Hi, I'm Karen Meyer

I'm a Mormon. I grew up Lutheran, then Catholic, then Methodist, Baptist, and finally Mormon.

About Me

I am a grandmother of 11, have 12 children (5 are mine, 7 are hubby's). I used to be an Executive Assistant for a large Pharmaceutical company in Newbury Park, California. Now I am semi retired in Scottsdale and remarried, this time, to my High School Sweetheart, who loves and adores me just the way I am. We met again after I separated from someone who didn't share my love for God and family. When my divorce from an abusive relationship of 35 years was over, my children were grown and I was lost in my work and the love for my grandchildren. I had been told that no one would ever love me.

Ted proposed and swept me off my feet to Scottsdale. For our Honeymoon, we went on the Book of Mormon cruise. For me, it was a culmination of seeing first hand what I always believed for 35 years. For Ted, it was the beginning of a new life; seeing first hand what he was reading in the Book of Mormon. He later joined the church and we have been sealed for time and all eternity in the Mesa Temple. I balance my life between doing elder care and running my own business as a Mystery Shopper! I love scrapbooking, sewing, quilting and genealogy, writing novels and Web Designer. I keep very busy as a ward missionary, companion to my husband who is the Ward Mission Leader. Most of all, I love doing things for our grandchildren to let them know they are loved and that someone else besides their parents believes in them and has faith in them to make great choices in life.

Why I am a Mormon

I believe that Jesus Christ is my Savior and my Redeemer. I know He Lives. I find miracles in my life every day that He has provided for which I am grateful. I have been a member of 5 different churches in trying to find the truth.

At 15, my best friend and I had a sleepover and actually asked each other why were there so many different religions. We both figured that they all had a lot of good points but one had to be more right than another. I began my quest. At 18, I married. At 22, I was a mother. At that time, I belonged to a Church that did not mind if you drank alcohol. One night, we had a drink - a very large drink. I was not expecting my daughter to wake up sick in middle of the night. I had to change her diaper and stuck my finger to the bone with a very sharp, now bent, diaper pin. I realized right there that I could never drink again and be a good parent because I had rationalized that a little wouldn't hurt. Had I not stopped, I would have become an alcoholic, no doubt.

I began searching for the right church and found the Mormons. My first encounter was at a July 4th pancake breakfast that they put on for the whole community. It was so wonderful and Patriotic, I thought, "This church loves everything I love. God, my Country, my family." They had classes for families, mothers and wives, fathers and husbands to make them better parents. They too believed that Jesus Christ died for our sins, but he lives today in Heaven and if I keep my covenants, I can live with Him again in Heaven for eternity with my family.

Personal Stories

What blessings have come through your faith in Jesus Christ?

25 years ago, shortly after I joined the church, I was in an accident. I was a mother of 3, still nursing the last one. I was doing everything I could to be able to stay home with them. We were struggling financially and only had one car available. I delivered newspapers at night while my husband stayed with the kids. He had an accident with the car and forgot to tell me. The car overheated and when I went to check the radiator, I was severely burned on 30% of my body. There were no cell phones then. I made it to a phone booth and before fainting, the only number I could get through to anyone was the Relief Society President. She took me to the hospital where I stayed for 3 weeks. Because the hospital was not skilled in burns, I developed an infection on my chest called Pseudomonas and nearly lost my life.

The Relief Society farmed out my children to other families as well as my nursing baby. My first husband had some emotional issues and could not visit me, but my home teacher did every night. He prayed with me. My visiting teachers came every day and brought me needlework to do. Because there was so much exposed skin due to partial and full thickness burns, sisters helped me with shopping and errands. Without those sweet sisters whom I met in the church, I would have been lost.

I had a lot of time to reflect on the pain that Jesus must have endured when he was put to the test as His skin was stripped from him. I knew that Joseph Smith had also endured pain as a child when his leg was operated on, they wanted to give him alcohol as a sedative and he refused going ahead with the operation. I did not take pain meds so I could stay alert and focused. My relationship with Him helped me through this test of faith in my life. Alone, feeling disfigured and abandoned in the hospital, without my family, I appreciated the love and kindness and pure charity of Christ's love for us through the nurturing I received at the hands of those sweet sisters and my Home Teacher.

Why do Mormons do family history or genealogy work?

Connecting with a name on a piece of paper, or discovering a picture of a lost loved one through time, can do much to improve your own purpose in this life. Sometimes we get caught up in the hustle and bustle of everyday and forget that people like you and me, made it through these trying times, before we came to this earth.

I do research for other people and for my own family. It has been a source of great joy to me to see people connect with their families through this great work. Since the internet has come into my life, the research has become much easier than it was 30 years ago. More families are putting their trees and pictures up on the net. People are naturally curious what their ancestors looked like or how they lived their lives. When they are struggling with this life and think of all that their forefathers must have endured, sometimes, an attitude of gratitude engulfs their being and today seems easier to bear.

