t have many friends there except my cousins, and it wasn’t that much fun for me. 

 

Now in high school I randomly decided to be involved in Choir.  My friend Steve had been shoved in there to fill an empty spot in his schedule, and after I saw how much he enjoyed it, I wanted to try it out for myself.  I would have never thought that I would ever be in choir, in fact at first I laughed at Steve when he was placed in there, but now I know that I was supposed to be in there.  That is where Heavenly Father wanted me because that would be my first step towards my conversion.  In choir is where I met a ton of members, and I loved every single one of them.  I thought they were all awesome people, who knew how to have a good time.

 

For our Chamber Singer trip senior year, we went to Hawaii for a national choir competition during Spring Break.  It was just about the greatest time of my life, and for long after our return to school I was seriously depressed and couldn’t stop pining away for Hawaii and thinking about the wonderful time I had.  My friends used to even laugh at how obsessed I was with that vacation, and for the Chamber Singer awards I received the award for “Most likely to return to Hawaii… and stay.”  But I had a good reason to be obsessed with Hawaii.  That little trip was extremely instrumental in the biggest and best change my life has ever taken. 

 

Reason #1:

In Hawaii I started hanging out with Scott Richey, who is now my very best friend.  I had been casual friends with him before, but that’s when I felt we really got to be friends.  I had so much fun hanging out with him and noticed something special in him that a lot of my other friends lacked.  I began to realize that it was his strong morals and his deep commitment to his faith.  I really admired that in him.  Now I also know that it was the Spirit, burning brightly like a lighthouse through his personality and showing me the way.  Not only that, but I found that hanging out with Scott made up some of the best times there.  He showed me that despite the many things he felt were wrong and didn’t participate in, like drinking, he still knew how to have a good time.  After Hawaii we became involved in our many activities, and didn’t really hang out much, but I actually prayed that Scott and I would become closer friends, and that we would stay friends after graduation.  I somehow knew that I needed to become really good friends with him.  And the week before graduation we hung out a lot, and ended up keeping in touch as he went away to BYU for the summer.

 

Reason #2:

I remember back then I would joke with some of my friends that despite Mrs. Carter’s absence, our choir trip ended up being “very Mormon.”  Our competition was held at BYU-Hawaii, and the rest of the day was spent at the Polynesian Cultural Center, which is owned by the Church.  I remember being disappointed when I couldn’t get a normal soda anywhere near the place!  Despite my joking, and maybe it was just the combination of hanging out with Scott and being there, I began to feel something.  I didn’t really know what it was.  I also really wanted to go on the tour of the temple visitors center, but unfortunately it didn’t work out.  I was really sad I missed that.  But just the whole feeling I received while there, being at the “Mormon place” with my “Mormon friend” really made an impression on me. 

 

Reason #3:

Shortly before I went to Hawaii I was accepted at New York University.  For the past couple of years my heart was set on going to NYU.  I love New York City, and NYU is a really good school and I even was awarded a scholarship to attend there.  Now I was also accepted at the University of Southern California, and never really thought seriously about going there...  until I was in Hawaii.  For some reason, in Hawaii, my mind was changed.  I have always said it that way: my mind was changed.  I never say I changed my mind, because I know that I didn’t.  It was something else telling me that I needed to stay close by and go to USC, and not be across the country.  And I am so thankful that I followed this feeling I had.  For if I had gone to NYU like I had originally wanted to, I would be lacking two big parts of my life: the Church and my best friend.  Scott and I couldn’t have become the good friends we did if I went to New York, and I wouldn’t have been in a position to take the discussions. 

 

Obsessed as I was with Hawaii, I would go onto the internet and go to the websites of the places we visited.  One of those places, of course, was the BYU-Hawaii web page.  I think that is how I first stumbled upon the web page of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Remembering that good feeling, I went and looked at it.  I found it very interesting, and during the summer I started doing a lot of research from the site.  I just printed out pages and pages of information that I found on the internet, plus I read parts of my Bible.  I really loved all that I read and learned.  I wrote down pages and pages of questions that I wanted to ask Scott when he returned from BYU.  I found myself returning all the time to this site to learn more, because I enjoyed learning this so much.  I also started praying really seriously at this time.  Praying to know where I was supposed to go and which church was right, just like Joseph Smith did. 

