This little town had a small branch with a beautiful new chapel. After we got settled in and toured our new home, we found the members to be very friendly and helpful. They accepted us eagerly. It felt as comfortable to us as if were back home! The only problem was the geographic size of the branch. Its boundaries were over 400 square miles. This meant we did a lot of traveling to visit members and prospective converts across many miles and in many small towns and villages. We were not alone, though; there were many young elders and sisters on missions there to assist us. We loved working with them.

One hot summer day, two of our young sister missionaries were tracting on a street not far from their apartment. It got to be close to lunch time and they decided to stop and go home to eat and rest. They turned to leave, but then one of the sisters turned back again and said, “Let’s do one more home. We must go visit that house.” She pointed to a gray stucco home down the block. “But why?” asked her companion. “I don’t know why. I feel we just have to do it.”

They obeyed the prompting and proceeded to knock on the door of this home. 

As they did, a gentle older man answered the door. One sister started to explain who they were when the gentleman stopped her and said kindly, “Oh, I know who you are. I’ve been waiting for you. Please come in.”

This stunned the sisters. They had never been so eagerly invited into a home before. The older gentleman, James, then went on to explain that a long time ago he had been baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Since then, he had fallen away and done some things since that had caused him to jeopardize his membership in the Church. He was getting older now and knew he had to amend his errors before he died. He had been trying to repent and get back into the Church but didn’t know how. The sisters said they would gladly assist him in doing so. After a while, they left and promised to return. This they did a few days later, only to be met by his wife at the door. She was not friendly at all and blocked them from entering the home. 

After a few more unsuccessful attempts to meet the gentleman again, they called on my wife and me to see if we could help them with this situation. We were glad to do so. 

On our first call, we were able to meet with James. He invited us in but it was an extremely uncomfortable visit. All the while we talked, someone was in the kitchen making as much noise as they could, trying to disturb us. James apologized and said it was his wife, who did not want us there. After a brief message, we left without accomplishing much.

We returned a few days later when an event happened that we shall never forget. As we knocked on the door, Mary, James’s wife, greeted us with, “We are not interested in talking to you at all, so please go away.” The more we tried to reason with her, the more belligerent she became. She finally pushed open the screen door and forced us off the porch. She didn’t stop there. She continued pushing us out and onto the sidewalk while raising her voice louder and louder so everyone on the block could hear her. It was quite embarrassing to us. But we just stood quietly there, saying nothing. Her tyrant lasted at least 10 minutes. I’m not sure if those young missionary sisters would have been able to withstand this assault.

via lds.org

Trying to find some way to stop her and allow us to get a word or two in, I looked around her front lawn and saw a pretty rose bush in bloom. When she finished a sentence, I took the opportunity to compliment her on her roses. At first, she said nothing and continued on. I complimented her on a few other things that were growing there. Little by little, she relaxed and finally agreed to show us her backyard. She was very proud of her garden there, where she had other flowers in bloom.

The ice was broken. Slowly we started to talk more socially with one another. After a few minutes it became apparent that Mary was afraid of us. She was worried we were there to take her husband away from her with our strange doctrine. We learned later that Mary was a very insecure person who came from a background of abuse. This marriage to James was the most secure and precious relationship she had ever had, and she was not going let us take it away.

When our discussion was over, we left each other on talking terms and said we would return in a day or two if that was agreeable to her. She said yes, we could, but not to expect much from her.

Driving to and from our area every day took us through a lovely small town with a huge roadside nursery. A few days earlier we had stopped to look around. As we did, we saw a beautiful hibiscus floral plant in full bloom. It had the largest pink flowers I had ever seen on a bush before. Each was the size of a pie plate. I remarked then, “I wish we had room for this at our place.” 

That evening as we reviewed our day, a thought came to us. It must have been the Holy Ghost speaking. We thought, What would happen if we bought that hibiscus and gave it to Mary? Would she accept it? Would that help us reach her as friends? We decided to do so and bought the flower the next time we drove past the nursery. 

With the lovely hibiscus flower in the back seat of our car, we went to see James and Mary again. As we marched up to the house holding that beautiful plant in full bloom, Mary came to the door. We held it out to her and said this flower was for her to plant somewhere in her yard. She looked at us, completely bewildered, and said nothing for a long time. She simply looked in disbelief at it and us. Then great tears welled up in her eyes. She was overcome with emotion to the point of being almost speechless. After a while she confessed, “I am 76 years old. I have had a rough life and this is the first time ever that anyone has given me a flower. Thank you so much.” 

I have had many emotional encounters in my life, but never one as deeply touching or life-changing as that moment. This poor soul had never even been given a simple thing like a flower before. No wonder she didn’t trust strangers.

The next day we returned in our casual clothes. Mary, James, and my wife and I found a nice spot of ground in their front yard. We all four got down on our hands and knees and happily dug a hole and planted that very special hibiscus. That flower still blooms to this day. 

Mary took the missionary lessons from us and our dear sister missionaries. Her husband met with the branch president and found his long-awaited road back to full fellowship. 

Our mission was coming quickly to an end. It was nearly time for us to return home to Utah. As it worked out, we were able to baptize Mary into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on the last day of our mission. What a wonderful way to say goodbye to our dear new friends.

We still communicate with Mary. She is a changed person. She now serves in the Relief Society presidency of that small branch and writes or emails us almost daily.

I don’t know how we could have ever reach her if it were not for “Flower Power.”

George Domm

George Domm was born and raised in upstate New York around historical LDS sites such as the Hill Cumorah and Palmyra. He was very familiar with the Church long before he was baptized in 1959. Soon after joining, he found himself serving a full-time mission for the Church in Berlin, Germany. That was his first of four missions! George currently lives in American Fork, UT with his wife, Margaret, and busies himself trying to keep up with their 11 children and 42 grandchildren. He loves to do family history and play golf with “all the old men in our neighborhood.” His goal is to one day shoot his age, 74.

