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Hi, I'm Don McGuinness
I am a convert to the Mormon faith and have been a member for about 50 yrs.
About Me
Most of my working life I worked as a maintenance tech. in different industries. I am the father of six and grandfather of 13. I'm retired now and spend most of my time reading and enjoying my grandchildren, and spending time with those I love. My hobbies have become doing family history research for the most part. I also have several grandchildren and family members who take up some of my time. I have also been called to be a Ward Missionary and I enjoy meeting and talking and teaching new people concerning the restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I also have been assigned as a home teacher and I enjoy going with my home teaching companion to members homes and discussing principles and precepts of the restored gospel with them. I live a truly blessed life. Although I'm not a rich man as to worldly possessions I am indeed wealthy in that I'm surrounded by people I love and who love me. What more could a man ask for. I thank my Heavenly Father daily for the countless blessings he has given to me. And I pray that everyone might enjoy the type of joy I feel on a daily basis.
Why I am a Mormon
The first 13 yrs of my life was spent in a duplex type house, as many older homes where, in the 50s and 60s, Now in this house, was a room, that we called the front room, that was set-aside for the receiving visitors. It was a sitting room. With the finest stuffed furniture that we owned along with carpeting on the floors and paintings on the walls in what appeared to be very expensive hand carved frames. This was a room set aside for very special occasions. Our first black and white TV was put in this room. But later changed to the center room or living room that was used the most along with the kitchen. I think to preserve the condition of the front room. But at any rate this front room, along about the middle of November would be locked and the children where not allowed to enter the room. Because it was being prepared for Christmas. As things where being prepared the children would often listen at the door while the parents where in the room and we would peek through the key hole trying our best to see anything that we could see that would give us a hint at what gifts awaited us. We would do our best to hear every word in hopes of hint. And the rustle of paper would raise feelings of excitement and wonder in our young hearts and minds. As time progressed towards Christmas day, our excitement would grow even greater and our anticipation almost to the point that we felt as though we would burst. And on Christmas Morning when we had reached the point that we thought we could take no more, we would be up before the sun, and we would wait for it to begin to light up the daylight sky so we could then make enough noise to wake our parents and get into that room that had been locked to us for what seemed an eternity. My Mother would get up first and go down stairs with us. And she would tell us we had to wait for our Father to come down before we could go into the room. And then after what seemed like hours, but was only minutes im sure, Dad would appear in the kitchen and ask for breakfast to be made before we started in on what awated us on the other side of that door. ‘Of course we wanted him to finish eating his breakfast as fast as each of us children had inhaled ours. But he would often ask for seconds and then sit there digesting for a bit. All the while I know he was teasing us and building us to the point that we could no longer tolerate the waiting. And we would beg him to please, please let us go into the room. Well he would then get up and say well I have to go in and light the fire to warm up the room. There was a small gas heater that heated the room, And a common grown would come from us all. But eventually we where lead to the door by our mother and father with the key in my fathers hand and he would open the door and we would pile into the room. You can only imagine the joy, the excitement and the wonder that filled us as we gazed at the tree and the decorations and all the presents under and around the tree. It appeard as if it was a mountain of presents. And the site magical to our eyes. I tell you this for a reason. Try to keep this story in mind as I continue with my testimony. Try to imagine how the excitement grew over that month up to that day and how that magnified our joy on that day. As far back as I can remember I attended a local church with a neighbor lady and her son an daughter. A protestant church. And I am thankful for that experience. Because I learned in that church somewhat of Jesus and I gained a faith in God and in Jesus Christ even at a very young age. Now along with myself and my neighbor lady's family, my aunt and two of her daughters also attended this church. And my Aunt was a very strict and devout member of this church and was unwavering in her faith and doctrines. Well one day two missionaries of the LDS church came to our door. And my Mother invited them in. Now my mother had been raised as a catholic and most of her family was catholic. And unbeknown to me was that my father was a very inactive LDS member. I had attended church with my grandparents of my Father when I was young and stayed at their farm in the summer times. But they didn’t always attend. So I was really not familiar with the LDS Church or the book of Mormon at that time. However while the missionaries spoke with my mother, she agreed to take the discussions. And she asked me and my brothers to sit in on these discussions with her. I don’t recall my Father being there every time, because he worked shift work and was not always available. Now I continued to attend this other church with my neighbor and after a one or two discussion I made in known to my Aunt that Mom and I had been talking to these two missionaries and that they gave me a book of Mormon. In a short period of time she asked to sit in on our discussions with the missionaries so as to save us from this work of the devil. And to get this evil book of Mormon out of our house. She would go from the discussions to her preacher and tell him what was being taught to us and seek his council as to how she should help us and what questions and what evidence to present to these missionaries to help her in her endeavor to keep us saved. As time went by, I read the book of Mormon as the missionaries instructed me to do, and I listened to what they had to say and I prayed over everything I read so I could understand it. Then came the day the missionaries gave us the challenge found in Moroni to ask God if these things where true or not. I went to my room that night. I read those verses from Moroni and the promise he gave. Moroni 104-5. 