Hi, I'm ali.

I'm a writer, a wife, a mom. And, I'm a Mormon.

About Me

I've done lots of things in my life, from getting a university degree, singing opera professionally, and starting my own business, to homeschooling my two boys and writing novels. I used to have this BIG LIFE with lots of outside things. Now I enjoy the simpler things My children. My husband. My friends. My writing. And over and through it all, my love for my Heavenly Father.

Why I am a Mormon

I had a hard life growing up. Pretty much all the yucky stuff you can think of has happened to me. I could have given up on life--surely there were enough reasons. But even at my darkest times, there was this little voice, like a warm breeze skipping through my heart. The whisper said, "You are loved." Nowhere in my life was there love. It seemed so foreign to me. But here were these words, convincing me, improbably, that somewhere in the world there was love for me. As a young girl I started searching for that love. I looked in lots of wrong places, but when the missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints found me while I was attending university, it all just clicked. That was over twenty years ago, and I haven't had to look for love again. I found all I needed from my Heavenly Father who I now know how to talk to, how to listen to. It was His voice, the voice of the Spirit, that told me so long ago that I was loved. Now I have joy and happiness and peace, because I know who I am--a daughter of God. I know God loves me. I know my place and my purpose in life--to return to Him. I am a Mormon because God loved me enough to send his Only Begotten Son to rescue me.

How I live my faith

Being a Mormon shapes my daily life. Prayers bookend the day, and are sometimes scattered in between. My faith and all it entails is never far from my heart or mind.

What do Mormons believe about “eternal life?”

ali. answered...

Mormons believe that families can be together forever, and that every individual has the opportunity to go to Heaven. In fact, because God is the father of our spirits, he wants us to come home to Him, and He's given us lots of instructions on how that can be done. I am so grateful to know that I can have more than one life with my husband, children, and all the members of my family--because this one lifetime isn't enough. I want to be with them always, and because of the teachings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, I know I can.

Who founded Mormonism and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?

Joseph answered...

I went on a bicycle ride one day with a friend of another faith. He was a believing Christian but told me as we rode that he believed churches and organized religion are unnecessary and that the best way to find truth is to look everywhere. He bought into the notion that there are "many ways to the top of a mountain."

I think there's truth in that view, too. I believe that God wants us to find truth everywhere we can get it. And yet something nagged at me about his view. As we hit the steeper part of our ride, I said, "I think that's a cop out." (We have a pretty comfortable relationship - we talk pretty bluntly with each other). "If there is a God, don't you think He'd have an opinion about what's right and what's wrong? And don't you think He would have a plan for His children? And finally, don't you think He'd want us to know the truth about that plan? If so, how can you believe He would not create some credible and organized way to help us figure out what is true?"

Throughout history that way has been to reveal the truth through prophets. As my friend and I spoke he saw more clearly that there was no reasonable argument for why God would say, "2000 years ago prophets were a really good idea. But today I changed my mind."

Joseph Smith did what prophets always do. He revealed new scripture that confirms all that we had before. He restored God's full Gospel. And he pointed us to Christ. I know Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God. And now my friend does, too.