Spreading the Gospel, One Sweatshirt at a Time All sorts of clichés and euphemisms exist that tell us every day how small and insignificant a single human being truly is in this incomprehensibly vast world. This knowledge has shaped the perception I’ve held from an impressionable child, until I experienced a chance encounter in the halls of my high school in Virginia. I come from a graduating class of 356 students I was one of only two Latter-day Saints in my entire high school, and now I am just another face in the crowd of countless LDS. However, a single event related directly to my faith has shown me the power that one individual can have in this world. At the age of seventeen, I have already witnessed the impact my faith has had on my
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I had just finished a midterm exam, and I was dressed in my navy BYU sweatshirt, jeans, and sneakers. My mind was running a million miles a minute—thinking of my most recent crush, the exam I had completed moments ago, and the lunch I was eager to open and eat—when our school’s star basketball player entered my path and stopped in front of me. I clearly remember his gold jersey glinting in the brightly lit hallway and his piercing blue eyes searching first my face, and then my BYU sweatshirt. His first words to me were, “Hey, you’re a Mormon, right?”. After my response in the affirmative, he introduced himself, saying, “This probably seems so random, but my name’s Philip. I have an uncle who’s Mormon—he sent me this Utah sweatshirt!” as he pointed to the red sweatshirt in his hand. “Anyways, I have always loved learning about religions. I’m Presbyterian, but I was wondering if we could get together sometime to talk about what you …show more content…
I grew slightly nervous when Philip pulled out three pages of double-spaced questions about my faith. We started off with the basics—Joseph Smith and the First Vision, the Book of Mormon—and then delved deeper, talking about eternal families, temple marriage, the celestial kingdom, and my own testimony. Philip was especially interested in Article of Faith number two, which states, “We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam’s transgression”. As a Presbyterian, he believed that men were innately sinful and could not save themselves by their works. I bore Philip my testimony, and felt especially impressed to say, “I know that we are born innocent, and through baptism and repentance we can become clean again and return to live with our Heavenly
I had just finished a midterm exam, and I was dressed in my navy BYU sweatshirt, jeans, and sneakers. My mind was running a million miles a minute—thinking of my most recent crush, the exam I had completed moments ago, and the lunch I was eager to open and eat—when our school’s star basketball player entered my path and stopped in front of me. I clearly remember his gold jersey glinting in the brightly lit hallway and his piercing blue eyes searching first my face, and then my BYU sweatshirt. His first words to me were, “Hey, you’re a Mormon, right?”. After my response in the affirmative, he introduced himself, saying, “This probably seems so random, but my name’s Philip. I have an uncle who’s Mormon—he sent me this Utah sweatshirt!” as he pointed to the red sweatshirt in his hand. “Anyways, I have always loved learning about religions. I’m Presbyterian, but I was wondering if we could get together sometime to talk about what you …show more content…
I grew slightly nervous when Philip pulled out three pages of double-spaced questions about my faith. We started off with the basics—Joseph Smith and the First Vision, the Book of Mormon—and then delved deeper, talking about eternal families, temple marriage, the celestial kingdom, and my own testimony. Philip was especially interested in Article of Faith number two, which states, “We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam’s transgression”. As a Presbyterian, he believed that men were innately sinful and could not save themselves by their works. I bore Philip my testimony, and felt especially impressed to say, “I know that we are born innocent, and through baptism and repentance we can become clean again and return to live with our Heavenly