My Conversion To The LDS Church

CHURCH INFORMATION AND STORIES

In case it isn't apparent, I am the first Raehl to join the Church. I started the idea of Raehl's joining the Church. My Mom then got interested, but wasn't baptized until after Dad died. That didn't stop her. She talked all my sisters into joining. Dan's wife Kaydee talked him into joining.

One other interesting observation. I have never found another James Raehl anywhere. Nobody else with that name turns up anywhere on the Internet. All the hits there are me.


EARLY CHURCH EXPERIENCES

When my Dad and Mom were married, they were members of a Methodist church in Sacramento, California, if I remember correctly.

We moved to the old family farm at the junction of County Road G and road BB between G and Highway 150 in Clayton Township, Winnebago County, Wisconsin. The farm is owned by the Jim Salm family, as of this writing in August 2004.

I don't know the reason, but Dad and Mom started going to the Baptist church in Allenville, Wisconsin. This was on the route to Winneconne from the farm. Quite a few neighbors went there. There may also have been some Baptist influence from the Auchtung side of the family.

Dad was a deacon at the church. He helped pass the bread and grape juice during the periodic communion services there. I wished that when I got older, I could be a deacon, too. Then I could help pass the bread and grape juice.

One reason I liked church, was that every Sunday our family received a comic magazine, about 8 pages in size, printed by Moody Press in the Chicago area. This magazine comtained stories about the prophets, as well as a "modern" New Testament Christian series about the adventures of Tullus and Nereus.

As I helped work the farm fields on the tractor, I would think about the Old Testament prophets. I wished that I could have seen a prophet, and maybe talked to one. Perhaps I could have lived in New Testament times, and seen the Saviour. However, I rued being born in modern times, knowing I would never see a prophet. Maybe after I died and went to heaven.

My dad believed that we should make ourselves useful in the Baptist church. We spent a couple weeks each of several summers, going to Baptist camp at Camp Tamarack. We helped clear the woods and build the camp. It was at one of those camps, that the hymn "How Great Thou Art" was introduced. I liked that hymn. Still one of my favorites.

At another camp, I learned about my compassionate side. There was an evening meeting. However, one of the guys in my cabin had a medical problem. That was remedied by very cold milk, such as ice cream. I skipped the meeting, to be with him in his time of distress, in case he needed help.


THE TRIP WEST IN 1962

In the late summer of 1962, Bill Ehmke and I went on a vacation trip west. Bill borrowed his parents' Karmann Ghia sports car. Kind of cramped in that little car. About enough space for two people up front, and some luggage. This was the first time I had been west of the Wisconsin/Minnesota border.

Our first night was spent among the mosquitoes at a lake in Minnesota. Then we went into South Dakota. Saw the Mitchell corn palace. The next stop was at the Black Hills. These hills were the first mountains that I had ever seen.

We next went to Yellowstone National Park. Saw the geysers and paint pots, and some other things. One night, we went out to the Old Faithful geyser. Bill took a photo of it erupting at night, using a Press 50 flash bulb. This flash bulb was the size of a 100-watt light bulb.

Bill walked out onto the cone area of Old Faithful, past the barriers. When he came back, he looked scared. He said, "It's hollow under there."

We next went to Salt Lake City. That was a quite interesting place. We especially enjoyed the Temple Square tour and the pin-dropping demonstration in the Tabernacle, as well as the organ recitals twice a day. There was a catchy tune that I had never heard in each recital, "O My Father". That was played as an impromptu variations. Hadn't seen that hymn in our Baptist hymn book.

We toured several Mormon historical sites, including the Beehive House. We even found Brigham Young's grave, in a little cemetery in someone's backyard.

I was interested in the Book Of Mormon that I'd heard about on Temple Square. Didn't know where to get one, or that I could get one for free on Temple Square. We went to Deseret Book, across the street from the south gate of Temple Square. I asked a young girl clerk about our age, if they had a cheap copy of the Book Of Mormon. Being poor travelers, we didn't have much money to spend on souvenirs. She smiled an ear-to-ear smile, and said, "Sure. Right this way." She then handed me a paperback Book Of Mormon. It cost 50 cents. At that time, paperback novels half the size cost 95 cents. 50 cents for such a thick book was a great deal. To this day, I wish I knew who that girl was.

I didn't read hardly any of the Book Of Mormon until we returned to Wisconsin. I wish now that girl had told us about Christ's visit to America, and how that was the true story about Quetzalcoatl the white god represented as a feathered serpent.