4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost. 5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things. And because I already had faith in Christ I knew I would receive an answer. Now I admit I liked much of what I heard, but I was confused about much of what I heard both because it went against some of the things that I had been taught and because of the things my Aunt had brought to the discussion and the missionaries struggled to address. But I knew if I asked God he would tell me. So I asked if this book of Mormon was true, was what the missionaries telling us true? Was Joseph Smith a prophet of God? Did Jesus restore his church to the earth after it had been lost? And what went through me was not unlike what I described to you concerning what joy, and excitement that went through me on those Christmas mornings when we entered that front room. But with more warmth and love attached to it. And my mind was opened. At that moment I knew. God had answered me. Nothing could change that fact. There was no doubt in the mind of this eleven year old boy that God lived that Jesus Christ lived that the book of mormon was true and was the word of God. That Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and that he did restore the gospel to the earth again. And that we has a living prophet on the face of the earth. That prophet, at that time being David O McKay. And from that moment on it was just a matter of learning the details. The details of what I was confused about as well as all the details I knew laid ahead of me. My mother and brother had also told the missionaries that they too had, received confirmation. And we where ready to be baptized. But because of my Aunt and her two daughters our baptism was put on hold. So we waited while my aunt and her two daughters took the discussions and all six of us where baptized on the same day. As my Aunt put it, If you cant beat them join them. And she went on to be one of the most faithful and hard working women, along with my mother in what later became a new small branch close to where we lived. Now as I said before my Father was an inactive member as was my aunt’s husband who was my father’s brother. So they also started again to attend church with the rest of us and their testimonies grew and they became active again. At the time we had to travel thirty miles to church and thirty miles back. Now at that time we had meetings in the morning and then meetings in the afternoon or evening. So it was a matter of making the trip twice a day or hanging out in town between the meetings. Eventually the church made us part of a group who attempted to establish a branch in a town closer to home. But that did not work out and I think it was about a year before the effort stopped. So the church allowed us to start a branch in a small town even closer to home.. This town was only seven miles away. Our first meeting was held in the basement of my Uncles house that, by this time was the branch president and my father was his first councilor. They ran the meeting, blessed and passed the sacrament. Gave the talks, conducted the lessons etc. At that meeting where a couple other members that the missionaries had rounded up that lived in the aria but had to travel a great distance to go to church and I don’t think they attended very often. Because of the distance they had to travel. The Next week we began meeting in of all places the ODD fellows hall in In this small town . And odd fellow we indeed where in the eyes of the churches in the area. But over the next few, months and years our membership grew and deacons and teachers and priests and Elders where added to the rolls along with their families. We eventually moved to the fire hall down the street and we met upstairs of the fire station. Until the chapel that now stands on the hill in that small town was built. Now between the time of the meetings at the fire hall and the church being built I went into the Navy. And after the service I began again to attend the church but I was less active than I should have been. Over the years I grew further away from the church and more into the world. All along my Mother would encourage me to start going to church again and from time to time I would. But the guilt I felt would not allow me to make a commitment. My mother would tell me you don’t have to give up those things you are doing just to go to church and she of course was right. All through this time however I never lost my testimony that I knew it was all true. But my flesh was weak. And although I would continue to read and pray and I would catch a conference on TV when it was available where I lived, I still gave into the flesh. But my Father in heaven was not done with me yet. I went into a partnership with friend and we got into the home improvement business. And my partner was from Las Vegas. Now at that time LasVegas was the fastest growing place in the country and new homes where going up in waves across the desert. Well we made the decision to move to Las Vegas because there was a need for people to do home improvements since everyone else was building new homes. Just so happened that we found a beautiful house to rent, on the east side of Las Vegas just below sunrise mountain near Nellus air force base, and at a great price. And we began to live the Las Vegas lifestyle and business was good, and we where making money. But there where some problems as well. Because there where gangs in the area and we lived on the boarder of two of those gangs. And we had a struggle with that and our son and the attempts of both of these gangs to have him join them . Now these gangs where not like the drug dealing, gun totting,etc gangs you might imagine. They where mostly young kids who just stood up for each other when trouble came to one of them they stuck together. But I could see the future and I knew it would not always be that way. Well it just so happened, at the same time we live out there, the LDS Church was building a temple in Las Vegas just below sunrise mountain. About three blocks from our house. One morning after a slight confrontation between my son and a few of these local gang member boys. I awoke and walked into my dinning room just as the sun was coming up over sunrise mountain. Now I looked out of my picture windows and could see the lights of the