Hi, I'm Jonathan

I grew up in St. Louis, Missouri. I love snowboarding. I just got married in July. I'm a Mormon.

About Me

I just got sealed to my wonderful wife on July 31st, 2010 and I couldn’t be happier. I love spending time outdoors, reading, and snowboarding. I love being a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and I cannot wait to raise my family in the church. We love going to the temple and feel so blessed to live next to one. One of these days we are planning on moving up north to get away from all the heat of the south and to get back to snowboarding.

I just got my Bachelors degree in Psychology in May 2010. Now I plan on continuing my education in order to get my Bachelors of Science in Nursing.

Why I am a Mormon

I'm Mormon because after reading the Bible and the Book of Mormon and praying about it, I knew that they were true. My parents gave me the challenge to read the scriptures before I made my decision. Then an amazing thing happened my senior year of High School. A friend that I used to play football with in school that had moved away years ago felt inspired to visit me with a book of Mormon from Utah. We walked into the office at the same time, I was delivering the attendance for my class and he was coming to try to find me. I met with him after school and we talked for like 3 hours and I was completely spiritually converted, but I still had to read all the scriptures. Well, I am sorry to say I initially put it off, until college and I met a Mormon, who invited me to Institute and I loved it. Yet, Chemical Engineering courses were harder than I thought they would be and I yet again put it off until the summer of my sophomore year in College when I changed colleges and degrees. I was working two jobs that summer, but for whatever reason I could not shake the idea that I should read the scriptures as my parents challenged me so many years ago, so I did. Amazingly I read the Book of Mormon, The New Testament, and The Old Testament before the summer was through and was baptized a member of the church on August 2, 2008 and confirmed a member of the church a day later. After reading the scriptures I just walked right into the church building, the missionaries were delighted to teach me the lessons and everyone was so welcoming to me. I finished all the lessons in 2 weeks since I had already made my decision to be baptized after reading the book of Mormon and I wanted to be baptized ASAP. The following semester I enrolled in Institute and the Bishop even found me a roommate that I was desperately needing that semester after transferring colleges. Since then I have graduated college and the LDS Institute of Religion and have even been sealed in the temple to my loving wife.

Personal Stories

What blessings have come through your faith in Jesus Christ?

My life has been filled with such peace since joining the church. That alone has been a blessing. I love attending church and while I was in college I loved attending Institute of Religion; I learned so much about the Gospel and our Lord Jesus Christ there. Then I was blessed with a lovely virtuous Mormon wife. I was not fully complete without her and we never would have had the opportunity to be sealed together forever without the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in our lives. We cannot wait to have children in the church, the blessings are abound and in this tumultuous world I feel good about bringing children into this world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ restored on earth in these latter days and the stability the church provides.

How I live my faith

I live my faith by being considerate to others and I by trying to be mindful that I represent the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints by my actions. I always attend all the church meetings. My wife and I often attend the Temple so that our deceased relatives may also accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We love the peace that the Temple offers us when we attend.

What are Mormon Temples used for?

Jonathan answered...

Mormon temples are used to baptize the dead and administer other ordinances all Mormons receive in the Temple when they are alive. Now to be clear, we don't actually baptize dead people, the members that attend the temple are baptized for the dead. We do this for people that did not have the opportunity to receive the Gospel of Jesus Christ when they were alive. This is why family history is so important to us. We go back and baptize our dead relatives so that they can have the opportunity to accept that baptism. I love this aspect of the Gospel, since everyone is given the chance to accept the Gospel, no one is left out.
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Aubree answered...

Temples are used to perform sacred ordinances necessary for salvation. One of these is a temple marriage--making it possible to be together as a family for eternity. Since these ordinances are sacred, only members who are striving to live the gospel may enter. All members are strongly encouraged to become and/or stay worthy to enter the temple. Members also go to the temple to seek guidance, comfort, and personal revelation from God.

Why did your church previously practice plural marriage (polygamy)?

Shannon answered...

Because the Lord commanded it for a period of time. It wasn't easy for those who practiced it. Many, even Brigham Young (the second prophet after the death of Joseph Smith) had difficulty accepting the revelation. It took a great deal of soul searching and personal submission and communion with God for many of those individuals to reconcile themselves to the practice of plural marriage.

Even in ancient times, when the practice was culturally accepted, plural marriage was difficult. Moses, Abraham, and many others who practiced plural marriage because of God's commandment all experienced personal challenges arising from their family situation. But sometimes life is such: God requires difficult things. The difficulties never seem appealing to us, but if we are faithful, we will find that God had reasons for the challenges He gave us.