 

In the middle of last summer my family went to Minnesota to visit family.  The flight took us through Salt Lake City, and we couldn’t make our intended flight, so we were forced to wait around the whole day until our flight left some twelve hours later.  I started walking around to pass the time, and I came upon a little flyer advertising free trips to Temple Square for people waiting for flights.  Having been deeply involved in research of the church, I was really interested in going, and I went with my aunt and uncle there.  I loved being at Temple Square and tabernacle and the Visitor’s Center.  There was a really special feeling there, especially with all my research of the church.   

 

The end of the summer came, Scott returned from BYU, and I started to get ready to go off to USC.  I actually never got to talking about the church with Scott, because I was actually kind of nervous for some reason to ask him about it.  I desperately wanted to go to church, and he even invited me for his first Sunday back, but he forgot to call me, and then I guess he kind of forgot about it.  But we did start hanging out a lot and I soon discovered that I had the most fun with Scott than I did with any of my friends.  And of course, they didn’t involve anything bad like drinking.  I had previously thought that to have a really good time, drinking was necessary.  Now we would do a lot of mischievous things, but not bad! 

 

Labor day weekend last year, Scott and I drove up to Monterey to hang out with a friend of his that he met at BYU.  For the past couple of weeks or so, his friend Barbie and I had been talking online quite a bit.  Her family had just been baptized a few years before, and her older brother was now serving a mission.  She had such a strong testimony, and the Spirit just burned from within her.  She really helped me a lot, answering questions and stuff.  Well, when we went up there that was the first time I went to church – almost a year ago.  Unfortunately, Scott and I slept in and we missed the sacrament part of sacrament meeting, but we listened to the testimonies of the people who went up.  I really enjoyed it.  In fact this weekend I began to know that the church was true and I decided that I at some time or another I wanted to talk to the missionaries, but I just didn’t know when.

 

At this time school had just started and I was surprised to see how much unhealthy behavior everyone participated in.  Drinking of course was huge, and even drugs, and other bad stuff.  That’s why it’s I found it funny when Sister Richey asked me to speak about college and my conversion, because they are on completely separate ends of the spectrum!  I soon found out a good deal of the craziness that I was witnessing was just a bunch of kids who had just been set free from the watchful eyes of their parents and were taking advantage of their newly found freedom.  Things did calm down a bit, but still the influences in college didn’t exactly lead me to the church.  I did continue to hang out with Scott on weekends and when I was at home, and he came to visit me a few times.  In fact, he was my rock that I would rely on.  When I would get tired of all the goings on in college, I would go hang out with him and feel refreshed!  I kept putting off talking to the missionaries, but still occasionally I would begin to feel lost and would start up with the research again.  I also got into a lot of anti-Mormon research, and that brought up doubts in my mind.  However, the thought of the church was always present in the back of my mind.  It never completely left me.  And I kept praying, and found that despite all the influences of college which were all around me, I kept being drawn back to the Church.

 

During Winter Break, I started deep into the research again, and decided that I knew for sure that I wanted to take the discussions because I know that deep down I really knew the church was true and I already had a strong testimony, but I still wasn’t too sure as to when I wanted to do it.  I also was planning on pledging for a fraternity that semester, and I knew that really didn’t go with “being Mormon,” so I thought that maybe when school was over I would do it. 

 

The new semester started, and the first week was rush for the fraternities.  I was trying to decide between two fraternities, and chose one that two of my close friends were already in.  However I didn’t get offered a bid for this fraternity.  This really came as a shock to me and my friends because they were all sure I was going to get in.  In fact, the other fraternity that I was considering is really selective, and they really liked me and were going to offer me a bid if I went back.  The weird thing about it is that there is no reason that I didn’t get offered a bid.  It isn’t that selective of a fraternity, and I am a lot cooler than a lot of the guys who were already in it!  I was pretty upset, and I looked and looked for a reason, and I could only think of one.  Pledging for a fraternity was the only thing that stood between me and the discussions.  I knew that the Lord wanted me to take the discussions right away, and get baptized.  The very next week I told Scott that I wanted to take the discussions, and the next Sunday I went to church, this time the whole thing, and took the first discussion. 

 

Elder Waters and Elder Kalista were really surprised the first day I took the discussions because I showed up with a huge stack of questions and research that I had done!  I ended up going every Sunday, and it wasn’t too long before I knew that I wanted to be baptized.  And that has been the greatest decision I have ever made in my life.  The church has been such a blessing to me, and I love having a strong faith and a strong testimony. 