casinos on the strip downtown and I turned and through my patio doors I could see the new copper roof of the new temple glistening in the morning sun. And at that moment a voice from inside me spoke and said. Here you are between the Rock and a hard place. Make up your mind what you are going to do? The Lord had lead me across the country and sat me down in one of the most tempting and wicked places on earth and had put me in just the right place to have the experience that I just described. I told my family that day that we where going to return to our home town and we where going to change our lives. Many other things where going on at the time as well. With my Father and Mother trying to hang onto their property. My Fathers health was not the best. He had had a bad heart and some other health issues. Some of the things he and I have in common. I wanted my son to have a better way of life than he was going to grow into and most of all I wanted to make the church a part of our lives again. So we moved. Satan was not done with me either because the job I found caused me to have to work every other Sunday but. It also allowed me to attend church every other Sunday and I did. And eventually although I was a priest in the Aaronic priesthood I was allowed to baptize my son. And things where going pretty well. And then my father chose to move to be close to the VA hospital. And Me and my wife at the time and my son moved to where Me and my lovely wife live today along with her son and my step son and two of our granddaughters and a grandson who is with us most of the time. Before I met my present wife . Problems arose between my wife at the time and we eventually divorced. And I again stopped attending church. Then one day I met my present wife. She was not a member of the church but she had a great faith and Love for the Father and for Jesus Christ and many of our talks while we dated was about our religious beliefs. Well one day she told me that she had ordered a book of Mormon from a TV add that she had seen. And although she expected to receive it in the mail, that the missionaries had brought it by and she was going to have them come back. I told her I would sit in on the discussions with her. Boy did she give those missionaries a run for their money. She had question after question and they managed to answer them and as things progressed my then, wife to be was baptized and shortly after that we where married. But before we got married, we planned on being married near the end of Nov. 1996, The day before the planned day we moved her our of her apartment and into the place where we now live. I had been moving furniture up and down steps and in and out of our home. And I was a bit tired after that and I told her that while she fixed something for super I would go to my bedroom and lay down to rest before supper. Well when she called me to come and eat. I got up and walked to the living room and experienced the first heart attack of my life. I had no pain or trouble all day but there was no mistake at what was going on. So I spent the day that we planned on getting married, having bypass surgery. Here again the Lord had provided for me. Anyone who has had that type of surgery knows that your not even allowed to open a door for yourself, for awhile. And you had to have someone to take care of you, when you came out of the hospital. Did I mention that my future wife was a nurses administrator at the time? The Lord had prepared my life so that when I had that heart attack I had someone there to take care of me and someone who was highly qualified to do so. This event in my life could not have been prepared for any better than if it had been planned. Every detail was in place and every need provided for. So our wedding was put on hold for about a month and we where married just after Christmas. Because of the Lord and two great women in my life I stand here today. Without their influence and being a part of my life. The gospel may not have been a part of my life today. And I might have again gone into the ways of the world. The Lord brought my current lovely wife and I together I have no doubt. And I am so thankful for that. But 60 yrs ago The Lord Gave me a mother who has been very special to me in my life and has been my spiritual magnet to draw me back and reminding me many, many times over the years of the things of the Lord. My mother is a true pioneer in this church. At the time we joined there where less that two million members in the church today it approaches some 14 million. This woman, who is my mother, had a great part in my receiving the gospel and only the Lord knows how many more. Because of her agreeing to take those discussions from the missionaries six people where baptized the day she was. And because she took the discussions two brothers who, Where Inactive, again became active. And served as bishop and councilors and they literally beat the bushes to grow the church in that small town. With her doing what she did there is a branch in that small branch, and all of the people who are members of that branch and have passed through that branch over the past 47 or so yrs and all the people those people have touched with the gospel is in no small part due to her faith. And due to her agreeing to take the discussions from those two young elders who came to our door that day in 1961. And only the Lord himself knows how many have heard the gospel and gained testimonies, because of her wanting to know. And I thank God everyday for giving her to me. And me to her and my Father. So this is why I believe. I believe because the Lord never gave up on me. My dear mother never gave up on me. The Lord brought into my life a wonderful and beautiful woman who is now my wife.’ And he has made it known to me that the book of Mormon is true, and that Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God, that the gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored to the earth in these last days. That the keys to the Kingdom have been restored through the holy ordinances of God and by the power and authority of the Priesthood. I know that we have a living prophet today in, Thomas S. Munson. I know that Jesus Christ lives and he, by the will of the Father leads and guides this church through his living prophets and apostles. I know all of these things to be true because The Lord made them known to me way back in 1961 and has confirmed it to me time and time again over the years by way of the Holy Spirit testifying to my spirit that these things are true. And I testify of them in the name of Jesus Christ Amen.
