Andrew Brown – Conversion Story – as recorded July 22, 2016
Recently I got to help at a girls’ camp activity where we
hiked to Fossil Creek’s waterfall. We
swam and jumped through the lower portions of the waterfall and could see there
was another area next to the canyon wall that looked fun to explore. As I went to investigate I felt the current
pushing the hardest along this side of the stream, I braced and dove into the
current trying to get to an area I might be able to pull myself up and
explore. The splashing intensified as I
tried to rise above the water to breathe while reaching under the water for a
surface I could secure myself to. I had
to push fairly far into the current before my hands started discovering a secure
surface. I planted my palm down and used
the little bit of leverage it offered me to pull myself out of the spray and
began looking for a way to get my feet in a secure location. Found it!
I excitedly walked through the spray of the waterfall and found I could
get behind the veil of the waterfall about 20 feet above the pool, with a solid
hand hold I pushed my body through the veil of the fall to see the group
surrounding the waterfall. I was so
coated in the water fall spray I’m not sure anyone could see me, I ventured
further out and people waived. The water
beating on me was intense but made me feel alive and excited for
adventure. I withdrew from the chaos of
the waterfall back into the cave and worked my way back down to the area I had
originally climbed up. There I
discovered that I could sit down in the water flow above the pool of water and
the water behind me would build up until it would rush under me and float me
down the rocky slide in the pool of water.
As I hit the pool of water the current would push me into the canyon
wall where there was a shallow shelf to walk across and begin the adventure
again. Others watched me and soon were
on their way over to participate in the adventure. Most struggled with the process and I found I
could place myself in an area to encourage them and grab their hand and give
them the necessary pull or instructions to get them into this pocket of
adventure. Soon the cave was full of
girls exploring the area including my daughter Allie who needed a bit of coaxing
before she relented. The more we played
the more I wore my palms and finger tips nearly all the way through, it was so
much fun I couldn’t stop. Some of us
jumped off the water fall after piercing the veil of the waterfall, others
floated down – we all had a great time.
I preface my conversion with this story to communicate what seems
so unglorified and simple with being the very event that opened up the
understanding and joy of life for me. My
conversion story begins with my biological parents Matthew Oman Morris and
Julie Ann Broderick. Matt as a convert
met mom at BYU. They fell in love and
married having first Arick Louise Morris and then me. By the time I was born my parents’ marriage
had deteriorated resulting in divorce.
Both parents remained strong in the church an ensured I was taught
Gospel principles and attended church regularly. I grew up mostly in Provo and Grantsville,
Utah except when I was spending the summer with my Broderick grandparents in
Phoenix, Arizona. I was taught the
Gospel everywhere I went. I was excited
when I turned eight years old to be baptized and recognized that I’d have to
clean up my act since I would be accountable after I was baptized. While I had a lot of exposure to the Gospel,
I was only eight and I was limited in what I could process. I continued to be raised with family prayer,
family home evening, and scriptures being read.
I felt like when I prayed my prayers were listened to and as I needed
help or answers they came. Probably when
I was ten or eleven I started realizing that I’d need to one day have my own
testimony and not rely upon my parents testimony. I remember being proud of myself for getting
myself to church when my parents were both sick one weekend. I remembered feeling I was making good
decisions on my own but still I hadn’t detected if I had my own testimony. As I aged to twelve and thirteen after moving
to Phoenix, Arizona with my family I continued to have answers to my prayers
asking Heavenly Father for a testimony of the Book of Mormon and if the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was true.
The answers were usually something along the lines of: “Andrew, you know
it is true” and I’d respond, “but I want that spiritual confirmation”. I continued to get these types of answers as
I turned fourteen. I was blessed to have
some of the most amazing leaders in Young Men’s including Douglas Baker (Doug) and
William Alexander (Bill). My Bishop was
Scott Marvin Larson and his son became my best friend. I saw greatness in the Baker, Alexander, and
Larson home similar to the greatness in my own home. The Gospel understanding in all of these
homes was strong and the way they lived their lives was a living testimony to
the truths they adhered to.
When I was fourteen, our ward had begun joining Bishop
Larson’s brother’s ward in doing projects in Caborca Mexico. Jason Alexander was a Priest at the time and
had arranged for a service project to occur in Caborca (painting a Catholic
school). Jason got sick and that
resulted in my getting to ride with Bishop Larson and my friend Benjamin Scott
Larson (Ben). Through the service with
the church members and comradery with our host family in Caborca, singing Hymns
in Spanish during the Sacrament meeting all seemed to have an effect on me. I remembered having a chance to internalize
all things Spiritual that I knew at that time that didn’t seem to be bound by
country or language and I began to feel like I was close to my testimony being
confirmed. The project ended and I
visited with Bishop Larson and my friend Ben as we drove back home. Bishop Larson had a business court hearing he
needed to attend in Tombstone, Arizona and so we took a detour from the church
caravan returning home. In the silence
of that trip I prayed again for confirmation that the Book of Mormon was true
and that the Church was true – again I got the response that I already knew it
was true, I sought for the spiritual confirmation…and then it came. I had the knowledge and exposure sufficient
to know that the Church was true and the Book of Mormon was true and now I had
a spiritual witness to confirm what I already knew. This gave me new confidence and allowed me to
understand that the commandments were actually the laws of happiness. I came to know that if I wanted to have
lasting happiness that I had this pattern laid out before me by my family. I knew that I needed to become better at
doing what had been taught to me to truly receive the blessings available to me
from my Heavenly Father.
Similar to my experience at Fossil Creek’s waterfall, I had
to dive into the current of the question “is it true” and explore the
possibilities. As I received my
spiritual witness it was like my hand finding that solid hand hold that allowed
me to pull myself beyond the questioning currents of life and securely plant
myself in a position to explore life from a higher perspective. I’ve been able to raise my understanding of
the Gospel as I explored it through different callings and service
opportunities that have come my way in life.
I pierced through the veil of the waterfall and viewed the great work
that was available to me because of my mission call; with a bit of anxiousness
I jumped off the top of the waterfall of life into the pool of serving all of
God’s children in the Canada Winnipeg Mission.
Others saw my example and worked their way over to the waterfall and
firmly grabbed my hand and allowed me to assist in their progress of becoming
members and confirming their own testimonies of the truthfulness of the Gospel
that they too might have the vision and understanding that is afforded to those
that rise to the challenge of asking “Is it true?”
I have been blessed to continue to have great men and women
in my life as I have continued the adventure of life with the perspective the
Gospel offers. I know who I am, I know
God’s plan and everything in my life is now filtered through this
understanding. This understanding has driven
me to strive to serve on a higher level, to face challenges both spiritually
and temporally with the confidence that I am a son of God and am worth all the
blessings He has to offer if I will live my life in a way that he can bestow
these gifts upon me. We are here to have
a physical experience and I feel I’m able to position myself to enjoy nature,
human nature, relationships, and to love and serve in ways that are heightened
because of my conversion.
Am I a life-long member?
Yes. Am I a convert to the Gospel
of Jesus Christ? Yes. My conversion is ongoing as I explore this
great pool of life and live and love and serve so when the day comes for this
Earthly adventure to end I’ll have worn my palms and finger prints off, I’ll have
scrapes and scratches of having lived and my eyes will sparkle with excitement
for the great adventure I got to be a part of.
Finally, I’ll be expecting Jesus Christ to be waiting for me as my
Savior and Redeemer to return me to my Heavenly Father if I enabled him to do
this by following His teachings. I am
sharing his yoke, my burdens are light and I will continue to seek to align my
will with His so that I can enjoy the great blessing of this Eternal progression.