While I was growing up in the state of New York, the number of young Latter-day Saints was never too great. I happened to be the only member in my whole high school class. Yet the few of us living there did have a fine seminary program. We would gather from all over the city and suburbs for lessons held daily in our little chapel beginning at 7:00 a.m. When I returned from my mission, I attended a junior college near the chapel for a year prior to leaving for Brigham Young University. During that year, I was called to teach that small seminary class. Every school day at 6:00 a.m., I would borrow my father’s car and drive about 25 miles in and around the city and suburbs picking and dropping off class members. On many winter days it was so cold and snowy I barely had time to pick up my class members and get them back home before school started. Sometimes my lessons in between were only five or ten minutes long. But we had fun. Over that year, I developed a special friendship and love for these devoted young people. They were wonderful young saints who later grew to be wonderful missionaries and devoted fathers and mothers.

That seminary meeting program continued for years after I left for school in Utah. Many memorable spiritual events came about from that little seminary class over the years. One of these events that has always touched me deeply involved a sweet young sister, who incidentally was my niece, Ally.

She was a junior at a local high school and was very active in sports, student affairs, and her studies. Even with her heavy schedule, she never failed to attend that early morning seminary class. Quite often she would get behind in her scripture study and could find little time to catch up. Often she would rush through her lunch at school then walk out into the common area and either sit on a bench or find a quiet place in a corner and read a few chapters of scripture before her next class was to begin.

One day while reading from her Book of Mormon, out of the corner of her eye Ally thought she saw someone watching her from across the commons. A young man dressed in a black hoodie with a very tattered old backpack was staring at her. She knew it must be a fellow student but she had no idea of who he was or why he was watching her from so far away. She felt extremely uncomfortable that day but continued reading her scriptures.

This same young man was there again the next day and the day after that, always watching her. Her efforts to avoid him never worked. She became so obsessed by his presence that she could take it no more. On the fourth day, she jumped up from her bench and walked over to him. In a very belligerent tone, she confronted him and asked, “Who are you? What are you doing staring at me like this every day? I don’t know you and I don’t like it. So stop it and go away or I’ll report you.”

The young man was somewhat stunned by this challenge and was almost too shy to respond. After a moment, he quietly asked, “What are you reading?” Ally was taken aback by this question and simply said, “A book. Why do you want to know? What’s it to you?” The young man replied quietly, “What book is it?” Not knowing why he asked this question or what she should say, she simply replied, “It’s called the Book of Mormon. Why do you want to know?”

He sheepishly he opened his backpack and quietly withdrew a book. It was like hers. The same color. The same size. She looked closely at the title. To her surprise, it read “The Book of Mormon.” Ally was puzzled. Why did he have a copy of the Book of Mormon in his backpack? Shyly he looked up and confided to Ally that for days he was trying to get up the nerve to ask her about this book — that’s why he was watching her. He said a friend had given it to him a few weeks earlier and said something about how someday it could change his life. He confessed that he had seen her reading her copy of the Book of Mormon during lunch hour and quietly hoped he could get the confidence and find the opportunity to ask Ally about this book. His question was simple: “Can you please tell me what is so special about this book? It must be special if I see you reading it here every day after you eat lunch when you could be doing something else.”

He was sincere and humble in his questions. He was searching for something. He did not mean to offend Ally or frighten her by watching her. But something had told him to seek her out. He was shy by nature but had a deep desire to know more about this strange book his friend had given him.

The two spoke for a while and it became apparent to Ally that he had had a rough time recently and was looking for help. He wanted answers. Deep inside had hoped that perhaps this book might give him some comfort, guidance, and inspiration.

Ally did not let this opportunity go to waste. Her attitude softened. She felt the Spirit telling her to help him. Slowly they became good friends. She explained the basics she knew about the Book of Mormon. Once she had his confidence, she did what was the next best thing to do under these circumstances: she asked if he would meet with her friends, the missionaries. They could tell him all he needed to know about this powerful book and they could meet at her home for these lessons if he liked. He agreed to do so.

After a few months filled with good teaching by two fine missionaries and Ally’s support, this boy’s life began to change. He accepted the missionary lessons without difficulty and prayed about their message. He was ready and searching for the gospel. A short time later, he was baptized, with Ally and her seminary friends and family present. With good fellowshipping from that little seminary class, he stayed active in the Church. He grew to be loved by his new ward friends. A good bishop worked with him to receive the priesthood. A few years later, this once shy, lost young man dress in a black hoodie who could only stare at Ally, watching her from far away, left to serve a worthy mission for the Church.

I too was a convert to the Church while a senior in high school in that that very same city. I know how he must have felt as he sought to find answers to life’s questions.

Thank goodness that there are saints like Ally who live the gospel with boldness and listen to the Spirit. And like Ally, they are saints who remember that they are called to be missionaries first. They are ready to gather in Israel at any time and under any circumstance, even while being observed from across a school lunch yard. Her kind actions changed the destiny of a young man who was searching for truth too. Further, who knew then how many other lives were changed for the better as he served a mission, married in the temple, and raised his family in the Church?

All this because a young seminary student answered a searching question from a total stranger.

Someone once told me, “We must live the gospel as if people were always looking at us, because our lives may be the only book some people will ever read.”

Ally not only read her Book of Mormon, but her life was also being read by someone seeking the truth of the gospel.

George Domm

George Domm was born and raised in upstate New York around historical LDS sites such as the Hill Cumorah and Palmyra. He was very familiar with the Church long before he was baptized in 1959. Soon after joining, he found himself serving a full-time mission for the Church in Berlin, Germany. That was his first of four missions! George currently lives in American Fork, UT with his wife, Margaret, and busies himself trying to keep up with their 11 children and 42 grandchildren. He loves to do family history and play golf with “all the old men in our neighborhood.” His goal is to one day shoot his age, 74.

Not many of us have had the firsthand opportunity to experience how thin this veil may become, even outside of the temple at times. But there are experiences that do happen and must be shared to strengthen our testimonies of this great work of Heavenly Father. In my own family, we have had one such experience that we speak of and share often among ourselves. It is a very precious experience that happened to one our ancestors. After more than a century, this testimony by John Johnson about how thin the veil is continues to inspire us. I hope it will inspire you too.

John Johnson was a young man living in Sweden near the city of Karbenning in 1886. He was the oldest of eight children. His father’s early death left him in charge of the family farm and the support of his widowed mother. During that year, missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints came to his town. Their message of the Restoration profoundly moved John. 

He would have joined the Church at once had it not been for his mother’s strong opposition. He held off for a time, but he could not dismiss the principles that were so firmly rooted in his mind. His mental struggles were relentless. Finally, he realized he could have no peace of mind until he joined the Church. He was baptized on September 12, 1886. He was 22 at the time.

