My Neighbors’ Church

By Cristi Smith

I was raised in a religious home, but I didn’t know any Latter-day Saints until my husband and I moved to Phoenix, Arizona. Although we were staying with my ailing mother, I worried about finding a good neighborhood in which to raise our three children.

One difficult day, I found myself driving aimlessly and pleading to God for help. When I felt calmer, I found myself in a neighborhood I had never seen before. As I pulled onto the street where we would later purchase our home, I felt an overwhelming sense of peace.

Our new neighbors were amazingly hospitable. “What can we do to help?” they asked continually, and soon after we arrived, a neighbor brought us a hot loaf of bread. I remarked to my sister that our neighbors must be Christians, and I later discovered that, indeed, many of our neighbors had one thing in common: they were Latter-day Saints.

Overwhelmed by our neighbors’ kindness, I awoke my husband one night and said that if all of these wonderful people belonged to one church, we needed to look into it. The very next day, missionaries knocked on our door and invited us to the Mesa Arizona Easter pageant.

As we watched the depiction of Christ’s Resurrection, my husband asked incredulously, “You mean, Jesus died and then came back?” In amazement, I realized he was just learning the story of Christ. After the pageant, we wanted to know more about the gospel. As the missionaries taught us and we attended Sunday meetings, I felt the Church’s positive influence.

One day during a game of Name That Tune, my son whistled an unfamiliar song. When I finally gave up, he said, “It’s ‘Follow the Prophet.’ That’s my favorite song” (see Children’s Songbook, 110). His words left me stunned and anxious to talk with my husband about the incident.

“Will our life be better with or without the Church?” I asked him. After a year of investigating, we were baptized.

Our gospel knowledge is still a work in progress, but each day our testimonies grow stronger. We will be forever grateful for that night when the reenactment of the life and mission of Jesus Christ became an eternal turning point for our family.

• Cristi Smith is a member of the Groves Ward, Mesa Arizona Mountain View Stake.

Right: Cast member Georgina Uribe and her daughter, Scarlett, age 2, model authentically designed costumes for the pageant. (Photograph by Mark Mabry Jr.) Below: The Mesa Arizona Temple and Visitors’ Center grounds provide a peaceful setting for audience and cast members. (Photograph by Welden C. Andersen.)

Photographs by Richard Webb, except as noted

Right: Shepherds receive the good news of Christ’s birth. Below: Young Jesus’ preaching astonishes teachers at the temple in Jerusalem.

The pageant taught Jineane King how much Latter-day Saints really do believe in Jesus Christ.

Mary and Joseph gaze at the infant Jesus.

Left: Derisive Sadducees mock Jesus’ teachings. Below: Jesus relates the parable of the ten virgins to His Apostles.

Mark Layton was cast as one of the thieves being crucified next to Christ.

Dancers help depict the parable of the ten virgins.

Cristi Smith learned about the Church through her neighbors and the pageant.

Jesus Christ prays in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Roman soldiers take Christ to be questioned by Pilate.

Far left: Jesus Christ serves His disciples at the Last Supper. Left: Peter denies that he was with Jesus Christ.