Out Into the World

After our failed attempt at delivering pamphlets, my dad asked my younger brother and I to come up with another way to preach the gospel.  Since passing out papers at ward-houses was not "my way", my dad encouraged me to come up with a method that was more suitable to me.

My brother and I prayed about people we could go teach.  We came up with a list of names, and, one by one, we went to see these people.  The first person we visited was a friend of my brother's, someone we both went to high school with.  She had just recently got married, and we went to see her and her husband at their apartment.  They accepted us in, but it was a cool reception.  My brother spoke with passion.  This was something that he deeply believed in, but it became evident that they were not receptive.  When my brother quoted something from the temple endowment, she shut us down and asked that we not speak any further.  We left her apartment, and my brother had tears in his eyes.

The next visit was to an LDS man that was rumored to be open to Mormon fundamentalism.  So we called him and made an appointment to meet him.  He agreed to see us.  So my brother and I prepared to go.  We took a copy of "Four Hidden Revelations", "Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith", and a few other basic books.  Then we headed to his house one evening.

He answered the door and asked us in.  He had been working around the house, and so he sat us down in his living room while he went to clean up.  While we waited, I took a glance at his bookcase.  Not just all the Journals of Discourses, but the whole Truth Volumes, "Treasures of Knowledge" by Rulon Allred, and every book written by Ogden Kraut.  My heart sank.  What did this mean?  This man was no mere novice to Mormon fundamentalism.  His books were hardcore.  He wouldn't own them unless he had already done his studying.  It turns out that, in his younger years, he had been quite a student.  He had talked extensively to Owen Allred, to Odgen Kraut, and even to Rulon Jeffs, then leader of the FLDS.  My younger brother and I were out of our league.

When it became evident that we were floundering, this man told us, "You boys had better know what you're about!  Or else someone like me will come along and eat you up!"

It seemed like a discouraging event.  But two weeks later, this man was knocking on our door.  He wanted to talk to my father.  After several long talks, it ended up with this man being lead by me into the waters of re-baptism at the Salt River, and then my father re-conferred the priesthood on him.

Shortly after that, our entire family moved to a small ranch in the White Mountains of eastern Arizona.  After we got settled, my dad wanted us to have the experience of "tracting" - or knocking Jehovah's Witness-style from door to door.  One of my friends laughed when he heard this.  "What are you going to tell people?  'I represent a small group in Arizona that once was part of the AUB that broke off from the LDS Church'?"

But one sunny February morning, a couple of vehicles of young men drove to Sanders on the Navajo Nation and split into pairs.  Then we set out on foot.  We started knocking from door to door.  Kindly natives would answer the doors, but they mostly weren't interested in what we had to say.  I was paired up with my brother-in-law.

On about the third knock, two young white men answered the door.  I couldn't help but start laughing. We had knocked on the door of the local Mormon missionaries.  They invited us in.  The older companion was from Chicago, and he had never heard of Mormon fundamentalists.  He wanted to hear what we had to say.  The junior companion - a small blonde guy from Utah - knew exactly what Mormon fundamentalists were.  He didn't say it, but you could tell by his face.  He had that deer-in-the-headlights look.  We sat down and had an awkward discussion on Doctrine & Covenants section 132.  After having a polite banter, we excused ourselves and continued walking down the road.

No sooner had we left that the two missionaries got in their car and blazed down the road, doubtlessly to report their encounter to their mission leaders.  Years later, hints of an urban legend floated back to me about polygamist missionaries trying to convert some LDS missionaries.  I still laugh when I think about it.

By this time, I was a practicing polygamist, and I was now active on the internet.  I thought that the internet would be a good tool to find other wives.  It turned out to be the opposite.  That is a whole story on its own, but the conclusion that I reached was - the internet was NOT a good place to find wives.  For me, at any rate.

I read an article in Yahoo! Magazine.  The Catholic cardinal in New York was speaking of the internet as a teaching tool.  He said, "If St. Paul was alive today, he wouldn't be writing epistles; he would be online."

This struck me when I read it.  It was absolutely true.  The internet is the best tool to reach people all over the world.

By this time, I had found which teaching method was best for me, and that was example.  I didn't start teaching people doctrines or religious ideas.  I just started talking about my family, living plural marriage, what worked for me, and what didn't work for me.  I discussed on public forums, on chat sites, and eventually wound up doing TV shows, radio broadcasts and blogs.  This was the best teaching tool I could find.  I found that people would contact me.  They still do.  Scarcely a day goes by that I am not contacted by someone with some sort of question.  Some are just curious, which is fine by me.  I am an open book.  Some want to ask doctrinal questions, which I try to answer the  best I can.  Others are seeking priesthood blessings or ordinances, and I try to point the way the best I can.

I am no prophet.  I am no guru.  I am just a simple man who is seeking the will of God for myself the best I can.  But most of all, I want to be a servant.  A servant to God.  But mostly a servant to humankind.  When I die, I want my life to have meaning, to have purpose, and the only way that can happen is if I was of service to everyone with whom I came in contact.

Some times, I am not the best example.  I watched one of my marriages splinter apart earlier this year.  But even in that, I desire to be an example of how to handle it with dignity and kindness.

It has been a long, strange trip.  There is so much more to tell.  But now, I have to prepare for the next step in my adventure - which is to literally go out into the world, without purse or scrip.  And I will documenting it all right here...