Hi, I'm Ross

I was born and raised in Utah as a non-Mormon, but now I AM a Mormon.

About Me

I love to write code, especially to help someone. I have been working in the computer industry for over 20 years and love it; but don't ask me to fix your computer ;).

I love to play golf, but am not very good at it. Since I grew up in Utah, I love to snow ski; nothing else like it.

I am a husband first to my eternal companion and a father to my three wonderful kids. They are my life and my eternity.

Why I am a Mormon

That is a great question. Growing up in Utah and being surrounded by mormons was trying for me. I had great Mormon examples, but I also had some not so good examples. As you get older, you begin to understand choice and accountability.

As this understanding increased I began to wonder about a lot of things in life. At about that same time, I had a great co-worker who was willing to answer questions I had without pushing me.

I started to gain an understanding of who my Savior is and what he did, and still does, for ME. That was quite a humbling experience. As this understanding increased, my desire to do better increased. I wanted more for myself and my future.

Reading the Book of Mormon was a good experience and the stories were somewhat interesting, but it wasn't until I was challenged to pray about it that things started to change in me. As I humbled myself to my knees to ask my Heavenly Father if this book was true, I was overcome by an incredible peace, followed by joy and happiness.

Why am I a Mormon? Because I have gained lots of testimonies of it's truthfulness. A testimony is simply a combination of lots of testimonies and their truths. I know my Heavenly Father loves me, so much that he had the patience needed to bring me around; to gain these testimonies.

The more faithfully I live His gospel, the more my understanding grows to what he wants me to be.

Personal Stories

Why do Mormons do family history or genealogy work?

Where did we come from? You can start answering that question by looking at your parents, their parents, etc... Where it starts getting interesting is when you learn something about a person you didn't already know. Was one of your ancestors in a war? What did they do in that war? What countries did your ancestors come from. All of these answers, and more, tell you not only who they are, but you are a part of them, so it tells you more about you.

Ultimately, if you could trace your ancestors back to Noah, then back to Adam, that just leaves our Heavenly Father (and mother). He wants all of His children back with Him. The way that happens is in our temples. We perform temple ordinances for our ancestors which seals us all eternally together as one big family. You (reader) and I are eternal brothers and sisters. We should view each other that way.

How I live my faith

My faith is an every day thing. My wife is wonderful and does a fantastic job at keeping it that way. We pray and read scriptures every night. Sometimes the scripture reading is limited, but it still happens.

While at work, I often find myself offering quick prayers for help in my job. If I'm struggling with something, I will offer a prayer for help. It does wonders. Many, many times after those prayers are offered, my mind clears and I can continue with what I'm working on.

Part of the Mormon faith includes genealogy. Finding my heritage is important to me. I love to find stories about them and discover who they were; and I especially love to take them to the temple. When I attend the temple on their behalf, I am deeply touched by the Spirit and I can feel when they are accepting of the work I do.

What is a “testimony” that Mormons speak of?

Ross answered...

A testimony is simply a gospel related topic/subject that you believe to be true, so much that you testify of it's truthfulness. When a mormon talks about a testimony, they are usually talking about their belief overall of our Savior Jesus Christ, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or their belief of knowing Joseph Smith was/is a prophet. In reality, these testimonies contain lots of little testimonies. An example is tithing, or keeping the Sabbath Day holy, or prayer, scripture study, etc... Life is a wonderful thing. All people are at different places in life. Each subject/topic in the Gospel is like a seperate ladder. Each of us are on a different rung of those ladders. We work with what we have, our testimony of each of these subjects grows with more experience.
Jen answered...

The word "testimony" is used frequently by members of The Church. When they use this, what they mean is they have knowledge that a certain principle or doctrine is true because they have studied it, and received a witness of it from the Holy Ghost. For example, to gain a 'testimony' of the Book of Mormon, you read it, study it, and ask Heavenly Father if it is true. He will typically respond with a feeling of peace or happiness. This feeling is the witness from the Holy Ghost that the Book of Mormon is true. Once you receive this witness, you have built a testimony of the Book Of Mormon. This process can be applied to any aspect of The Church, or your life.

Why do some call Mormonism a cult?

Suzanne answered...

I don't know. Quite honestly when labels are used I think this comes from someone's desire to quickly explain away something that they don't understand. If they really took a hard look at the church it would be easy to tell that Mormons do not blindly follow any human being. I think maybe someone who might use that label could look at the level of commitment and obedience found among the members of this church and casually explain this away as blind obedience. They certainly do not see the personal struggles and the effort that maintaining a personal relationship with God requires. Like most Mormons I think, I do what I do out of devotion and love. It may start out as duty and habit, but as I have come to know God and His mercy and love (the big picture) I can't help but want to keep the commandments. I don't follow a person, I follow God and His Son and they help me every step of the way.