Hi, I'm John Charles

I'm a 32 year old engineer and father of four. I'm a convert to the Mormon church.

About Me

I live in northwest Ohio with my wife and four kids. I studied Materials Engineering in college and work as a Quality Assurance Manager for a metals manufacturing company. My hobbies mainly revolve around my children and wife. I coach teeball and youth soccer and I lead my son's cub scout den. Our family loves being outdoors during the spring and summer, mostly camping, cycling and hiking. When I'm not with my wife and kids, I occassionally volunteer at the local homeless shelter and in church callings, or responsibilities given to members within the church.

Why I am a Mormon

My wife and I were baptized into the LDS church together seven years ago.
We were introduced to the LDS church by wonderful friends of ours and before too long we went to an LDS worship service called sacrament meeting. It was here that we heard someone bear testimony that they knew that Joseph Smith had seen Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and spoke with them. We heard testimonies of the Book of Mormon, that it was revealed through the power of God and that it helped so many to know of Jesus Christ and to prepare for him to come again. These testimonies touched us and we wanted to learn more. We began to meet with elders, young men who serve as full time missionaries for the church.

Learning the truths restored through prophets from the elders made religion make sense to me for the first time. The idea that our families are eternal is one that I always held to, even though my previous religion did not believe this to be true. It made me so happy to have my hopes in this matter confirmed. Understanding that we are eternal beings sent to earth for a learning experience helped me to feel closer to my Heavenly Father than ever and helped me truly understand the weight of what was done for us by His son Jesus Christ. It seemed like the things I was taught by the missionaries were things that I always knew were true, even though I had been taught otherwise since I was a child.

Before too long, we decided to be baptized. This decision made life with our extended families dificult for a while, and we experienced many trials before our baptism date. In these trials, we learned of the truth of the Book of Mormon for ourselves. ts teachings set our hearts at ease even when we were filled with worry and sorrow. We also learned about priesthood and the blessings we can receive from those authorized to act in Heavenly Father's name. Such blessings testified of Heavenly Father's love for us and genuinely helped us. We became aware that we were joining another very special family, as members of the local congregation, or ward took extra special care to look after us and provide us with listening ears and helping hands. After we were baptized, our trials eased up and our relationship with our families has only strengthened since then. In baptism, I received a feeling of such renewal and peace with God, that I knew it was right. I have never regretted becoming a mormon and encourage anyone who reads this to take the first steps. Talk with missionaries and find out if it is for you.

Personal Stories

What has helped develop greater harmony in your home?

Turning off the television. Getting to truly know each person in my family and planning activities in our home around what makes each of us happy. Trying to remember that our homes should be a holy place and that we should avoid fighting and talk issues out when we are angry. I'm not perfect at this, but each day is better.

Please share your feelings/testimony of Joseph Smith.

Joesph Smith was an imperfect man. He often felt the need to repent of wrong doing as we all do. He grew up in a family that had experienced much sorrow and affliction. He was poor for pretty much all of his life. Despite this, he was the one that was chosen by God to restore the gospel of Jesus Christ. This fact gives me hope that God has a plan for my life, imperfect as I am. I respect Joseph's strength, his love for his family and church and his desire to follow Jesus Christ, no matter the cost. Most importantly, I believe that he was called as a prophet of the most high God and he gave all he had in fulfilling this calling.

How I live my faith

I often joke that time has gone into fast forward since our family has become mormon. That is because our priorities have taken a dramatic turn. We truly believe that our relationships with people and the things we learn stay with us forever. This means that as a family we do much more together than before and we enjoy being together too! Membership in the church has also given us opportunities to serve other people in the church and in our community. Life as a mormon has ceratinly been busy, but more importantly it has brought me perspective and joy.

Does The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints endorse political parties?

John Charles answered...

No.. and we are frequently reminded that we do not. Our thirteenth article of faith states, "We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul—We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things. "

There is good and bad to all political ideologies, we should seek what is good and incorporate this into our lives, while rejecting those parts that are contrary to God's will. It is our job then, when we are blessed to be able to live in a place where we participate in free elections, to educate ourselves on each candidate's beliefs and agenda. Only then we canvote our conscience in a truly prayerful manner. Good men and women will not always arive at the same conclusion about how to vote , but we should respect them enough to trust that they want what is best as much as we do. There is no room for political bickering or marginalization among latter day saints.
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Steven answered...

No, but we are instructed to be involved and to seek spiritual guidance in all political matters.

We believe that the leaders of a nation, state, and community can have a great influence for good or for evil and we need to ensure that they are represent our values and beliefs.

Are Mormons Christians?

Charlotte answered...

Living in a place where Mormons are a small minority, this is probably the question I get asked the most. For me, nothing is more sacred and personal than my relationship with my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I believe he was born of Mary and is the Son of God. I believe he suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane and died on the cross on Calvary so that all of us might be saved by the gift of His atonement. I believe he was resurrected three days later and that he will come again. I absolutely whole-heartedly believe in and love Jesus and am teaching my children to do the same.

Generally though, I've found that when people ask me this question more often they are asking what makes Mormons different from other Christians. There are 3 major differences: 1) We believe that God, the father, Jesus, his son and the Holy Ghost are distinct beings (the first two having a body of flesh and blood, the third being a spirit) that are united in purpose. So, we don't believe in the concept of the "Trinity." 2) We believe in an open cannon, meaning that God still reveals scripture. We believe the Bible to be the inspired word of God but we have companion scriptures as well that we believe are holy and inspired, most notably "The Book of Mormon." It is another testament of Jesus Christ, in addition to the Bible. 3)We believe that God still talks to man. Revelation didn't stop with the prophets in the Bible. When Christ's church was restored through Joseph Smith, prophets once again returned to the earth. We having a living prophet today, President Thomas S. Monson, to whom God speaks. In addition, we believe in personal revelation. Rather than telling people they must follow unquestioningly like sheep, Mormons are encouraged to ask God themselves about doctrine, actions and anything else they are concerned about. He answers prayers.