His baptism angered his mother, uncles, and the community. They wrote him off as a complete loss. 

One uncle had invited him to visit for a weekend at his home prior to hearing of John’s baptism. 

John was excited to spend some time with the family and his cousins. He was naïve enough to think they all would listen to his new beliefs. However, upon arriving at the door, he realized he was not welcome. Not a cousin was to be seen. A short time later, his uncle approached him and said “I want you to leave this house and never return. I understand that Mormonism has a strange power for evil which people cannot resist. I do not want my family contaminated.”

As John left the farmyard, he saw his cousins looking at him through a window. He turned towards them hoping to say goodbye, but the faces disappeared. They were locked inside.

On his way home, he walked through a wooded area. When he was out of sight, he sat down on a rock and wept. This rejection was a great sorrow to him. Kneeling beside the rock, he prayed for the ability to someday reach his people and give them the gospel.

Throughout the years that followed, John kept his testimony. He was called to serve two missions, both back to Sweden and to his hometown of Karbenning. The first mission came before he could immigrate to Utah with the Saints, his greatest desire. He was successful in baptizing many into the Church there, but never his mother or other family members. However, he was able to restore good relations with his mother before he left for the States.

The second mission call came after marrying a young lady also of Swedish descent, Edla, and starting a family in Utah. By the time the call came, they had three children: Elinor, Elsie, and Lawrence, who was only three months old. When he received the call, it took all his faith (and that of his dear wife Edla) to accept it and leave them for several years.

As John returned again to his homeland, he went with much more confidence. He even found that his relatives who once disowned him now took pride in him. On occasion they even befriended him and opened their homes for him to teach in. But none of them accepted his message. And again, he returned home without seeing any of his beloved family accepting the gospel. What would it take to bring them into the fold? 

However, over thirty years later, John did receive the desire of his heart — and in a remarkable way. His eldest daughter Elinor went on a mission to Colorado. While serving there, she contracted tuberculosis and suffered several years before passing. Her death at such a young age was a heavy blow to John. He was constantly tormented by the question, Why did my lovely, faithful, and first-born daughter have to die so young? It seemed so unfair; she had every right to live. She had given her short life to serving others.

Then one night he received his answer in a marvelous manner. He had gone to sleep for the night. Suddenly he was awakened by a voice saying, “You asked for a blessing, and I have given you a greater one.” He sat up in bed, thoroughly awake, and received what he called a “manifestation.” He could see Elinor before him well and strong, her face shining with happiness. She said to him, “I have been preaching the gospel to our dead relations, Father, and they are listening to me.”

He remembered her saying before she died, “Dad, I wish I could go on another mission.” Well, she had her desire; she was on another mission within the family and doing what John had never been able to do. The prayer that he had offered so earnestly in the wooded area so long ago in Sweden was being answered. John thanked God for this beautiful and satisfying experience.

Yes, at times the veil is very thin.

George Domm

George Domm was born and raised in upstate New York around historical LDS sites such as the Hill Cumorah and Palmyra. He was very familiar with the Church long before he was baptized in 1959. Soon after joining, he found himself serving a full-time mission for the Church in Berlin, Germany. That was his first of four missions! George currently lives in American Fork, UT with his wife, Margaret, and busies himself trying to keep up with their 11 children and 42 grandchildren. He loves to do family history and play golf with “all the old men in our neighborhood.” His goal is to one day shoot his age, 74.

There is always a challenge to meet and overcome before the next one comes. Some challenges are hard to handle and some are more bearable. We all look forward and hope someday to reach what we call “perfection.” Yet in the entire history of mankind, there has been only one living soul who ever attained that lofty state of perfection: Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God.

Jesus Christ was perfect before He dwelt on Earth, and then He completed His Father’s mission here on Earth with total perfection. The legacy to us of His monumental work is eternal life to those who continue seeking perfection — or in other words, we are to work to become like Him. The Savior even commanded us to “[b]e ye therefore perfect” (Matthew 5:48).

We are all imperfect beings and will always be so until we finish our work here on the earth and return to our Father in Heaven. Until then we will always be struggling in a constant effort to overcome our weaknesses an imperfections. The great promise we have been given is the knowledge that through our attitudes and work ethic, we can overcome or learn to cope with most of our weaknesses. In making the effort to improve ourselves, we become stronger. A weightlifter never will gain the strength he desires to compete in his field if he simply thinks about it and makes no effort to constantly lift heavier and heavier weights. All his struggles are not in vain — they make him stronger.

The imperfections we must overcome are not all the same. Some of us are born with physical deficiencies, like loss of limbs or a congenital problems that limit our physical or mental growth. Others have physical impairments come to them either by illness or accident. For many of us to achieve any degree of proficiency or skill in this life, we must expend great effort to overcome these limitations. Very few people achieve greatness without extreme devotion to their cause, and practice makes perfect. Whatever effort we chose to make will improve us and will always bear fruit.

History has shown us that physical or mental limitations do not mean we cannot grow and rise above them. Emma Smith, Joseph Smith’s wife, was quoted as saying that Joseph at the time of the translating of the Book of Mormon could hardly write a grammatically correct sentence, let alone the entire Book of Mormon. Yet it did not stop this largely self-educated man from writing countless letters and articles during his short life.

For another example, look to the great prophet and leader Moses. For forty years he led his people in the wilderness and gave us the first five books of the Bible. Yet he could not speak well in public — so the Lord gave him Aaron to speak for him. His inability to speak never prohibited him from doing the Lord’s work in a monumental way.

Finally, in our own day, who cannot learn from the example of Helen Keller? Born blind and deaf, she was destined to remain in a cocoon of darkness and solitude with no contact with the world around her. But she had the sense of touch and used it to communicate with the outside world. She learned to use her fingers to tap out her thoughts in a form of braille. In doing so, she changed the whole world.

The greatest challenge we have in life is to do the absolute best with what we have. That is all God asks of us. For many years I have had a comic strip mounted on my office wall. It’s a piece by Johnny Hart from his B.C. comic strip series which runs in most newspapers daily. I look at it often because it has changed my life. It is the most perfect explanation of this desire we all must have to do the best we can with what we have.

In the strip, an old handicapped man sits under a tree. He has one good leg and a one peg leg. The captions read:

I’m thankful that I have one leg.

