Hi I'm Eric

I was born into a practicing Mormon family and benefited from their programs and doctrines. Later in life I had someone confront me and tell me that I was only a Mormon because I had been raised that way and did not know any better. That actually affected me and I really began to wish that I had not been born a member. I wished I would have been one of those that learned about it and accepted it and had made a change in life. I thought that if that had been the case then I could say that I was a Mormon because I found out about it and truly believed it was true independent of anyone raising me that way. Then one day in church a man came up to me that had joined the church later in his life and told me how he envied my having been raised a Mormon. He told me what he had missed out on because of his having to search for it. Around that same time in my life I was awoken in the middle of the night with a very strong spiritual manifestation that impressed upon me the understanding that I should be grateful for the path that I had been privileged to have taken in life. I then was made to understand that because of that I had unique talents and abilities to share with others. God had chosen me for a work and knew me before this life and I am grateful now and do not take for granted my having been Born a Mormon. I truly am one because I have found out for myself independent of anyone else that it contains the restored truth and authority to bring salvation to the world to those that believe in Christ. I am a Mormon because the core belief is all about having faith in God and following the example and doctrines taught by Christ.

I do the simple things - study the scriptures daily, pray, attend worship services and try and serve family and others. I don't just live a Christian life on Sunday. To me it is all day long every day. Christ said that he was "the way, the truth and the life". I try to pattern my life after that of Christ every day in a meaningful way. I always try to distance myself from anything too worldly. There are a lot of temptations and worldly attractions to be distracted by. Yet I feel that life is much too short to become a slave to any of it. Christ told Satan "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve". I still struggle to be completely reliant on God and work my way through the difficulties of life. I certainly now feel very humbled by the grace I have experienced and how much of a privileged life I have enjoyed. I appreciate the up to date council of our current prophet Tomas S. Monson who said - "Study diligently, Pray Fervently and Live righteously". I know it had blessed my life and that of my family.