Hi, I'm A. Henrie

I'm me, but being a Mormon helps me become the best me I can be.

About Me

I love writing, music, and soccer. I am a college student majoring in Middle Eastern Studies and Arabic. I study and work all week (except for 1 or 2 awesome games of soccer in the evening) and enjoy sleeping, camping, climbing, and bonfires on the weekends.

Why I am a Mormon

Every person, even those with Mormon parents that are raised Mormon, have to make a choice in his/her life to remain a faithful Mormon. I was raised a Mormon, so I neglected that decision until my senior year of high school. I finally faced the decision head-on: either I believe in God and remain a Mormon, or there is no God and I do whatever I want.

At first, I tried to convince myself there was no God. Doing whatever I wanted with no "serious" consequences sounded great at the time. It wasn't. I felt alone and abandoned. Ironic, since I was the one that had abandoned God.

It was actually feeling the absence of God that convinced me He existed. Sometimes I get frustrated and feel like I'm sacrificing a lot. But, I'm not. Not really. All I have to do is remember those days when I had everything, but felt I had nothing.

Like the early members of this church, I have learned that when I have God and a way to receive his Word through a modern prophet, then I have everything.

Honestly, I do have everything. Through this church, I am promised a life with my family now and my future family after death. I am promised a chance to continue learning and growing. I am promised a chance to learn the answers to questions I cannot now understand. I am promised a life with my loved ones absent of the worries, fears, sorrows, and handicaps I now face. What other church offers so much with certainty? Not postulations, no interpretations, this is the doctrine of the Mormon church - to "sacrifice" our short-sighted desires for a future life with those we love doing the things we love.

Personal Stories

How does making right choices help us make more right choices?

I think one of the biggest obstacles of action for people is fear.

It may be fear of embarrassment, fear of social pressure, fear of loss, fear of abandonment, fear of retribution - whatever the fear, it often makes making the right decision difficult. But, when that fear is overcome once it makes the next time much much easier. Once we realize we have the courage and strength to make the right decision, the fears pressing us to make the wrong decision become less important.

There is also a feeling of relief and accomplishment and just "rightness" when we make the right decision. I think that is God's way of letting us know he approves and that he is watching and encouraging us to keep going. It is not unlike the feeling I got in high school when I spotted my dad cheering for me on the sidelines during a soccer game. When we make the right decisions, even when the blessings of those decisions are not immediate and we may even be punished by the world for those decisions, the feelings of closeness with God are strengthened and we come that much nearer to Him. The nearer we are to Him, the less we want to make wrong decisions.

After my first semester of college, I went home for the summer and worked at a local ice cream shop. Even though I really did not want to work on the Sabbath, I often had shifts in the evening after my church meetings. During work, the other employees often turned the radio on to the Hip Hop station. Even though I normally did not mind this station (in small amounts) during the week, it bothered me to listen to it on the Sabbath. So, I decided to start bringing my own CD's of Disney music. ^_^ After a while, the other employees came to expect and enjoy the Sunday "Disney nights" and it was a relief to me to be able to maintain some semblance of "reverence" on the Sabbath even though I had to work.

Even small things like changing the music in your work place can make a HUGE difference in your life. Adding a little more innocence, a little more kindness, a little more patience, or even just a little more quiet can bring you closer to God. And after you experience that closeness, as long as you don't forget that feeling, you will never want to let it go.

How I live my faith

My faith is a vital part of the person I am. I work hard in my church to show love and kindness to others. I work hard to discipline myself so that I can see right choices clearly. I love to learn about the lives of those that lived during Bible-times and during the times of the Book of Mormon. I try to emulate their faith and courage. I try to follow the advice of the leaders of my church now. There is no end to the number of people I can turn to for advice, help, or comfort in the Mormon church. In return, I try to be someone that is worth coming to for comfort, guidance, or help.

What do Mormons believe about family?

A. Henrie answered...

To Mormons, families are not only important, they are essential and sacred. The family is the most fundamental unit in the Mormon church and ALL of Mormon doctrines and programs are about making people better so that they are better members of their families. Being a good father, mother, brother, sister, daughter, son, granddaughter, grandson, etc... is a major responsibility of every human that has or ever will be on this earth.

We do not have families to help us live this life; we are living this life so that we can have families...forever.

As you can tell, family is a pretty big deal for us. That's one reason I love this church - I love my family and I hope to have them forever. I can't think of Heaven being Paradise without them...or at least I can't on their good days ;).
Bradley. answered...

The family is a key component to support us in God's plan for gaining immortality and eternal life. All of God's children (all the inhabitants that lived, are living, and will live on Earth) are inseperably connected to each other, both (physically) by our Earthly families and (spiritually) by our Heavenly Father.

Families help us to understand our divine heritage. In this, life takes on purpose and meaning. Our immortal spirits were created by our Heavenly Father before Earthly existance, and we are directly connected to Him in this way. As a spiritual family, our collective purpose on Earth is to follow the commandments of God that lead us to live in heaven with Him again.

Our spirits need to progress, learn, and grow. In order to achieve that, Earthly existance was created as our test. Our Heavenly Father knew that being exposed to opposing forces on Earth was the only way for us to gain knowledge and wisdom.

However, we will not always choose righteousness, and so our Savior, Jesus Christ, is that great mediator to pay the debt of our mistakes. He is the only way by which we can be saved from our sins and transgressions. He is the ultimate example by which direction we need to live our lives. With the support of our earthly kin, we can learn from each other, serve each other, and strengthen our mortal weaknesses by being disciples of Christ. Our families are a gift from God, and we can be together forever.