To limp is no disgrace.

Although I can’t be number one

I can still run the race.

It’s not the things you cannot do,

That makes you what you are,

It’s doing good with what you’ve got

That lights the morning star.

To all of us who feel somehow crippled and as though we are running too slowly in life’s race, let us remember: “It’s doing good with what you’ve got that lights the morning star.” Never give up. The world always needs another morning star.

B.C. comic strip by Johnny Hart

George Domm

George Domm was born and raised in upstate New York around historical LDS sites such as the Hill Cumorah and Palmyra. He was very familiar with the Church long before he was baptized in 1959. Soon after joining, he found himself serving a full-time mission for the Church in Berlin, Germany. That was his first of four missions! George currently lives in American Fork, UT with his wife, Margaret, and busies himself trying to keep up with their 11 children and 42 grandchildren. He loves to do family history and play golf with “all the old men in our neighborhood.” His goal is to one day shoot his age, 74.

46 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail—

 

47 But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.

But sometimes it takes the example set by others to wake us up to our often insignificant commitment to true charity as taught by Heavenly Father.

This wakeup call came to me on a quiet Saturday morning in my own backyard. That morning I was up early and walking on my lawn when I thought I heard a bird chirping nearby. I looked around and saw nothing. Then it called again from under my feet. I heard it coming from the window well of my basement! As I peered inside, I saw a little bird — a starling — there.

Evidently, he had flown down into the window well perhaps looking for food or shelter. However, he was unable to fly back out due to the steel bars on the cover. He had inadvertently trapped himself and was chirping for help to get out.

I put on a gardening glove for protection from his beak and removed the window well grate hoping he would fly out. But he was either too afraid or too exhausted to even try. He just cowered in a corner until I picked him up and removed him from his prison.

Once out, I gently threw him up into the air thinking he would fly away. But instead he jumped from my hands and flew downward about twenty feet into the grass. There he laid, not moving. So I picked him up and tried once more to send him on his way, only to see him fall to the grass again. After several more attempts to revive him, I gave up, thinking he had lost too much strength and would shortly die.

Not wanting to view this sad event, I left him alone in the grass to his demise and walked off. But my curiosity got the better of me, and after about fifteen minutes, I returned again to this little starling. There he was. He had not moved an inch. He still looked frightened and lost.

But as I drew near to him, a large red robin flew in over my shoulder and came to rest about a foot in front of the distressed little guy. I looked closely at these two birds to see what would happen. The robin had flown in with a huge worm in his bill. He took several steps toward our needy little friend and before I knew it, he offered him the worm. I stood amazed at how tenderly he held the worm up over the mouth of his new friend. Eagerly the worm was swallowed. They looked at each other for a while after that, and then the robin flew away. It took a few moments, but the little starling started to revive himself. First, he shook his head a little. Then he flexed his wings and jumped into the air and flew away. I can only guess that the worm he received from a friendly robin had been sufficient to nourish him and give him the strength and courage to fly home.

What I observed in this little exchange was truly remarkable. It has taught me a great lesson about true charity. The robin saw a fellow bird in distress. He could have paid no attention to it and gone about on his own path. But rather than think of himself, he answered the call of a creature in distress.

The robin had only one possession in his life: a worm. He could have eaten it himself or perhaps given it to his chicks, but he gave it to a stranger in hopes of helping him. I have asked myself if I would ever be brave or caring enough to part with one of my precious possessions to help a friend in need like this robin? It seemed his only desire was to help a friend in need. His tender gift brought life and hope to a dying bird. Would I be able to do the same if called upon?

The greatest example of this kind of love and sacrifice was set by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He gave his everything to provide eternal life to all who would keep His commandments.

I simply ask myself now, how much am I willing to give someone in need? I hope and pray this little event will always remind me of true charity. I must always “cleave unto charity,” even as my little robin friend has taught me.

George Domm

George Domm was born and raised in upstate New York around historical LDS sites such as the Hill Cumorah and Palmyra. He was very familiar with the Church long before he was baptized in 1959. Soon after joining, he found himself serving a full-time mission for the Church in Berlin, Germany. That was his first of four missions! George currently lives in American Fork, UT with his wife, Margaret, and busies himself trying to keep up with their 11 children and 42 grandchildren. He loves to do family history and play golf with “all the old men in our neighborhood.” His goal is to one day shoot his age, 74.

As we gathered, Elder Fyans asked us to be seated at our long high council table. But rather than sitting randomly, he instructed us all to sit in a row on one side of the table. He then sat looking at us from the other side. I happened to be seated directly across from him.

Following some words of greeting and an opening prayer, Elder Fyans proceeded to look directly at me and said, “President Domm, will you please tell us of a spiritual experience in your life?” The request came at me so quickly I was stunned. I wasn’t ready to for it. I first thought, “Why me? Couldn’t he ask someone else and give me time to think?” But in only a moment, a calmness came over me and I felt a strong impression to tell him of an event earlier in my life when, on a late evening while driving my family home from an activity, the Holy Ghost suddenly warned me to stop my car. I slammed on my brakes only to look to my right and see an out-of-control car racing across the intersection at well over 100 miles per hour. Miraculously, our lives had been spared by this voice I heard.

After I recited this event, Elder Fyans said, “Thank you, President Domm, for sharing that with us.” He then in turn asked the same question of every person in our presidency. These individuals were able to relate wonderful spiritual experiences they’d had in their lives. Each was touching and meaningful.

After we all had spoken, he asked us a very simple question: “Brethren, who else knows of these spiritual experiences you have shared with me today? Have you shared them with your wives or children? Do your friends and relatives know about them? Have you written them down for future generations to read?”

The point he made with us that day was that these very special spiritual events are sacred and should be shared to strengthen others too. Not only were they given to assist us with a specific event or situation in our lives, but to help others. They are gifts from God and should be cherished and used to strengthen others and to build stronger testimonies of a living, caring God.

This lesson has been a constant influence in my life ever since. He went on to say that Heavenly Father has given us spiritual experience for several reasons. The first is to testify to us as that He hears and answers our prayers. He loves us and these events testify of that great love. They testify to us that He lives and is always watching over each of us. Secondly, He gives us these spiritual blessings not just for our personal edification, but also to bless others who can learn and gain strength from hearing them. They testify to the world that He lives. We read in Luke 11:33, “No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light.” These events are a light to the world. We are duty-bound to share them.

