Please Read In a Place/Manner Where the Spirit of God May Touch Your Soul as Deeply as it Has Mine Through You!
I write this page for my beloved Iotians current, past, and future and also for all of my SGC brothers who may or may not know me or read this. What follows is my testimony and my story of how SGC saved my life. I fear that this page will not do my feelings justice as I don't think anything could.
First a little background on me. I was born and raised in the church, baptized at eight, deacon at twelve, eagle scout and teacher at fourteen, priest at sixteen, elder at eighteen. I was your typical good upstanding LDS youth. But somewhere along the way I started down a path that wasn't very steep but was definitely a down hill grade, if you know what I mean. Somewhere between nineteen (after having decided not to serve a mission, at least not as a young man) and twenty-one my morals had slipped, exceedingly. I was involved with women, almost moved in with one, I had started smoking and when I turned twenty-one some friends and I went to Vegas and had the worldly twenty-first birthday tradition. No need for details, your imagination will be fairly accurate. Also you should know that at some point during the beginning of my serious demise I felt enough remorse, guilt, and pain that I went to my bishop and started the process of repenting and coming back and hence was disfellowshiped (specific dates aren't necessary).
Over the next, oh, almost four years I was in and out of relationships based on physical intimacy, continued my social drinking and smoking and lost touch with most my true friends. During that time I had gone back to my bishop three or four times to try coming back again, each time failing after only a few weeks. Life for me felt fine, I thought I was happy and I thought I was content.
Then I woke up one day, I can't tell you what was different or what changed. I remember going through the day thinking about my patriarchal blessing and specifically the phrase "Noble and Great Ones". The thought occurred to me that night that it was time. Time for me to be who I know I was supposed to be. Time for me to be whoever the Lord needed me to be. Time for me to be whoever and whatever my future family needed and deserves. So I went to my bishop again, with renewed determination (the difference with this visit is I called him, with the others he had called me) to return to the faith, to clean up my life and to be, at whatever cost, exactly who I knew I was supposed to be.
My bishop and I went over the things I needed to do to come back, you all know what they are they're the basics: Attend all the meetings, Read scriptures daily, Pray daily, Pay tithing, and of course abstain from further transgression. But there were some additional items on the list: Read the Miracle of Forgiveness (Awesome book if you haven't read it I recommend it), Read and Understand the Oath and Covenant of the Priesthood and Meet bi-weekly with the bishop.
Brothers, I have to tell you, having not really attended church with the right spirit in probably 3 years and doing what I had done and then seeking the spirit like I had and attending sacrament meeting with the right intent was Completely Overwhelming, I didn't even make it through the opening hymn and I was already in tears the spirit was so strong! (I imagine it only felt that strong cause I had been without it for so long) I have to tell you also brothers that the strength I received, the refreshing of my spirit that I received from attending church that day and every week since then is amazing and I pray that none of us ever choose to go without it.
As part of my renewed determination to make it back fully I knew that I would need to change my group of friends, or most of them at least. Lucky for me, one of us, and a long time friend and true brother was in tune with the spirit and reached out to me. Invited me to hang out with a group of guys that I knew he had been hanging out with. I chose to go and found myself sitting in A-Train's basement with a group of guys who I didn't know but they didn't care, they were happy to meet me and eager to know me. The next thing I knew I had been invited to go to a park one night with this group who were meeting a group of girls to play glow-in-the-dark volleyball. I attended that, and my relationship with this group began to grow. I was told about SGC and that the guys I had been spending time with were all part of a chapter known as Iota and I expressed my interest in joining. I attended my first rush week, fall semester of 2008 with the intent of joining Iota and so I did.
Over the course of fall semester I didn't get to attend much because I was working graveyards at my job which conflicted with our Thursday night meetings but I made it as often as I could. My work schedule changed for spring semester 2009 I was able to attend regularly. Despite my standing with the church, my inability to attend Iota meetings, I was still kept informed, treated like a brother, and essentially given a "replacement" group of friends. I want you all to know that I know with out a doubt that you were and are a gift from God to help me through one of the toughest, roughest, most brutal times of my life.
Some of you knew of my situation and some of you didn't. But it didn't really matter; those who did know merely treated certain aspects of Iota more tenderly than others. I was once asked to give an opening prayer and as much as I wanted to I had been instructed by my bishop that I was not to pray publicly. Our brother who asked me did so in a discreet manner and allowed me to answer discreetly as well so no one else knew.
About this time last year, I was forgiven my transgressions, my church membership restored to full fellowship and the biggest burden I have ever felt lifted from my shoulders. It came just in time for me to be called to serve in the presidency of Iota for the 09-10 year. It is in no small part that I credit the Brethren of Iota, The Organization Sigma Gamma Chi, and the individual who was in tune enough to act on the promptings he received with my return to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and his Saving Sacrifice for all of us.
Brothers, it is because of your fellowship that I am who I am today, that I am able to sit among you as one of you that I am myself preparing to enter the Lords holy house. It is because of you that I am able to serve you as do so lovingly, willingly, and gladly.
I pray that you have felt, at some point and have knowledge of my love for each of you individually, for the respect I have for each of you. I leave you now with my testimony.
I know beyond all doubt that the Church of Jesus Christ of Later-Day Saints is indeed His church, that it is the true church, that it was restored through a true and living prophet Joseph Smith, that we today have a living prophet, seer, and revelator. I know that the principles and ordinances taught and performed in our church by and through the proper authority are life saving for eternity and that we have been given the proper authority to perform these ordinances and many other great works and blessings. It is my privilege and many of yours to hold this power, to respect this power, and to worthily and righteously use this power. I know that the organization of SGC is of God and that its presence at the University of Utah is of divine significance. I know that through the atonement each of us can be made clean, worthy to stand before our Lord and Savior. I implore you brethren to follow our private motto, "Having Done ALL to Stand". Do what you need to, do it now, do not procrastinate what you know you need to do. If you have something preventing you of being who you know you need to be then please get it taken care of so that you can fulfill your purposes in this life.
Thank You, Each of you for the role you have played, and I pray will continue to play, in my life and in the lives of our fellow brothers. I treasure our friendships, our brotherhood and charge you, the future leaders of Iota, to reach out to you alumni and get them involved in your brotherhood. The spirit is with each of us, I have felt it and it has borne witness of these things to me. We truly have built and continue to build men in Christ.
I love you all and will continue to give of my love and support. Thank you again.
In the name of Jesus the Christ, Amen.
