Hi, I'm Dan

I'm a new dad, a grad student, a Maltese lover, and I'm a Mormon.

About Me

I recently started a new PhD program in a new state. Our first baby was born in July 2011. We got our first puppy, a Maltese, in May 2011, so we're trying to balance a marriage, a masters program, a new baby and a puppy. It really teaches you how to juggle!
I love the color green a little too much, and I enjoy sliding down banisters. I love being outside - I love hiking in the desert, camping in the mountains, and swimming in the ocean. I enjoy reading - if I ever have the time. My all-time favorite thing to do is just spend time with my wife, baby, and puppy.
I'm the youngest of nine kids, and somehow I survived! After High School I went to a year of college and then I served a mission for the church for two years in Seoul, South Korea. It was such an amazing experience that I think about every day. I learned so much about life and what is really important, and it was so amazing to help people come closer to Jesus Christ.
I love learning, especially about people and about other cultures. I am a busy, married, and very poor college student, but we both made it through the undergraduate years. I graduated with a B.S. in Family Life, and now in a PhD program in Family Sciences and Human Development. I'm working to become a family science researcher and teacher. I love studying and teaching about families and what we can do to strengthen them!

Why I am a Mormon

Even though my whole family were members of the Church when I was born I had to figure it out for myself. I tried to do what I knew I should, and when I did I was happy. Then I served a two year mission in Seoul, South Korea. That changed my life entirely. It's hard to explain everything that happened - two years is a long time - but ever since then I have known that this is true 100%.
I thought I knew where I was going in life, but then Heavenly Father threw me a curve ball. I transferred from the perfect school and perfect situation, I fell in love with a gorgeous half-Peruvian, I trained to be a Seminary teacher (for the church) for a year only to be cut from the program with just about everybody else - and now I'm just trying to figure out what to do with the rest of my life. And as crazy as it sounds - I love it. Whenever I try to do it MY way and the way that I want things done I am miserable. As soon as I ask God what He wants me to do - and REALLY listen, even though it's hard, I do it and I am so happy! I know that God loves me every day - even when I mess up. He wants me to be happy - that's why he helps me choose the path that will make me most happy. The way I see it, it's kind of like pruning a tree - you have to cut off a lot of blossoms and branches - and that hurts the tree a lot - but then the tree grows stronger and more delicious fruit.
I am so grateful that Jesus Christ paid for my sins. I want to live with Him forever and try my best every day to be worthy of that. I will always be so grateful that I can live with the love of my life FOREVER!!!
The knowledge of the gospel - God's love for me, His plan for me, His restored Church to teach me all of this - it means everything to me. I would be nothing without it.

Personal Stories

What is hope and what do you hope for?

Hope is something that is in your heart. It starts as a desire. You then act upon that desire, God gives you positive, reinforcing feelings, and you then have more hope, and more actions. Hope can turn into faith. I think that to know something is true you have to hope it is true first. But - even if you have hope, if you don't act on it the hope will die. I have hope that when I do my best it is acceptable before God. That leads me to do my very best each day and be happy about it.

How has the Holy Ghost helped you?

I love the Holy Ghost. I feel so blessed to have the opportunity to have it with me always. I have felt the Holy Ghost in many different situations and circumstances. One thing I've learned about the Holy Ghost is that the Spirit will speak to you in very personal ways - God knows each of His children, so He will obviously cater the way the Holy Ghost speaks to your personal needs.
I have felt the Holy Ghost guide me to make correct choices. Frequently these choices have been very important choices, and only after thinking very hard and long, praying very diligently, and then listening for the Holy Ghost did I feel the guidance of the Holy Ghost. This happened when I was trying to decide what to major in. After two years of school, I decided that I wanted to change my major. I was very concerned about what to choose and how to choose. Through a priesthood blessing, and through the guidance of a great mentor and especially the whisperings of the Holy Ghost I found the right major. I had to work hard to come to that decision, but through the power of the Holy Ghost I knew that it was right for me. I felt so relieved that I finally had a major that I felt good about, and I knew that because the Holy Ghost had guided me I could rely on that and know that such was the direction that Heavenly Father wanted me to take. It was hard to go through that situation and to have enough trust to drop all of my classes and still be unknown what my future would be, but I'm glad I trusted in the guidance of the Holy Ghost.
Other times the Holy Ghost has been the most comforting feelings in my heart. When I have faced a difficult challenge, intense sadness, very real fears, or rejection I have felt the Holy Ghost comfort my soul. It literally felt like unseen arms were hugging me, and loving me, and giving me comfort and reassurances.
I am so grateful that the Holy Ghost is a part of my life.

How I live my faith

I just try to live my life and make the right choices. I go to school and try to be nice - maybe even pick up a little bit of litter every once in a while. I enjoy going to church and meeting new people there. In all honesty - I may be making small steps, nothing too fancy, but I'm trying and I know God is happy with that.

Who is the Mormon prophet today?

Dan answered...

President Thomas S. Monson is the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and is our Prophet. We also have 12 Apostles, just like Jesus Christ set up in the ancient days, and we believe that they are prophets, seers and revelators. They are given special authority and power from God to guide us. When we listen and do what they say we are blessed - just like in the Bible.
Show more of my answers Show less of my answers One Moment Please
Jordan Judkins answered...

Thomas S. Monson.

Why was a Restoration of the Gospel needed? Haven’t we always had the Bible?

Joshua answered...

The Restoration is needed because of the Apostasy. The apostasy is a time foretold of by the prophet in the Bible Amos. In Amos 8:11-12

" Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord:
And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it."

Amos tells us that there will be a time when the gospel, or "the word of the Lord" will be lost. That time came when Jesus Christ and the Apostles were killed. Even though we still had the bible, there were no prophets or apostles to keep the gospel pure and true. Man was left with their own interpretation of the Bible. As we all know, there are thousands of christian churches all based on the bible, BUT all teach different doctrines. When Christ was on the earth He did not set up thousands of different churches so that there was something different for everyone. He had one church. His church. The prophet Peter tells us that there will be a restitution or a restoration of the gospel, in Acts 3:21

" Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began."

In short, the gospel was lost during the Apostasy and the Restoration brought it back. So, now we have the same gospel that Christ set up when he was on the earth. :)