I always feel incredibly vulnerable when I share this story. But it is my journey & wouldn’t have it any other way. This is the story of my journey within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I’ll do my best to keep it as a summary! It’s a long one and feel free to message me if you want the whole scoop or have questions!

Short back story…I was raised by a single mom, growing up we always went to a family ward so I could be in classes with other children my age, I remember sometimes doing FHE and I was taught by missionaries before choosing to be baptized. I was baptized at 10 years old and went to church regularly. When I got a little older, around 12, I realized I was being judged because I didn’t have an eternal family, nobody knew that I even had a father, my mom was single, we lived in a trailer park, etc. I also started feeling uncomfortable going to church because I was dyslexic and didn’t like being chosen to read scriptures or pray out loud because that wasn’t something that really happened in my household. So I stopped going to church. I still went to activities until I was about 16 & then I stopped going all together.

I wanted nothing to do with it, I started drinking at 16 and decided the mormon church isn’t something I believed in. Naturally I fell away from the straight & narrow but in my eyes I wasn’t doing anything wrong. I was just living my life. When I moved to college I lived with a boyfriend practically the week after my first semester started, we lived in a big house with 7 others, I got to live with the guy I was dating & my best friend. It was the best of both worlds! It was a lot of fun & I created memories that year that will stay with me for my entire life with amazing friends that I still have to this day, but it was also a lot of trouble. I’ll spare you on the details now, but I am an open book, if you’re curious as to what life I decided to leave behind, just ask.

So what clicked? What changed? Honestly I still do not know how to answer those questions. I just woke up one day & decided that I wanted to start going back to church. I made this decision in February 2011. I moved from St. George to Orem, Utah the semester after I made that decision, I stopped drinking alcohol & coffee as often & started reading the Book Of Mormon every once in a while. But I still didn’t even know where to begin, I get anxiety going places alone & had no idea how to even find a ward or where to begin. I moved back home in Sandy the beginning of 2012 & apparently the bishop kept coming over but every time he came I was working or at school. That summer one morning my mom yelled, “Alexis! Someone’s here for you!” I rolled out of bed (dressed in the shortest shorts & tank top) & walked to the top of the stairs only to see suits & turn bright red. It was the bishop. I was mortified. He shook my hand smiled & told me about the singles ward. I still was hesitant to go alone, it took months for me to build up the courage to even go to the church building, my friend Allie came with me & it for sure wasn’t a singles ward because there were babies running around in sacrament. We walked around & I saw a bulletin board for the singles ward & a note that said “To make an appointment with the bishop text this number.”

I knew I wanted my Patriarchal Blessing & I knew the bishop had something to do with that. So I texted the number & met with the bishop before I even went to church. I laid it all out there, which was actually easier to do than I thought it’d be. I was blessed to have a bishop who believed in me. He said, “You’re like a child in primary” All I wanted to do was learn. I wanted to improve. I wanted to be worthy. Don’t get me wrong this journey was NOT easy. Choosing to be an active worthy member is NOT the easy choice. It will NEVER be the easy choice for me. At this point as I saw people I knew getting married in the temple & choosing to be LDS I saw a whole different level of happiness. I wanted it & I went after it. It was all or nothing for me, I knew if I was going to do this I couldn’t do it half way. I stopped drinking alcohol & coffee, I stopped swearing, I didn’t listen to rap anymore, I stopped hanging out with friends that weren’t going to be good influences, I stopped dating guys who weren’t LDS (this was probably the hardest thing for me), I stopped making incorrect choices with guys, I started going to church on my own, I read the entire Book Of Mormon, I paid my tithing, I changed my entire life with one decision, to give my all. I completely turned my life around. During this time most of my family had become inactive besides my grandma, one uncle and my younger cousins. A lot of the time I felt completely alone not having the most support at home, but that’s where I get to lead by example right?

I met with the bishop the end of October 2012.

I received my Temple Recommend on December 31st 2013 & ended up doing baptisms once sometimes twice a week the year of 2014.

I got my Patriarchal Blessing in January of 2014.

I became endowed December 13th of 2014.

I could keep going and explaining more but I will leave it at this: The gospel was always in my life I just failed to recognize it until one day it finally clicked. It is NEVER too late & you are NEVER too far gone to make the gospel a priority. If you feel alone, that feeling is coming directly from satan. You are good enough, you have eternal potential. The struggles & trials are literally nothing compared to the perspective & happiness.

Feel free to contact me with any questions or even to share your own stories! I would love to hear from you! Thank you so much for taking the time to read my story!

XO

Lex