Donny Osmond

I was a 19 year old newly wed with a child on the way. Problem was I was a child myself in many ways. I still wanted to have my so called freedom. I still wanted to hang out with the boys, drink, smoke, maybe do some drugs. I was not ready to be a father, or be married.

One evening, two young men, appearing to be about my age came to my door. They said that they were from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints, and then asked if they could talk to my wife and I about Jesus. Jesus, I thought, who are these people. I told them that I did not need to talk to people about church or any of the rest of it. But my wife let them in. It was then that I found out that she had in the past been an active member of the church. The problem was that I did not hardly know anything about God, as I did not grow up in a Godly house.

Anyway, they convinced me to let them in, then they convinced me to take lessons, and then before I knew it I was baptized. My son was born about a month later, and six months later my wife and I were separated. As I had stated before I was just a kid when I got married, and I had acted very much like a child. When my wife and I got a divorce I told her that if she still was going to the same church, I would not be there, so I just simply stop going.

Unfortunately I started listening to friends outside the church that was telling me a lot of stuff to keep me away from it. Well, do to the space I have In this story let me jump to the present.

I am now married to a wonderful wife at the age now of thirty-six, and although I was out of the church when I married her, and she is not a part of the church she still supports my wanting to go. I have only been back for a month, but I feel better than I ever have.

I am more blessed than I have ever been, with my son who is 17 years old now, and a 14 month old daughter, and a great wife. I have friends who support me and God and Jesus who love me and I am sure want to see me back with them in Heaven. I went back do to the fact that I figured if God gave me free agency, then that means he gave me my own mind. (what a profound statement) but I sat down by myself, God my old book of Mormon out and read it from begging to end.

I did my own study of the history of the church instead of letting other people or things influence me. I compared the book of Mormon with what the bible had to say, and In some way, or I should say in a lot of ways, Donny gave me a new insight to what it is that I now know with all of my being to be true. I have been able to build on my own testimony that Joseph Smith was a true living prophet of the church, that the 13 prophets, (I hope I got the number right) are true and that most of all this church is true.

A small note to DONNY: Thank you for staying true to who you are through thick and thin as I know first hand how sometimes your values could be tested in the kind of business that you are in and that I was in. Thank You and God bless.