Personal Stories
How can your talents and gifts bless others?
I have seen the power of the Priesthood, so many times in my life and in the lives of other. I have seen blessings given to the sick who recovered and i have had healing blessings bestowed upon me that resulted in my recovery from very serious and life threatening situations.
I have seen my father, who had a bad heart given a blessing many times. when doctors said he was not going to make it and he pulled through every time. My Father had 24 heart attacks after he had bypass and he was told when he had his bypass that at most he would live for three years. Thanks to priesthood blessings he lived another twenty fiver years.
Think about your everyday activities. What are things you act upon each day where you cannot see the end results? How does faith move you to action?
Work is a good thing. But good work is better.
If a man has a pond and he casts his bread upon that pond. He can see both his pond and his bread. Because a pond has boundaries and the bread is easily accounted for because it can be seen. The man has done work in casting his bread upon his own waters and he may call those to come and see his pond and his bread that he has cast. But what good has it done, except to satisfy the vanity of he who cast the bread for all to see. The pond is like unto a man’s, pride in that it limits the benefits of the good work the man has done. For it serves nothing but the mans pride, which is the boundaries of his pond and what he can see and show others,
But, if a man takes his bread and casts it upon the ocean. Then the currents may carry the bread where it will and the man may not see where it goes and he has no need to show others where he cast his bread. For he can not see where it went.
But if the bread is carried to a man who is hungry and the man finds the bread upon the current and he eats and is filled he is filled with joy that his hunger has been satisfied.
Now if this man is satisfied that he received bread and was filled and think not that it came to him in his time of hunger and is not thankful to him who cast the bread and the current that brought it too him. Then that man will not cast upon the waters bread that others might also be filled in their time of hunger. And this man is as the man who cast his bread upon his own pond.
But, if a man receives bread that was cast, and came to him by the current and was filled and was thankful to he who cast the bread and the current that brought it. He will also cast bread upon the water, that others who he can not see might also be filled by the bread carried upon the current as he was. Not looking to see the bread he cast and where it goes, because he saw not from where the bread came that did feed him in his time of hunger. But knowing that it came to him when he needed it and he cast in hopes that another might be filled. And if another finds and is filled and does the same. Then this is not just a work, but a good work and it seeks no reward but gives hope that others might receive and be filled as he has. And the man who has received and is filled and casts again will offer up thanks in his heart to he who cast so that he might receive and be filled and he will glorify the sender by doing the same. And this will become an eternal blessing to all those unseen, who received by those who cast without concern for their own glory and pride but in hopes that others might receive and be filled.
So work is a good thing but good work may become eternal.
Just a thought, inspired by a dream.
How I live my faith
I do my best to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ and the principles he established. Faith, Repentance, Serving my fellow man, and forgiving those who attempt to offend me. I realize a long time ago that I cant be offended unless i allow it. I have a calling as a Ward Missionary. As well as a home teacher. I try to live my life according to the principles of the gospel so that I can be worthy at all times to perform my duties as a priesthood holder. Be it to go and give someone a blessing of healing or of comfort or to visit and teach them with the influence and power of the Holy Spirit. I try to be an example to my children and to my grandchildren. Because I believe in family and I believe that as a family we can live together eternally.' I also do family history research so that I can do or have done work for my ancestors in the temple. So that our family today can be joined with our family from the past, for eternity. Because I know that we are all one family. The family of God. And he wishes for all of us to return to him and live with him for eternity. And we have it within our power to make that possible if we are willing to do the work for our ancestors and they accept that work that has been done on their behalf. I know this is a hard concept for non LDS members to understand or even believe. But I have a strong testimony of such work. Because I have felt the spirit very strongly in my life both in doing the research into my ancestors and in doing the work in the temple on their behalf. I have been blessed in my calling as a Ward Missionary and as a Home Teacher in that I am able to share with others the gospel principles that I have learned over the years and I am blessed to come to know them and their experiences and to know them as my brothers and sisters. I would have it no other way.
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