We would have no Bible, Book of Mormon, nor modern-day revelations if the authors did not write their spiritual experiences down to share with us and with future generations.

In his Teachings of the Book of Mormon series, Hugh Nibley, the great scholar of ancient scripture, said that the greatest invention of all mankind was the ability to write. He says that taking 26 letters or symbols in the English language (or other characters in other languages) and arranging them in calculated manners gives mankind the ability to pass these sacred events forward from generation to generation. We can write things down—or, in other words, we can use these letters to make words, which make ideas. We then we use those words and ideas to pass on the many spiritual events we experience. If properly done, like in the Book of Mormon, our spiritual happenings could be read by generations many hundreds of years in the future.

Over the last few decades, Family Search has evolved into just such a vehicle to help carry our spiritual events forward. We can post pictures, stories, journals, and even verbal and video transcriptions on this site. In so doing, we know that they are safe and protected for now and hopefully forever. The Church has all but guaranteed that they will never be lost. Generations to come will either read, hear, or see them.

May we take the time to speak of these spiritual blessings to our loved ones in our lives and also to record them for all who are to come. Someone will surely be blessed by them.

George Domm

George Domm was born and raised in upstate New York around historical LDS sites such as the Hill Cumorah and Palmyra. He was very familiar with the Church long before he was baptized in 1959. Soon after joining, he found himself serving a full-time mission for the Church in Berlin, Germany. That was his first of four missions! George currently lives in American Fork, UT with his wife, Margaret, and busies himself trying to keep up with their 11 children and 42 grandchildren. He loves to do family history and play golf with “all the old men in our neighborhood.” His goal is to one day shoot his age, 74.

Yet those members and full-time missionaries who engage in this great missionary work sometimes feel they have not succeeded when they don’t have immediate success. We ask ourselves, “If this message of the Restoration is as true as we believe it to be, why don’t we have more immediate success?”

Missionaries are always planting seeds hoping to see the fruits of their labors. But in some cases, the seeds do not germinate now but later, when those missionaries have long left their fields of labor. It took Brigham Young, one of the greatest of all Church leaders, over two years to fully accept the message of the restored gospel and be baptized. In his own words, he said, “I examined the matter studiously, for two years, before I made up my mind . . . ”

Many others have taken a greater time to come to the point of conversion. To them, the spirt of revelation to join the Church comes slowly in the Lord’s way and according to the Lord’s timetable as the Holy Spirit enlightens them. Per President Dallin H. Oaks: “Revelation is a reality. It comes in the Lord’s way and according to the Lord’s timetable”. Some people need more time than others.

In my own family’s case, it took over twenty years of study, questioning, and prayer before my mother and father led themselves and their four sons into the waters of baptism. Each year, they learned a little more about the gospel until the time was finally right for them and they were prepared to join the body of saints through baptism.

Many times, we plant the seeds but are never around to see the tree bear its fruit. Such is the case that follows:

Several years ago, I was living in Northern California. On a summer evening, I found myself sitting in the home of a friendly middle-aged couple named Jim and Mary. It was a business call and I was there with a friend and associate of mine who was several years older than I. As we got to know this young family, all their attention was focused on my companion who was a lay minister in a local small protestant church. Jim and Mary were intrigued and asked him many questions about what kind of church it was and what he did as a lay minister. After quite some time, Jim looked my way and asked if I was a member of this church too. I answered, “No, I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I am a Mormon.”

At that point Jim turned to his wife and said, “Mary, go get that book.” She immediately knew what he was referring to. In only a minute, she returned from the bedroom with one of our paperback-covered Book of Mormons. Jim held it in his right hand and, looking directly at me, asked, “George, what is so special about this book?”

He went on to say that he had just retired after twenty years on active duty in the Navy. His first year of service was in submarine duty. On his first excursion out to sea, his bunk mate, who slept above him, one night reached down from his bunk with a book in his hand. He offered it to Jim without any explanation except to say, “Jim, someday this book will change your life.” Jim said thanks for the offering, but never got around to reading it. It was that copy of the Book of Mormon that Jim was showing to me.

He went on to explain the strange power this book has had on him for these past twenty years. He said that he and his wife had moved more than ten times while in the military. He had always read a lot while in the service. With each transfer, they tried to simplify their moves and threw away most of their paperback books. Jim said that time and again he was ready to cast the Book of Mormon into the trash can along with the other discarded books, but was held back. Several times he held it in his hand over the trash can ready to throw it away, but a strange power seemed to glue it to his hand until he put it back down and repacked it.

Again, he asked me, “What is so special about this book?” I waited a few moments, then explained that this book was the word of God just like the Bible. I then answered a few more questions but thought it better to give him an invitation to meet with two of our good missionaries who lived nearby. He gladly accepted my invitation.

The next morning, I called the mission home and explained the situation. They promptly sent two missionaries out to Jim and Mary. That was all I heard about their meetings, as they lived about 30 miles south of me. Two months later, my phone rang at home. On the other end was Jim. He extended an invitation to me that I will never forget. He said, “George, this is Jim. What are you doing next Saturday morning? Would you like to come down here again and baptize Mary and me?”

I was so stunned, I could only stammer out, “Where and when? You bet I’ll be there.” That Saturday morning came and after a very fitting pre-baptismal program, I was pleased and overjoyed to step down into the font and baptize these two wonderful and faithful people.

All of this happened because a friend knew his duty to share the gospel and acted upon that inspiration from the Holy Ghost.

A short time later, Jim and Mary decided it was time to move on to where they had always dreamed of being, and went to Idaho to be near more saints. I am sure that the friend who gave Jim his copy of the Book of Mormon has never heard of the great work he initiated. I hope he will rejoice in the hereafter when they meet again.

I, too, am grateful to the unknown missionaries who in 1940 placed tracts about the restoration of the gospel and Joseph Smith in some empty slots at a train station near Palmyra, New York. That’s where my mother picked them up and pondered their message for many years until two other unknown missionaries left a copy of the Book of Mormon with my grandmother. She knew of her daughter’s interest in the Church and dropped it in the mail with a little note saying, “I think you have been trying to find this book. I am not interested in it myself, but I know you are. Please take mine.” It took another seven or eight years more of reading and studying before the work of those other missionaries resulted in our whole family entering the waters of baptism and never looking back.