 

The message I want to share with all of you tonight is to be a missionary to all your friends.  You never know who’s watching you and evaluating the church by your actions and personality.  Scott had no idea that I was so interested in the church until I finally told him I wanted to take the discussions.  Yet he always stood by his morals and never compromised his standards.  He didn’t know that I was realizing the power and truth of the church through his strong faith and great example.  If he had done as a lot of people do, and maybe sacrificed some of his standards for the sake of a good time, or just been a “Sunday Mormon,” I wouldn’t have realized what I did come to realize.  Therefore, in this sense, he wasn’t a missionary so much in words, but more in actions and an example.  Ironically, on the last letter I received from Scott he wrote on the envelope “teach the gospel, use words if necessary.”  I don’t know if he was giving me this quote for this talk, but it fit him so much.

 

Sometimes I know all of you hesitate to loudly proclaim your standards and are maybe embarrassed by the fact that you’re “a Mormon.”  I know I’m guilty of it sometime.  But you never know who’s watching you and looking at your example.  There is a good scripture in Matthew 5:14-16  “Ye are the light of the world.  A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.  Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick, and it giveth light to all that are in the house.  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”  Another quote from Alma 17:11 reads:  “And the Lord said unto them also: Go forth among the Lamanites, they brethren, and establish my word; yet ye shall be patient in long-suffering and afflictions that ye may show forth good examples unto them in me , and I will make an instrument of thee in my hands unto the salvation of many souls.”  How awesome would that be to be an instrument for the salvation of many souls!?  I challenge all of you tonight to preach the Gospel with your lives, because that is better than preaching with your lips.  Another suggestion I have for you is to invite your friends to church!  I wanted to go to church so badly for the longest time, but I really wanted to be invited, and I don’t think Scott thought I was that interested.  So I just want to say don’t be afraid to invite your friends, because you never know if one of them is really searching for something.

 

I would like to conclude this with my testimony.  I KNOW that our Heavenly Father lives, and he loves you and me.  I have such a strong testimony of Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God and the Savior of all mankind.  When I think of what he endured and how he suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane, and on the cross, for your sake and my sake, it brings tears to my eyes.    I have a testimony of the power of prayer, and that Heavenly Father answers prayers just as he did the prayer of a small boy, Joseph Smith.  I KNOW that Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God, called by Him to restore His kingdom in these latter days.  I KNOW that God is the “same yesterday, today, and forever,” (Hebrews 13:8) and that he gives revelation to his prophets on Earth today just as he did in days of old.  I KNOW that Gordon B. Hinckley is such a prophet on the earth today, to guide us so that “we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby the lie in wait to deceive”  (Ephesians 4:14).  I KNOW that the Book of Mormon is the true word of God, preserved especially for us in these latter-days.  I KNOW that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true church of the Lord Jesus Christ, and is His Kingdom on Earth.  I know all these things with all my heart, because they are true.  I love my Heavenly Father, I love His Son Jesus Christ, and I am so thankful for his atoning sacrifice for my sake.  I am so thankful for my membership in His church, and every day I strive to be more like Him.  In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, AMEN.

 

 

Some good missionary quotes:

 

I have also included some good stuff on friendshipping and being a missionary to those around us, with whom we live, or go to school, or associate in activities.  So, here they are:

 

Elder L. Tom Perry from the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles-

“How do we approach a friend who needs the light and life of the gospel? Be a good example! Develop a meaningful and sincere relationship of caring. Be genuinely interested in your friend’s thoughts, feelings, and experiences involving our Eternal Father, the meaning of life, the reason for families, and the mission of our Savior. Have an enjoyable, edifying experience listening to your friends. Then, as President Kimball once said, “We have a double responsibility: we must testify of the things we know, feel, and have felt, and we must live so the Holy Ghost can be with us and convey our words in power to the heart of the investigator.”

 

Improvement Era, 1966 69:270-71-

"The Savior set us the example, always calm, always controlled, radiating something which people could feel as they passed -- the woman who touched

his garment is an example. He felt something go from him, that radiation

which is divine.

 

"Every man and every person who lives in this world wields an influence,

whether for good or for evil. It is not alone what he says, it is not

alone what he does -- it is what he is. Every man, every person radiates

what he or she is.

 

"Every person is a recipient of radiation. The Savior was conscious of

that. Whenever he came into the presence of an individual, he sensed that

radiation -- whether it was the woman of Samaria with her past life;

whether it was the woman who was to be stoned, or the men who were to

stone her; whether it was the statesman Nicodemus, or one of the lepers.

He was conscious of the radiation from the individual. And to a degree so

are you, and so am I. It is what we are and what we radiate that affects

the people around us."

 

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