Bill and I continued on to San Francisco. We saw Coit Tower and some other area tourist sites. We spent about another 4 days there.

The next stop was at the Seattle world's fair. Spent another 4 days there. Had quite a time, running around at the world's fair.

Then we went to Banff National Park in Canada, then went back across the border to Glacier National Park. Glacier was a little scary, especially Going To The Sun Highway. That road has 2000-foot cliffs up on one side, and 2000-foot drops on the other.

By then, we were running out of time and money. We spent our last 3 days driving back to Wisconsin, and living on a can of pork and beans each per day.

Bill dropped me off, at the Kronshage Hall dormitory where I was going to live for the next college school year. He then went home to his parents' house.


I JOIN THE CHURCH

I spent a day or so, sorting through the junk I had collected during the trip. There were several rolls of film to process. We had bought a 100-foot roll of color movie film, and had it chopped into rolls for the cameras. I'd taken around 500 photos.

One set of trip propaganda that still interested me, was some pamphlets that we had collected on Temple Square. The information sounded sensible. I needed to find a church to attend while at college. The Mormon chapel was only a quarter mile from the dormitory. The nearest Baptist church was a good mile and a half walk.

Each pampblet had a card which could be returned. I filled out one card, and checked the boxes for Want to know more, Address of the nearest chapel, and Have someone contact me about the Church. A week or two later, I received a hardbound copy of Legrand Richards' book "A Marvelous Work And A Wonder". Read through the book. Had a gut feeling that I was on to something. There were some questions, though. I wrote those in the back of the book.

Then I looked up the church in the phone book, and called the branch presidency. The first counselor was a professor in the UW dairy department. His university office was only a block from the dormitory.

I went to visit him by appointment on a Thursday. Asked all the questions I had written down. The last question was, how do I get baptized. He gave me the same ear-to-ear smile as the girl at Deseret Book. Then he said that Sunday school was at 9:15 on Sunday morning. Come then, and they would see what they could do.

He said that I didn't have to believe anything I had heard. If I wanted to know the truth of what I had learned, kneel and pray and ask Heavenly Father. I did that by the side of my bed, that afternoon. The answer was simply a removal of any lingering doubts that I had.

My Baptist roommate came in, while I was finishing praying. He wondered what I was doing. Told him that I had prayed about the Mormon church, and received an answer the church ws true. He looked dubious, but wished me well.

When I came up the sidewalk at a little before 9:15, he was standing on the chapel steps with Elder Gary Wayne Gunnell from Idaho, and Elder Dwayne Clay Watson from Utah. He told the missionaries, "You see that kid coming up the sidewalk. He wants to be baptized." One of the missionaries stood there with his mouth open (Elder Watson I think). The other ran out, put his arm around me, and escorted me into the chapel.

I spent Sunday school with the missionaries, then went to their apartment for the afternoon. That afternoon, they taught me two discussions. They were pleasantly surprised that I answered the questions as though I were a member.

There was a problem with my joining the Church. I was 19 years old. My parents would have to sign a permission slip, since I was under 21. The missonaries called their zone leaders in Milwaukee. Those missionaries drove the 90 miles north to the farm.

Sacrament meeting was in the late afternoon at 5:00, and ended about 6:45. I was sitting near the wall edge of a right pew, when one of the missionaries came up the outside aisle. He pulled me out of the meeting, to the rear foyer. Then he announced that my dad had signed the permission slip. My dad figured that I should be attending church, so permission was fine. When I heard that, I broke down and cried and hugged the missionary.

One of the missionaries went up front, and told the branch president. The other went to the baptismal font, and started running the water. The branch president announced at the end of the meeting that there would be a baptism.

One of the missionaries interviewed me for the baptism, out in a car in the parking lot. I later learned that the missioanries had broken at least 5 mission rules. They were not supposed to spend the entire day with an investigator. Or baptize someone the same day they met them. The wrong person interviewed me. They were supposed to teach all the discussions before baptism. I'd only had two. It took several months of splits with the missionaries, before I heard all the lessons.

I didn't care about that. By then, I was determined to be baptized. At 7:15 PM that Sunday October 14, 1962, I was baptized.

Years later while I was living in Toronto, Canada area, LeGrands Richards was the General Authority at stake conference. He autographed my old original copy of the book "A Marvelous Work And A Wonder".