Let it be said that the old adage “From little stokes fall great oaks” still holds true—especially in missionary work. Every effort we make now may not yield immediate results or ones that we can see. But with time and the testimony of others, we may be surprised at blessings formerly unseen or forgotten that have now come to pass in the lives of our friends and families.

George Domm

George Domm was born and raised in upstate New York around historical LDS sites such as the Hill Cumorah and Palmyra. He was very familiar with the Church long before he was baptized in 1959. Soon after joining, he found himself serving a full-time mission for the Church in Berlin, Germany. That was his first of four missions! George currently lives in American Fork, UT with his wife, Margaret, and busies himself trying to keep up with their 11 children and 42 grandchildren. He loves to do family history and play golf with “all the old men in our neighborhood.” His goal is to one day shoot his age, 74.

By speech we can exchange our thoughts, give warnings, show appreciation and provide comfort, to name only a few. Most often we use the spoken word to communicate our feelings and to teach, inspire, and motivate. But if we are not careful, the spoken word can do as much damage to the human soul as it does good. We have a warning about this danger in the words of the apostle James: “Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be” (James 3:10).

As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we have a double responsibility to watch every word we speak because we know that the effects of our speech have eternal ramifications. We must always follow the counsel in the Doctrine and Covenants: “Therefore, strengthen your brethren in all your conversation, in all your prayers, in all your exhortations, and in all your doings” (D&C 108:7).

However, we do not always listen to and follow this advice. When we do not, and we speak unkindly to one another, great harm can be done. The following incident is true and should never have happened. The effects of a few poorly chosen words said to a tender-hearted young mother proved very damaging to this daughter of our Heavenly Father.

In the early 1940s, World War II was raging. Thousands of men and women in our country responded to the call to duty and went off to serve in the war. This had a rippling effect on the home front in America. There simply were not enough male workers to meet the country’s needs at home. So, many women, young and old—housewives, mothers and even grandmothers—responded and tried to fill in for these missing workers.

It was in 1944 that the bishop of a ward in Arizona found he did not have enough sisters to teach Primary. Most mothers had gone off to work full-time jobs, leaving no one to teach the children. In those days, Primary was usually held on Thursday afternoons. What was he to do? He felt impressed to comb through the ward membership list, seeking out sisters who could aid in filling the teaching openings he had. As in every ward, there were many sisters on the records he did not see often (or at all) in church. These were the “less actives.” As he and his counselors reviewed the list of names, a Sister Marge came to mind. Why not her? She was a pleasant and capable sister with children in primary who had not attended church due to a Word of Wisdom problem—she smoked.

But here, he thought, was an opportunity to tenderly guide her and her family back to activity while helping to teach the children in primary—which the ward needed badly. Her family included a nonmember husband and three children. The bishop arranged a visit to Marge’s home and, after explaining the ward’s need, he extended a call to Marge to teach in Primary. It did not take long for her to think it over. With the approval of her husband, she said yes to the calling. Marge promised to do her best.

For over a year, everything went well. She was faithful to her calling. She loved working with the children and was making progress with her Word of Wisdom problem. The family had started attend services. All was well.

National WWII Memorial in Washington, D.C. | Image via washington.org

In September of 1945, the war ended formally. Everyone rejoiced! The men and women in uniform were coming home. Employment in businesses was beginning to improve. With the war’s end, things were getting back to normal in America.

It was at this point that the bishop asked to meet with Marge. Having no thought that anything was wrong, she happily went to the ward thinking there might be more she could do in her calling. As the bishop welcomed Marge into his office, he sat her down and from behind his desk, he quietly said these words: “Marge, now that the war is over and the GOOD WOMEN are back, I’m going to release you from your calling in Primary.” There wasn’t much more spoken except a few words of thanks for her service—but Marge was so stunned that she never heard those words.

In only a few seconds, Marge’s world crashed down around her. She was so heartbroken she could not speak. She left the office and slowly walked home trying to clear the tears in her eyes and preparing what to say to her husband and family. The words “good” women meant to her that she was a “bad” woman. The bishop, despite what he may or may not have meant, offered no other explanation. She did not understand. Where was this bishop’s love and compassion? She had truly been faithful in her calling. She may still have had a few problems in her life, but everyone does. Why did that make her a bad woman?

We don’t know and maybe never will know what influenced this bishop to utter these hurtful and destructive words. He certainly could have been more considerate, loving, and charitable in this situation. But the words had been spoken and a life was forever changed.

Nothing was ever done to correct or withdraw these words. Marge stayed home from church after that. She would always take her children to Sunday church services. She would also attend all her children’s special events and programs. But Marge and her husband never again attended church services together. Added to that, her husband never again felt close enough to the gospel to take the missionary lessons.

Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf perhaps best summed up what may have happened here and what still unfortunately happens all over the world:

“You will find that this Church is filled with some of the finest people this world has to offer. They are welcoming, loving, kind, and sincere. They are hardworking, willing to sacrifice, and even heroic at times.

 

And they are also painfully imperfect.

 

They make mistakes.

 

From time to time they say things they shouldn’t. They do things they wish they hadn’t.

 

But they do have this in common—they want to improve and draw closer to the Lord, our Savior, even Jesus Christ.

 

They are trying to get it right.

 

They believe. They love. They do.

 

They want to become less selfish. More compassionate, more refined, more like Jesus”

 

(Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “Believe, Love, Do,” November 2018 Ensign).

Our hopes and prayers are that someday in the hereafter, Marge and her bishop will meet again and reach out to one another in the true spirit of love, repentance, and forgiveness and mend the damage from these misspoken words from so long ago.

I conclude with the words of Melvin J. Luthy:

“Brigham Young taught an interesting principle, that by controlling our words we gain control of our thoughts. The Epistle of James teaches us that small things like the bit in a horse’s mouth or the rudder on a ship can control the larger body (James 3:1-4). So also, by the small matter of controlling our tongues, we gain control over our bodies” (Melvin J. Luthy, “Truth, Lies, and the Power of the Word,” BYU Devotional, November 9,1999).

May we all guard our words as we would guard our precious gold.

