Hi, I'm Gary

I was born of goodly parents. Their ancestors converted to Mormonism in 1832. I am a retired computer programmer. I'm a Mormon.

About Me

I was born deaf. I grew up without learning sign language until I was 20 years old. So I learned to communicate reading lips and to speak. I attended school with the hearing kids not knowing of any other deaf kids around. My life centered around hearing kids. I grew up in Portland Oregon (Milwaukie) and moved to Utah at the age of 13. I graduated from high school in Orem Utah. At the age of 19, having saved as much money as possible from work, I served a mission in Seattle Washington for a year, and then transferred to Southern California to the Ventura mission to serve with the deaf people. That is where I first learned ASL and i have used sign language since. I have been married three times and am happily married this time around (third time is the charm). I have four kids, three from the first and one from the second. The 4th child is deaf. What a challenge. I worked as a computer programmer for over 20 years and retired from this work. I continue to be busy in life serving others, attending to my family needs, going to the temple to do temple work to do proxies for people who have passed on without having had a chance for receiving the gospel and baptism in this life. Life has been good with challenges to overcome at times. I love golfing, all forms of sports. I love watching football on TV especially the playoffs. I enjoy hiking in the mountains here in the Seattle area. And going on vacations to different states.

Why I am a Mormon

I've always been a Mormon. Both of my parent's ancestors joined the church in 1832 in England and came across the Atlantic Ocean to be with the Mormon members. So the family I was born into was very into being Mormons.

As for me in accepting myself in being a Mormon, I just always believed it in my heart. When I first learned and understood what being a Mormon was, I knew it without any doubts. I am deaf so it was a challenge for me learning of the gospel and I didn't learn until I was at least 5 years old. I got my first understanding of Jesus Christ at a Presbyterian church where they had deaf kids attending. None knew sign language so it was by sight of seeing pictures, some reading.

When I was seven years old, I started going to the Mormon church with my parents and family. At the age of 8, I was baptized and given the Gift of the Holy Ghost. Since then I have learned so much more and known inside my heart that the Mormon church was true. I have never wavered from it.

I have read all the scriptures and also many books that relate to the Gospel and Plan of Salvation. I read the Book of Mormon series in summarized form with pictures and that solidified my testimony of the Book of Mormon even more. I've always admired the stories found in the Book of Mormon as well as in the Bible. So much to learn of Jesus Christ and His Atonement and so much to appreciate what he did for us. He came to earth to live, and do what he was called to do. To be the Savior of the world and teach us love. He gave us two commandments. Simple and true to the form. Love God. Love your neighbor.

Truly with love and with knowledge of who we are and why we are here, it makes life more exciting and more acceptable. I love going to church and taking the sacrament to renew my covenants made at my baptism to always remember Jesus Christ, to keep his commandments and to endure to the end. Indeed that makes me a Christian believer and yes I am a happy faithful Mormon.

How I live my faith

I attend church weekly. I have been called in many positions in the church, both hearing wards and deaf branches. I've grown with each of the callings. I share the gospel with anyone that's willing to listen or wants to learn more about life and about who Jesus Christ is. When friends call me needing help, I usually go and take care of them. My motto is helping friends in need and giving them love and hope for there may be a day when I have needs to be met and I will need their help. That's what Jesus Christ did teaching us about love.

Who wrote the Book of Mormon?

Gary answered...

The Book of Mormon is another witness that Jesus Christ really lived, that He was and is God’s Son. It contains the writings of ancient prophets. One of these, Lehi, lived in Jerusalem around 600 B.C. God commanded Lehi to lead a small group of people to the American continent. There they became a great civilization.

God continued to call prophets among these people. The Book of Mormon is a collection of the writings of their prophets and record keepers. It is named after Mormon, one of the last of these ancient prophets.

These prophets knew about Heavenly Father’s plan for His children and the mission of Jesus Christ. They recorded that Christ appeared, after His Resurrection, to the people in America, taught them His gospel, and formed His Church among them. The book contains the teachings of Jesus Christ, testifying of His Atonement and His love. It supports and verifies the Bible.

The Book of Mormon concludes with a great promise that those who read it and sincerely pray about it can know by the Holy Ghost that it is true (Moroni 10:4).
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Casey Dickson answered...

The Book of Mormon is a record of the ancient inhabitants of America, and their dealings with God; namely, the native Americans. God is no respector of persons; He loves all His children. He wants us all to make it back to live with Him; the Book of Mormon is proof to me that God loves all people of all nations; why would he only give His Word to just the Children of Israel?
The Book of Mormon was written by the prophets that were called of God on the American Continent; they too testifed that Jesus is the Christ, and he would surely come to redeem us from our sins. The book gets it's name from the prophet Mormon, who collected the individual records kept by prophets throughout the centuries, and complied them into one volume, written on gold plates. He gave them to his son, Moroni, who buried them in a hill by what is now known as Upstate New York. Centuries later, a young man named Joseph Smith, who wanted to know which church was true, had a vision of God the Father and His Son, who told him the truth was lost over the years, and he would be a tool in the Lord's hands to restore what was lost. A few years later, that same Moroni who buried the plates, visited Joseph as an angel of the Lord, and directed him to the ancient record. Through the gift on power of God, he was able to translate the book into English. The Book of Mormon helps us understand the fullness of the Gospel; with the Bible, we can discover God's will for us.

What is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' attitude regarding homosexuality and same sex marriage?

Rachel! answered...

In the Church we believe that marrige is between a man and a woman and that if a person acts on homosexual urges it is a sin. Inspite of us believing that homosexuality is a sin we think that we should love all of Gods childeren and we should not judge a person or condemn them. You can love the sinner and hate the sin. No one deserves to be degraded or bullied even if you dont agree with what they are doing. We are all childeren of God.