| Chapter 4 | The Mission
My timeline is a little fuzzy.
I was old enough to remember pretty much everything and I even kept a detailed journal during this time in my life. I've had to refer to them a lot as I write because I was young enough that there is time missing. I'm not sure if I blocked some of it out or if I was just a kid and keeping time didn't come natural.
I don't remember the moment when we were told about "The Mission" but it over took every aspect of all of our lives almost immediately after meeting Michael. Michael (My sister's now Fiancé) told my parents that 3 years prior (1988) that he received a vision that he was to be the next prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day saints. He told us that he would be called by the Lord himself and President Benson (The prophet at the time) and it would be announced in April's LDS General Conference in the year 1993. To any "Mormon" this is sheer craziness. The LDS Church has a succession line that they go by when the Prophet dies. The first Counselor in the First presidency becomes prophet...end of story. It's not like the Catholic church picking a new pope. So as you can imagine the first questions Michael received from my father and probably all the other adults in my life privy to this revelation was,
"Well...that is just not how the church works, can you explain?"
That question started everything.
The late night talks turned into long drawn out family scripture studies. We would study the book of mormon, old testament and new testimony in the bible. These scripture studies were long for any adult but to an 11 year old they seemed painful. The scripture studies focused on scriptures that talked about the second coming of Jesus Christ and the ushering in of the last dispensation on the earth. To those of you who aren't Christian or religious this may make no sense to you. Christians believe that in the last days Jesus will come again to the earth. Michael was told in his vision that he would be ushering in the second coming of the Lord and that he was the modern day Davidic Servant. There was proof of this to Michael in every scripture he referenced in the Book of Mormon, which he then quickly cross referenced in the bible. It seemed like Michael had all the scriptures memorized. I'm pretty sure he has a photographic memory. He had an intelligent answer backed up by scripture for every question that my parents asked. My mother believed immediately. My Dad says he never believed but went along with it to save his marriage. There was a time though between meeting Michael and him marrying my sister that my father seemed to be going along with it all.
Stephanie and Michael married in the SLC Temple on April 6th, 1992 (On the day that is thought to be Jesus's actual birthday). I don't remember much of that day but the dress and cute Easter hat I was wearing. There was lots of cheesecake too. The reception was held in our backyard and I do remember most of our ward attending. I do remember that there was a string quartet playing in our family room and mother of coarse had the tables set in the back yard just beautifully. It was an exquisite reception.
"The Mission" of coarse was top secret and no one in our ward (church group) at the time knew what was going on behind our closed doors. This would definitely look to a church onlooker like apostate behavior.
Somewhere between the wedding, April 1992 and December 1992. My father had communicated to my mother that he didn't believe in all of this and he had some major concerns. He wrote a letter to our then Stake President (over all the wards in our area) documenting what was happening in our home and asking him for advice on what to do. My mom and sisters found out about this letter and his meetings with the Stake President and asked him to move out of our home. My Dad left our home 5 days before Christmas on December 20th 1992 to go live with his sister. I can't even imagine how awful this was for him. Now that I am a parent myself I can't imagine anything more horrifying. I was 12 and was heart broken he left. I had not turned against him in my heart. I deep down was too afraid to believe whole heartedly in "The Mission" I'll explain why later. I couldn't understand why my Dad had left me in that situation. That was one of the worst days of my life.
I huddled at the top of the stairs with my two brothers in tears as we watched my Dad walk out the door.
I was old enough to remember pretty much everything and I even kept a detailed journal during this time in my life. I've had to refer to them a lot as I write because I was young enough that there is time missing. I'm not sure if I blocked some of it out or if I was just a kid and keeping time didn't come natural.
I don't remember the moment when we were told about "The Mission" but it over took every aspect of all of our lives almost immediately after meeting Michael. Michael (My sister's now Fiancé) told my parents that 3 years prior (1988) that he received a vision that he was to be the next prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day saints. He told us that he would be called by the Lord himself and President Benson (The prophet at the time) and it would be announced in April's LDS General Conference in the year 1993. To any "Mormon" this is sheer craziness. The LDS Church has a succession line that they go by when the Prophet dies. The first Counselor in the First presidency becomes prophet...end of story. It's not like the Catholic church picking a new pope. So as you can imagine the first questions Michael received from my father and probably all the other adults in my life privy to this revelation was,
"Well...that is just not how the church works, can you explain?"
That question started everything.
The late night talks turned into long drawn out family scripture studies. We would study the book of mormon, old testament and new testimony in the bible. These scripture studies were long for any adult but to an 11 year old they seemed painful. The scripture studies focused on scriptures that talked about the second coming of Jesus Christ and the ushering in of the last dispensation on the earth. To those of you who aren't Christian or religious this may make no sense to you. Christians believe that in the last days Jesus will come again to the earth. Michael was told in his vision that he would be ushering in the second coming of the Lord and that he was the modern day Davidic Servant. There was proof of this to Michael in every scripture he referenced in the Book of Mormon, which he then quickly cross referenced in the bible. It seemed like Michael had all the scriptures memorized. I'm pretty sure he has a photographic memory. He had an intelligent answer backed up by scripture for every question that my parents asked. My mother believed immediately. My Dad says he never believed but went along with it to save his marriage. There was a time though between meeting Michael and him marrying my sister that my father seemed to be going along with it all.
Stephanie and Michael married in the SLC Temple on April 6th, 1992 (On the day that is thought to be Jesus's actual birthday). I don't remember much of that day but the dress and cute Easter hat I was wearing. There was lots of cheesecake too. The reception was held in our backyard and I do remember most of our ward attending. I do remember that there was a string quartet playing in our family room and mother of coarse had the tables set in the back yard just beautifully. It was an exquisite reception.
"The Mission" of coarse was top secret and no one in our ward (church group) at the time knew what was going on behind our closed doors. This would definitely look to a church onlooker like apostate behavior.
Somewhere between the wedding, April 1992 and December 1992. My father had communicated to my mother that he didn't believe in all of this and he had some major concerns. He wrote a letter to our then Stake President (over all the wards in our area) documenting what was happening in our home and asking him for advice on what to do. My mom and sisters found out about this letter and his meetings with the Stake President and asked him to move out of our home. My Dad left our home 5 days before Christmas on December 20th 1992 to go live with his sister. I can't even imagine how awful this was for him. Now that I am a parent myself I can't imagine anything more horrifying. I was 12 and was heart broken he left. I had not turned against him in my heart. I deep down was too afraid to believe whole heartedly in "The Mission" I'll explain why later. I couldn't understand why my Dad had left me in that situation. That was one of the worst days of my life.
I huddled at the top of the stairs with my two brothers in tears as we watched my Dad walk out the door.
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