BYU-Idaho Radio · The Road to Baptism- John Fredrickson's Story
If you asked a few members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints how they found the Church, you'd probably get different answers from each one.
Many find the Church through birth into a family who are already members, while others might have just found it by meeting the missionaries last year.
For one convert to the Church, he found it a few years ago from his very persistent cousin, who lived in Utah.
"He just wouldn't stop [talking] to me about the Church," said John Fredrickson. "Finally, I threw up my hands and said, "Give me the number I have to call."
Frederickson grew up Jewish in Los Angeles. At the time he met the missionaries, he had researched a lot about the Church to prepare himself.
After a couple of years of talking with the missionaries, I was transferred into Fredrickson’s area while I was on my two-year mission in Los Angeles.
My companion and I taught Fredrickson for close to eight months before he could get baptized. While he had things he still wondered about the Church, he finally decided to take the step to get baptized.
"[I realized] I didn't have to forsake who I was to be [a member of the Church]," Fredrickson said.
After his baptism, Fredrickson and I stayed in touch, and he kept going to Church. Though some parts of the adjustment felt hard for Fredrickson, he kept pushing forward.
Nearly four years after his baptism, Fredrickson has received the Aaronic and Melchizedek Priesthoods, as well as his temple endowment.
He said though we may need to let go of some things in our lives to join the Church, we should never let go of our cultures and personalities.
"Don't think that you have to all of a sudden give up who you are to be a member, that's never the case," Fredrickson said. "If God is omnipotent, all-knowing, understanding, all-loving, and if He is our Heavenly Father, then He made you the way you are supposed to be."
We all find our own paths to Christ, and that's one of the many things that makes us all unique.