Why a Pentecostal Says Attending a Latter-Day Saint Church Service Was “The Best Decision I Ever Made”

My name is Jon Rines and I am a third-generation Pentecostal who, by chance or chance, has been involved in the Latter-day Saint community since I was a child. From my observation, it seems that people either love your church members or hate them. But my experiences with Latter-day Saints have been so overwhelmingly positive that I have often felt that Latter-day Saints are the best-kept secret – your community not only offers faithful and quality friendships, but we can count on his presence for people when times get tough. I recently attended a Latter-day Saint service near my home in San Diego, California for the first time, and it was the best decision I have ever made. To help me explain why I have to take you back to my childhood.

I grew up in rural Maine where life is pretty simple. Our little town of Baileyville had a grocery store and a few gas stations. The larger churches were Catholic and Baptist with our small independent congregation just down the street. My Pentecostal heritage goes back to the very beginning of the movement; my grandmother worked with some of the early converts to the faith to establish a church in our town around 1917.

Small as our Full Gospel Pentecostal Church was, there was a group in town that claimed even fewer members: Baileyville had only one Latter-day Saint family, the Zedwicks.

Because I was a little boy when it happened, I don’t remember the details of how we got there, but our family had Book of Mormon lessons in the Zedwicks’ living room. They had set up billboards with Sunday school-style pictures illustrating the life of Jesus and the restored gospel brought by Joseph Smith. My mother was not very responsive but listened politely, and I remember my father rather enjoyed Mrs. Zedwick’s lectures.

This was just the beginning of my interactions with members of the Church. Fast forward to college at the University of Maine in Machias, where I fell in the company of twin Latter-day Saint sisters named Latricia and Patricia. For years we were best friends. There’s not much to do in rural coastal Maine, but we would drive, hang out at the student center, or go out to eat. The two sisters always had a laid back spirit that always made you feel welcome. You could always see the kindness when you looked deep into their eyes. I have always found this to be true with members of the Church I have met.

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After college I joined the Navy and served as a nuclear reactor operator. Three years later I moved to Massachusetts and met my wife, Angelika, at a small United Pentecostal church. Angelika and I lived in Massachusetts for two years before deciding to move to Arizona.

I hadn’t exactly found a job in Arizona. We just got in the car and drove, hoping for the best. I was looking for work, but things took a turn for the worse because I didn’t get a callback from a potential employer for six weeks. We were almost out of money. Then I got a call from a woman named Melanie who worked for the city of Mesa. She asked me if I was still interested in a job I had applied for, and with shaking hands, I calmly replied, “Yes, of course. Melanie was present during my first interview for the position, and her kind and reassuring voice helped calm my anxious feelings. I later learned that Melanie was a Latter-day Saint, and the calm feelings I had around her made sense.

Fortunately, I got the job and was soon introduced to one of my colleagues, Kirk. I learned that he was a devout Latter-day Saint, and although we came from very different backgrounds, both religiously and geographically, we ended up becoming best friends. We got along very well and our points of view on many issues literally coincided. He was not only willing to help me learn how to be successful in my new job, he was also willing to do things like help me change the brakes on my car when I didn’t have the money for it. bring to the workshop.

We then moved to San Diego, California as the pandemic entered its initial stage. I felt more comfortable with this move because I already had a job lined up, but the lifestyle and the area were all new to me, and I found myself isolated and uncomfortable with my environment. I craved conversation with normal people.

Up to this point in my life, the people I could always count on were the Latter-day Saints, so I called the missionaries. I texted Kirk to tell him what I had done, and he said, “Wait, you sent the missionaries? My answer? “Yes of course.”

The missionaries soon invited me to a Latter-day Saint church service, and I agreed to attend. I was nervous at first entering the building because I didn’t know what to expect. To my surprise, I found a typical meeting room. Growing up in Oneness Pentecostalism, I was used to not seeing any icons or symbology in our places of worship, so I felt comfortable.

This initial church service took place about a year ago and my life has since improved greatly. I have friends in the Church, and we regularly go out to dinner at restaurants or stay at each other’s homes. My two children are finally having relationships with good, clean, healthy, intelligent children we met at church. My connections with members of the Church also prompted me to travel to Salt Lake City myself. I really enjoyed seeing Temple Square. The highlight of the visit was when a sister missionary we met invited me to attend a sacrament service presided over by the Prophet. I will never forget how quiet it was during that meeting.

Last April, the missionaries were at our house to attend a session of the general conference of Latter-day Saints, and I told them that the Latter-day Saints have been for me not only good friends of faith over the years, but also those who can really count when times get tough. My friends in the Church have added a richness to my life here in Southern California that otherwise would not have existed. Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are truly a best-kept secret for faithful friends of the faith—and I am grateful for all my associations with them and intend to keep them. for the rest of my life.