I was raised in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and it was a blessing indeed. My family has always been members and I was taught to go to church regularly. My family hasn't always been the most active members of the church. My father is a recovering drug addict but that didn't ever stop him from teaching me the ways that I should live my life. He was constantly telling me that I need to live right and though he had some rough times in his life because of his drug addictions he made sure that I knew that I needed to stay away from that stuff. When I got to the age of 14 or 15 I was starting to get older and my dad never forced me to go to church because he was forced as a kid. He wanted to make sure that he never did that to his kids. I always had the option to stay home from church if I wanted to, but my dad always made sure that I knew that I was supposed to be going to church on Sunday. With my agency at 14 I decided I wanted to stay home, mainly because I could. But luckily enough I had great friends surrounding me that took me under their wing and kept inviting me to church and making sure I was doing what I knew I should be doing anyway. I still struggled though and I had a hard time and started to fall away from the church and stop going. I didn't have anything against the church but I didn't have the family support that I needed to want to keep going. So I started hanging out with different people and they weren't bad but they didn't hold as high of standards as my previous friends and I started losing the connection I once had with my Father in Heaven when I was going to church and doing the things I was supposed to. I started to realize that I was losing the happiness that I had and I wanted that back. The only thing I could remember that brought that true happiness was the gospel. So I started going back to church (on my own) and going to what is called Seminary, which is basically church during school. The joy I had lost started coming back full force and I loved it! I couldn't get enough of it and I started to have a totally different attitude towards church and the gospel. I started getting excited to go to church. I didn't need to have my family pushing me to go because I wanted to go. It didn't matter if my family was going to church or not, I was! It amazed me to see the change it made when I "wanted" to go to church. When I was looking for that joy that was there. My family had planted those seeds when I was younger and I knew where to find the joy but I had to have that joy taken away from me so that I knew how much it meant to me. When that happened I hit the road running in the Gospel and I haven't stopped.
I was raised in the church but that is not what brought my testimony. I had to find my testimony on my own. When I was going through those hard times I found comfort in reading The Book of Mormon and going to church because it is Jesus Christ's Gospel. The truth that I was able to learn and the joy that I was able to feel meant so much to me that I had to get out and share it with someone! Thank goodness our church has the opportunity for every able, worthy young man to serve a mission. So I took that opportunity and that is a little part as to why I am out here today serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
I know I am not very great at writing but I would like to close with my Testimony because I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true and the Book of Mormon is scripture brought forth in these latter days. It has been brought to us in these days to help us get through the hard times that we all go through. I know that Joseph Smith saw God the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ and that Jesus Christ leads our church today through a living prophet. All of these things I know and testify to you because of the opportunity I have taken to read The Book of Mormon and to pray about it. I know the same God who gave me the answer that The Book of Mormon is true will do the same thing for ANYONE who decides to read the book and ask our Father in Heaven if it is true. He loves me just as much as he loves anyone else. I would love to answer any questions or share a little bit more about my experience in the gospel with anyone who wants to talk. So please comment or send me a message on Facebook (Elder Kalburt Dallof) and I would love to share more of my testimony with you and how The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints can bless your life and bring you the happiness that I have. God always provides safety for the soul, and with the Book of Mormon, He has again done that in our time. For your own free copy of The Book of Mormon please visit www.mormon.org.
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