Hi, I'm Mark

"I love my family, being a grandfather and I enjoy an occasional triathlon. I'm a Mormon."

About Me

I thrive on being with my Wife, five grandchildren and in preparing for athletic events. As a software consultant I travel to many cities across the nation enjoying the best of all and in constantly meeting new people. Sunday's are special days for me and I look forward to being close to God and the spirit as I serve and learn with others. I am an early riser and spend most of my early mornings swimming, running and biking in preparation for 1 to 3 half ironman events (triathlons) that occur each year in the Pacific Northwest.

Why I am a Mormon

In 1976, at the age of 19, I was challenged to communicate with God (for real). Prayer wasn't exactly something new to me but it wasn't something that I put much stock in. For the most part it was a one way endeavor done with borrowed words, little intent and a general lack of expectation on my behalf. My feelings were that God was someone who you could talk to but He really didn't have anything he wished to communicate to me. So I really hadn't expended the effort into previous attempts and in actuality I saw no need for it in my life.
Then came the missionaries who shared a story about a 14 year old (Joseph Smith) who wanted to know which church he should join. The end result was that he came to know God personally. He learned that not only could he talk to God but that both Heavenly Father & Jesus Christ cared about him enough to respond to his prayer by way of a visit.
That visit made sense to me. The missionaries invited me to pray about that experience and about the Book of Mormon which I had started to read. The answer was "It's True"!. In other words that God lives, loves me and cares about me enough to show me the way. He revealed truth to me!
It changed everything in my life. It gave me purpose, eternal purpose. It turned things away from me and toward serving God. The results were many. I served a mission, I found a loving companion and spouse. We were blessed with three wonderful children and at present 5 grandchildren. We still struggle like everyone does but knowing God's words through the scriptures and through the spoken word (prophets and apostles) brings answers, comfort, solutions and peace.

How I live my faith

One of my goals is to be aware of those in need of service. However, I believe God knows best how my talents should be utilized and I am glad for the organization of the church as it is His way to ensure the best good is performed by those who profess to be his servants.
He has called my wife and I to be Missionaries and Family History Consultants. I find it hard to keep my mouth shut about the gospel so anything that allows me to teach truth is enjoyable.

With God I have found a plan for balance. I try to work daily on my spiritual, physical and mental health. I am a slow learner but I enjoy learning so I start my day with a prayer (it softens me up so God can teach me). Then I read clips from The Book of Mormon, Bible and one other book. Then on everything else I try to follow my wife's lead as she is the most God like person I know.

What is the priesthood?

Mark answered...

God's way of organizing opportunities to bless and love his children.
Show more of my answers Show less of my answers One Moment Please
Ethan answered...

I like to approach questions by looking at the words of things

"priest" has reference to either the concept of one who leads, one who is elder, or one who is holy I like to remember that the words 'holy' and 'whole' are linked by a common ancestry. When something is 'holy' it's essentially saying that it's complete, that it's healthy..

And "-hood" makes reference to the state of being, and not just any state of being but a state of being that's worthy or correct for it's placement. That is, that it's done properly.

So one could say the priesthood is leadership or a point of reference that's completely suited to the position in which it's been placed.

Another way to look at it is to say it's God's perfect order. That is, it's God's perfect arrangement.

In our Church we often give a definition of priesthood as being "the authority to act in God's name" and that's exactly what it means to be a part of God's perfect order. If God commands something to be done by you, and you do it, then you are acting under, and with that portion of God's authority that he's permitted you to exercise within his perfect order.

Just as with any instance where someone tries to act in the name of someone else there are bound to be those who try and do so falsely. That's why God has things ordered in such a way that one can know for certain if someone has His God's authority, or not.

What is faith?

Don answered...

Faith is taking action because of a hope in something. Often the Savior asks of us to do certain things or live in certain ways. When we see a stranger in distress, we stop and help them as Jesus commanded us to in the Good Samaritan Luke 10:25. The act of helping is the evidence of our Faith in Christ. We are asked to tithe. Tithing is evidence of our faith. We tithe in hopes of the promises in Malachi 3:10 that the floodgates of Heaven are open to us.
Faith is when we put our beliefs and hope into action.