How Could I Know That Joining the Church Was the Right Choice?
I wanted reassurance, and general conference provided the answer I needed.
Growing up, my family and I weren’t religious. Like many in Vietnam, we worshipped our ancestors, and my parents always taught me to be kind, patient, and good. I always wanted to be a good person and strived to better myself all the time. But questions constantly flooded my mind.
Where did I come from?
What was going to happen to me when I died?
These questions puzzled me a lot, but I didn’t have any answers, and my heart wanted something more. When I was entering young adulthood, someone invited me to join a club that focused on learning English. I went, not knowing that this was a class connected to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. During one of the classes, a sister missionary from the Church began to cry as she talked about Jesus Christ and His Atonement.
I was so confused as to why she was crying. But when she and her companion invited me to attend sacrament meeting the next week, I surprised myself by saying I would come! I wanted to know why she loved her faith so much. The feelings in these Church meetings warmed my heart. I loved what I was learning, so I ended up reading the Book of Mormon, gaining a testimony, and getting baptized a month later.
After joining the Church, I felt like I finally had so many answers to life’s questions. But sometimes, I really wondered if the Church was true—if I had made the right choice. It was hard to be the only member in my family. Christians are also sometimes discriminated against in Vietnam, so I was longing for some kind of reconfirmation from the Spirit that the gospel was true.
Later that year, my friends at church told me about general conference—a chance for members of the Church to hear messages and receive help from our living prophets. They invited me to watch and to listen for answers to my questions. So, together with my tiny branch, we gathered, and I listened to my first ever conference session.
I had this question in my heart: “Heavenly Father, how can I be sure the Church is true?”
As I listened to the messages being shared, I felt peaceful and hopeful. But soon one sentence from President Thomas S. Monson struck my heart: “As we contemplate the decisions we make in our lives each day—whether to make this choice or that choice—if we choose Christ, we will have made the correct choice.”1
I felt so much love from Heavenly Father in that moment! Peace came into my heart, and I knew that the Church was true—I had made the correct choice by choosing to follow Jesus Christ.
This experience deepened my gratitude and testimony of living prophets. Since then, general conference has been one of the best parts of my life. I feel so much love from our leaders who share Heavenly Father’s love and the messages He wants us to hear. They have been especially comforting when I’ve needed guidance and hope through my many decisions and changes during young adulthood.
Whenever general conference approaches, I try to slow down my life to prepare to hear messages from our loving prophets and consider how I’ve grown spiritually in the past six months as I’ve followed their counsel. I also ponder questions in my heart, trying to seek out and listen for answers from the speakers’ inspired words.
I invite you to gain a testimony of our living prophets and apostles. I have had so many instances where the Spirit has confirmed that the leaders of the Church are truly men and women of God who care deeply about us and our path back to Heavenly Father. I hope you will continue to study and listen to general conference talks and find the truths and answers you need.
I always do.