George Domm

George Domm was born and raised in upstate New York around historical LDS sites such as the Hill Cumorah and Palmyra. He was very familiar with the Church long before he was baptized in 1959. Soon after joining, he found himself serving a full-time mission for the Church in Berlin, Germany. That was his first of four missions! George currently lives in American Fork, UT with his wife, Margaret, and busies himself trying to keep up with their 11 children and 42 grandchildren. He loves to do family history and play golf with “all the old men in our neighborhood.” His goal is to one day shoot his age, 74.

I suppose anyone would agree with his feelings. But later on he wrote, “I freely admit that I don’t want to die. I don’t worry about what comes after death—I am not a “spiritual person” in the slightest. When I die I expect nothing but nothing. Life will be over. That is what I dread. I can’t imagine saying goodbye to life and all the things in it that mean something to me, especially to the people I love.”

I know my friend is an avowed atheist. Several times we have had discussions about God and life after death. He simply believes he is right and sees no logic in believing otherwise. To him, there is no God in heaven, no Christ, no Redeemer, nor anything after this life but a void and emptiness. Everything will be as blank and empty then as before his first memories.

Why Do People Fail to Pursue Spiritual Knowledge?

I find it so sad that he is willing to give up on life after death without even examining the alternatives. I have often asked myself, “Why do so many of God’s children give up so easily in the pursuit of the knowledge that leads to immortality and eternal life? What is the harm of pursuing this hope with every last bit of strength we have? What can be of more worth than living in God’s kingdom for time and all eternity and seeking exaltation?”

Yet, for various reason, many of God’s children would rather remain in darkness and ignorance than humble themselves and learn of Him and of His unconditional love for each of us—love that provides us with eternal life and exaltation after this life if we work to accept it.

My friend is a good man in all respects. He is a good family man raising several wonderful children and caring for his dear wife with love and kindness. He contributes his time and efforts to the community. But he will have nothing to do with religion either formally or informally.

What are some of the possible reasons for him and so many like him to follow this hopeless route in life? I offer here a few thoughts that might shed some light on the subject.

1. No Religion in the Home

Some people live without God and religion simply because they never heard of it in their homes while growing up. Children most often follow the ways of their parents, whether they know it or not. Look at how children tend to follow their parents’ political persuasions. More often than not, democrats follow democrats and republicans become republicans.

There is no truer example of this trend than in The Book of Mormon. The Lamanites followed the traditions of their fathers and were a godless people and, as such, were almost constantly in ignorance of Christ and his teachings. This verse sums it up: “And that wicked one cometh and taketh away light and truth, through disobedience, from the children of men, and because of the tradition of their fathers.”

Because of these false traditions, generations of Lamanite children grew up in ignorance of Christ and His teachings. This conflicts with the happier outcome when children are under the teachings and influence of parents who teach the powerful truths of the Spirit of Christ. These faithful parents produce generations of men and women who believe in Christ, follow His teachings, and live by correct principles, having hope in eternal life and exaltation.

2. The Joseph Smith Dilemma: Which Church is Right?

Another possible reason for being uninvolved with religion comes down to sheer numbers. With so many churches and religions in the world today, each preaching different doctrines, one can easily become so frustrated that it becomes too confusing to find a satisfactory doctrine to follow. For almost 2,000 years, the true church of Christ was not on the earth. It all but perished with the death of the original apostles. That means that all churches founded during those millennium were the churches of men, following their interpretation of religion rather than God’s.

After the First Vision, Joseph declared about this dilemma:

“. . .I asked the Personages who stood above me in the light, which of all the sects was right (for at this time it had never entered into my heart that all were wrong)—and which I should join.

I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong; and the Personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professors were all corrupt; that: “they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof” (Joseph Smith—History 1:19).

3. Losing Faith in God

Now we come to one of the hardest traits of man to understand. I speak of losing all faith in God (and His love for His children) and replacing it with the science of men. How many have turned their backs on a belief in God because His existence can’t be “proven by science.” They purport that science has all the answers and that it has no room for God. In reality, they know so very little of God and His worlds, yet they think they know enough to disprove His existence.

We should remember Moses as he spoke to God face to face. When finished seeing all of God’s creations, Moses fell to the earth and lost his strength “for the space of many hours” so great were the works of God. It left Moses saying, “Now, for this cause I know that man is nothing, which thing I never had supposed.” The vastness of God’s creations cannot be comprehended by us even in the slightest, yet with our myopic view, we dismiss Him completely from our lives.

It is like the the age-old story of leading a blind man to the side of an elephant, then letting him touch the trunk and asking him to describe the whole beast. There is so much he does not see nor comprehend without his vision. He cannot do describe the elephant as a whole with any accuracy. The scriptures tell us, “O how marvelous are the works of the Lord, and how long doth he suffer his people; yea, how blind and impenetrable are the understandings of the children of men, for they will not seek wisdom, neither do they desire that she should rule over them.”

4. Our Own Agency

Another reason for refusing to accept the teachings of life after death and the existence of God is that we all have the right to do so. We can make choices to abandon God of our own free will for various shortsighted reasons. This is the improper application of “free,” or better yet, “moral” agency. God will never force anyone to accept and worship him. We read in the scriptures, “For remember, remember, my brethren, that whosoever perisheth, perisheth unto himself; and whosoever doeth iniquity, doeth it unto himself; for behold, ye are free; ye are permitted to act for yourselves; for behold, God hath given unto you a knowledge and he hath made you free.”

Many are the traps set by Satin to entice us into misusing our free agency. The Book of Ephesians best sums up the pit into which we can fall into by improper use of our agency: “That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the slight of men, and the cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive . . .”

The list of idols that man has to choose from rather than God’s way are many. He can freely choose the praise of man, power, pride, vanity, excessive wealth, immorality in all its facets, intellectualism, and a multitude of other vices that trap and starve us spiritually.

The height to which men will go to in choosing unholy objects and objectives was best brought to my attention a few years ago when I was looking at the large and expensive luxury yachts anchored in a South Florida marina. As I passed a huge new boat several hundred feet in length, my host said to me that it costs the owner over $1,000,000 a year just to berth and maintain this one yacht!

As I looked up at the stern of this boat to see what its name was I was appalled. It was christened “NEVER ENOUGH.” It just proved to me that without God in our lives, our appetites become unquenchable. Without Him, we would never make the time nor effort to live Christlike lives. It would not take long for mankind to fall into the abyss described by Alma about the people of Ammonihah. In a state of apostasy, the Ammonihah-ites became a hard-hearted and a stiffnecked people; a lost and fallen people who would be visited with utter destruction as a judgment from God.