One Thanksgiving, we took our laptop and questioned the matriarch of a sister in law. She was 85 and had not seen the pictures of her grandparents since they were taken from her home, shortly after their death when she was 10. Just shadows remained on the cindered walls and she had to look up and imagine what once was on the walls. After adding about 385 people to the tree that evening, suddenly we connected with another family tree and the pictures reappeared after 75 years of being missing. Tears of joy and remembrance flooded the room and we immediately printed the pictures down for all of the grandchildren in attendance. The Great Grandmother now had her pictures back and it made us happy to watch her throughout the evening gently touch the edges of those pictures lovingly and remember how these great people touched her life. I will never forget it.

These names can be taken to the Temple and people can be sealed to their families for time and all eternity. The names are not lost. They are living in Heaven, waiting for us to return.

What have you done successfully to shield your family from unwanted influences?

Our home has network protection so that minds cannot be poisoned on our watch. We do not keep alcohol or tobacco or other non-prescribed drugs in our home. We try to never watch an R rated movie unless it has been released on television and the words have been edited. In this way, we are making our home more of a haven against the world. We live in the world, but we are not of the world.

We love our non-member friends as our brothers and sisters and they respect us for our beliefs and convictions to protect our children. We try to be an example of goodness and love to all.

How I live my faith

I am the Ward Genealogist. It gives me great pleasure to help people build their family trees so that their children can see how far back their ancestors go! No greater love have I in my heart for these friends, than when I put their tree online, we connect with someone who has pictures of their relatives, which they did not think could exist! To see that light of love in their eyes for their forefathers is a blessing to me! To watch them view their Great Grandfathers handwriting on his WWI draft card, and witness that his eyes and hair were the same color as theirs, makes me tear up. They feel a connection that can't be surpassed.

These people are in Heaven waiting for us. They are rooting for us to make good choices. They delight in watching the first steps of our children. They are waiting for us to seal them to their loved ones for time and all eternity, not just 'til death do you part. Their hope lies in us.

Read 1Corinthinans: 15:29 Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?

What do Mormons believe about the Bible? Do they regard it as Holy Scripture and the word of God?

Karen Meyer answered...

I have always been fascinated by and His teachings and miracles.. To the Christian world the most well-known collection of scriptures is the Holy Bible. In addition to the Bible, Latter-day Saints accept the following books as scripture:
■The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ, a record of God’s dealings with the inhabitants of ancient America (2000 BC – 400 AD). I was amazed at the people of Mayan heritage who gave us the chance to see how their white bearded GOD in whiterobes, descended to them as in a cloud.
Standing on a pyramid in those lands was the culmination of 35 years of believing on faith just to have it shown to me in person. My new husband, read John Lund's book on MesoAmerica and how it correlated to the Book of Mormon. Standing up there, he realized that what he was learning about was true and had the faith to know more. He got Baptized, then we were sealed, and is now the Ward Mission Leader. He brings a sense of wonderment and joy to the ward.
■The Doctrine and Covenants, a collection of revelations and inspired declarations given for the establishment and regulation of the Church of Jesus Christ in the last days (1830 AD – 1978 AD).
I see them in my mind,trying to go about their lives then suddenly they can only fit so much into a cart or wagon. They have to decide what to take. That must have been hard. I am also fascinated with pioneer stories of courage and faith.
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Jonathan Richardson answered...

We believe that the Bible is the word of God, given through his Apostles and Prophets in the days of old. Through generations the bible has been translated time and time again, and now it stands with some of the simple truths of Christs teachings being either removed or complicated. That is why there are so many different views on what the scriptures teach, and so many churchs created for those views. We believe that God has restored those simple truths and clarified the complicated view through the Book of Mormon which is a record of the ancient inhabitants of the Americas.

What are Mormon women like? Do Mormons believe in equality of men and women?

Nicole answered...

Mormon women are strong. Mormon women are sure. We are taught from the time that we are tiny that we are daughters of God. Many people question equality between Mormon men and women because we believe in the traditional roles of the family, the classic stay-at-home mom and the working father. It makes me sad that society has degraded the role of a mother and made it seem undesirable and less than an occupation outside the home.

We believe in eternal families. We believe that this life is the one time in all eternity that we are sent to be tried and tested. If those beliefs be true than there is nothing more noble and exciting than being a mother. To be chosen to bring life into the world and to steer that life to goodness and love is one of the greatest and most impressive things that can be done.

I am proud to be a woman. I am excited to be a mother one day. I am an advocate for education and self-betterment for all. I value the differences of women from men. All of these things I learned to do from my religion. If that's not feminism I don't know what is.