Hi, I'm Kevin

I grew up in Seattle. I'm a software engineer. I'm a Mormon.

About Me

I'm 51 years old. This year I will have been married to my wife Sandy for 20 years. I have four children. I was born in Washington State, went on a mission to southern Chile, lived nine years in Texas, and currently live in Utah.

Why I am a Mormon

When I was a teenager in Seattle the LDS Church had a class for us every morning before school called Seminary. One year my Seminary teacher taught us about the Book of Mormon, and we were told that the way to find out if the Book of Mormon was the word of God was to ask God if it was. I asked several times, but each time I asked I knew I wasn't really prepared for either a yes or a no answer, and so I realized I couldn't count on God answering any of those questions. Finally I got to the point where I could base the rest of my life on either a yes or no answer, but instead of asking if the Book of Mormon was the word of God I asked God if the LDS Church was true. I was immediately overwhelmed by the Holy Spirit, in such a way that it encompassed my whole body, and I couldn't escape the conclusion that God was telling me that yes, the LDS Church is true. This is the reason why I am a Latter-day Saint today.

Personal Stories

Why/How do you share the gospel with your friends?

I share the gospel with my friends because I love my friends. Because I love my friends I want them to be happy, the way to get the most happiness is to be doing the will of God, and the only way to find out the will of God is to ask God about it, as the Gospel tells us.

In some ways I'm low-key about sharing the Gospel with my friends. I wait for someone to mention something that can be directly tied to the Gospel, and then I relate it to the Gospel. In other ways I'm more direct, like in creating this profile and connecting it to a blog. I want anyone who has a question about the LDS Church to feel free to post it on my blog. I doubt that I'll have an answer to every such question, but I'll respond to it somehow.

Which of the Savior’s teachings have influenced you?

Jesus said that if a child were to ask a father for bread, that father would not give his child a rock, and that therefore if we ask God for something we need, God, the father of us all, will give us what we need. This teaching has influenced me more than anything else I have ever heard. Sure we need bread, but don't we also have a great need to know what God's will is in our lives? If we ask our Heavenly Father what that will is, He will tell us.

How has attending Church services helped you?

Church services are in my opinion the laboratory of God's school. By going to Church services and serving in different callings I have learned what it means to truly love my neighbors, whether those neighbors are the 8-year-olds turning 9 that I taught in a Primary class for the three years prior to 2011, or whether they are adults new to the Gospel that I've been working with in the Gospel Essentials class this year in my new calling.

Why do Mormons do family history or genealogy work?

Mormons do family history and genealogy work because God loves everybody, and wants us to too. It's just as important that we love people in the 1300s as it is that we love people today, and family history and genealogy work preserves the stories of those people's lives.

Please share your feelings/testimony of Joseph Smith.

God considered Joseph Smith as the right man at the right time for a very difficult job. God wanted someone who would do whatever He commanded him to do, and that was Joseph Smith. Smith was not a perfect man; in fact he had many failings; but God knew He could count on him to restore His Son's church to the Earth.

How I live my faith

My family has family prayer every night before we go to bed. We'd like to have it in the morning too, but we're still working on that. We try to do scripture study right before we eat supper each night, and we try to get the family together for a brief lesson, a game, and some refreshments each Monday night for Family Home Evening, as the LDS prophets have asked us to do. My calling in the LDS Church is a ward missionary, which means I work with those people who are new to the Church. I also hometeach four families, which means I visit them each month, find out how they're doing, and help them in any way I can.

What are Mormon church services like? Are visitors allowed at church meetings? Can I attend church?

Kevin answered...

Mormon Church services are calm. There is also a great sense of order there. Young boys bless and distribute the bread and water for remembering Jesus' sacrifice. (Joseph Smith changed the wine to water a long time ago.) People speak on Gospel subjects. People sing hymns. Sometimes individuals or small groups perform spiritual-themed musical numbers. The people who speak could be any members of the congregation; it's shared around, and as far as I can tell everybody takes a turn. In the first meeting, called Sacrament Meeting, a lot of children attend, and a few babies, so there's some noise, but usually it's still pretty reverent. The second hour people are divided into classes by age, and the third hour by age and gender, so it's easier to pay attention to the messages those two hours. Visitors are allowed at Church meetings; in fact my calling is to work with those visitors and new members.
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Julianne! answered...

Mormon church services are dignified and simple. A sacrament meeting will be conducted by a regular guy wearing a regular business suit. The organ will be played by a regular member of the congregation who is not paid for his or her service. The singing will be led by a regular member of the congretaion. The prayers will be given by regular folks. The sacrament will be blessed and passed by regular folks, usually teenage boys. The talks will be given by members of the congregation, often teenagers. Special music might be presented by regular folks, or the ward choir. Members of the ward choir are just regular members of the congregation who like to sing, and are not paid for their service. Looking around the congregation, you will most likely see some singles but also families including little children and babies. Babies tend to be fussy so the room will not be totally silent. We try to maintain reverence, but it's a learning process. The kids are not perfectly reverent, and neither are the rest of us. People are dressed in regular clothes, usually conservative and modest. Men and boys usually wear dress shirts and ties. Women and girls usually wear dresses or skirts.

You are welcome to come and attend any of our worship services. You will not be asked to stand and sit, stand and sit, stand and sit. No one will pass a collection plate or ask you for money. You come in and sit and relax. And when you come, please sit by me!

Are there restrictions based on race or color concerning who can join The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and have the priesthood?

Scot answered...

As is recorded in Matthew 10:5, the Lord said to His Apostles "Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not..." Later the resurrected Lord told the same Apostles "...Ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." (Acts 1:8) This is not an example of any variableness or a shadow of turning (See James 1:17) but is ever more evidence of His wisdom and foreknowledge in executing His designs.
Some who wish to attack the Church think they find hypocrisy or guile in the fact that the Church did not allow men of African descent to hold the Priesthood until 1978. There is nothing contrary to the pattern of God in this. For decades and decades before the 2nd Official Declaration righteous men and women of African heritage were baptized into the Church and fold of God with the full promise and testimony that they would be denied no blessings in the worlds to come. Then, when the time was fully come, and as had been predicted by prophets previously, the Lord inspired His prophet to extend the full blessings of the Church in this life to all worthy members. This could well be one of the happiest days of this era.
Whether in this dispensation or any other anyone who is uncharitable to another due to their race is in direct defiance of the Gospel of Christ, who is Savior to "black and white, bond and free, male and female" (See the Book of Mormon, 2nd Nephi 26:33.)