5. Apathy

Lastly (and sadly), what holds so many from seeking out a testimony of immortality and eternal life is apathy. Many are just too busy or lazy to be bothered at this time. As Elder L. Tom Perry said, “A major problem we face in preaching the gospel in the world is general apathy toward religion, toward things spiritual. Too many are very comfortable with their present lifestyle and feel no need to do more than “eat, drink and be merry” (Luke 12:19). They are not interested in anything but themselves—here and now.”

Until we can convince man to stop and take time to explore the true nature of God and His eternal love for us, then many of his children will walk in their own way and after the image of their own god.

Their likeness will be a reflection of the image of the world. There is so much more to be gained by following Christ. This, then, should be our great goal in life—to be missionaries with the wholesome goal to teach the plan of salvation until all believe.

George Domm

George Domm was born and raised in upstate New York around historical LDS sites such as the Hill Cumorah and Palmyra. He was very familiar with the Church long before he was baptized in 1959. Soon after joining, he found himself serving a full-time mission for the Church in Berlin, Germany. That was his first of four missions! George currently lives in American Fork, UT with his wife, Margaret, and busies himself trying to keep up with their 11 children and 42 grandchildren. He loves to do family history and play golf with “all the old men in our neighborhood.” His goal is to one day shoot his age, 74.

On one hand, there is the group that says we evolved slowly over eons of time from a one-celled creature that came ashore from the oceans billions of years ago. Gradually, that creature evolved or grew upward, step-by-step, through all phases of development and became the men and women we are today. There are many sources of evidence that might suggest this to be true, at least in part. Numerous museums and universities are filled with archaeological remnants of species and findings from the past that are purported to give proof to this theory of biological evolution. But no archaeologist or anthropologist can really prove, without doubt, that this theory is unequivocally true.

On the other hand, there are those who live by faith and accept the definition, though very basic, that man is the creation of God as stated by Moses when he wrote, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” (1 Genesis 1:27)

Surely, there is much more to be learned before either theory can be accepted as totally true or that a combination of the two satisfies our quest. Men will continue digging in the ground to find more physical proof to support their theories that we came about in a natural, self-guided manner without the interference from God or any other outside directing forces.

The faithful, however, quietly wait until the coming day when the Lord will reveal to us the workings of our all-wise Father in Heaven regarding our creation. He is testing our patience and faith now by not revealing too much on the subject. But someday, He will explain all He has done to create us “in his own image.”

While we wait to have all the missing blanks filled in concerning our creation, it would do us well to consider an old Jewish tale of two brothers who spent their entire life living in the city, never once going out into the countryside.

One day, one of the brothers out of curiosity said, “It’s time for us to see what there is outside our home. It might prove interesting. We might even enjoy such an outing.”

So they began their expedition by hiking out on an old country road. They were amazed at the beauty all around them that they had never seen before. For the first time, they saw beautiful trees, streams and rivers, all sorts of flowers, and rich, fertile fields running as far as the eye could see.

After a while, they turned to see a lovely fenced-off field filled with grass and wild flowers.  As they watched, an old man entered the field with some sort of steel implement. He climbed up onto it and had his horse pull him back and forth over the field. As they looked on, the young men were aghast—the old man was destroying all the grass and flowers! Back and forth, he rode, over and over again. When he finished, there wasn’t one blade of grass or a single flower left. They saw only a dirty gray field with small rocks and clumps of dry ground. All the beautiful things had been destroyed.

The two brothers were very upset. One said to the other, “Look at what that stupid old man has done. He has destroyed everything.”

As they continued to watch, the old man came back into the field holding a large bag of what looked to be grain over his shoulder. He reached into it and started to throw it all over the field.  This incensed them even further. One brother cried out, “Not only has he ruined the field, but now he is throwing perfectly good grain away! I have had enough. I am going back home.” He stamped his feet, turned around, and huffed his way back home.

The other young man found the old man’s behavior very interesting, and was eager to see more, so he stayed in the country a season. As time passed, he saw something wonderful happen to the once “ruined” field. Slowly, it came back to life. It was now covered with beautiful and tall grass. Excited, he ran to get his brother again to share in this change with him. They both marveled at the new growth until the farmer returned with a scythe in his hand. All at once, he thrust it into the new grass. Before long, he had cut every blade down.

The impatient brother cried out once again. “There that fool goes again! He has destroyed the beautiful field a second time. Now I really have had enough of this stupid old man. I am going home again and hope never to return.”

Again, the other brother remained to see what would happen next. He saw the farmer carefully rake up all the grass and bundle it. He then took it to a building not far away. There, he beat it with a heavy stick until it was divided into two parts: the chaff and the grain. He blew away the chaff and bagged up the remaining grain. The old man had been growing wheat. He bagged up enough grain to fill his whole wagon and left for home.

Suddenly, it all became very clear to our young man. He cried out, “How naive and ignorant we have been! This good old farmer by his labor, wisdom, and faith has turned one bag of wheat into a hundred bags for his family. He never destroyed the field but used it for his benefit.” As he rejoiced at what he had learned, he ran back to the city to tell his brother all about this now wise old farmer.

The time will come when all of our questions on the origin of man will be answered. Everything will fall into place. At present, we have only bits and pieces of knowledge about our creation. We will feel as humbled at the answers to our questions as these two young men were about the origin of the wheat.

God the Father has said, “For behold this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.” (Moses 1:39)

When we grow enough spiritually to grasp the depth of love that our Father in Heaven has for us, He will reveal all the missing pieces we need to have a perfect understanding of the story of our creation. Everything will fall into place and at last we will know the true origin of man.

By George Domm

George Domm

George Domm was born and raised in upstate New York around historical LDS sites such as the Hill Cumorah and Palmyra. He was very familiar with the Church long before he was baptized in 1959. Soon after joining, he found himself serving a full-time mission for the Church in Berlin, Germany. That was his first of four missions! George currently lives in American Fork, UT with his wife, Margaret, and busies himself trying to keep up with their 11 children and 42 grandchildren. He loves to do family history and play golf with “all the old men in our neighborhood.” His goal is to one day shoot his age, 74.