More than Coincidence: Remembering Jesus Christ in Your Story

Like a Mirror with Mark

• Lily • Season 1 • Episode 27

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When life took him from the simplicity of a dairy farm to the skies with the Air Force, Mark's path was anything but ordinary. He especially didn't see himself finding the gospel and getting baptized at 24! Mark powerfully testifies how we are all a like a mirror and as such, reflect the world and those around us. Thus, as we live the gospel and strive to build a relationship with our Savior, we begin to reflect His Light to those around us and create an environment where we can repent and change and encourage others to do the same.

Please reach out to me if you are interested in sharing your story! I would LOVE to hear from you. :)

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Lily:

Hello everyone and welcome to More Than Coincidence, remembering Jesus Christ in your Story as the author and finisher of our faith, our Savior writes personal experiences into each of our lives which can later strengthen, empower and bring us peace upon reflection. This podcast is dedicated to sharing these anchoring memories from everyone's unique stories in order to collectively remember and testify of the reality of Jesus Christ and his presence in our lives. I'm your host, lily, and I'm very excited to share these experiences together. Good evening, everybody, and welcome to the podcast. Today we have Mark. How are you doing?

Mark:

Good and you.

Lily:

Oh, thank you for asking. I'm actually really good. I'm doing really good. I just actually got back from seeing the new Godzilla vs Kong I guess it's not versus, they work together this time. It was a good movie. I recommend it. It was really fun. So do you mind introducing yourself a little bit?

Mark:

Yeah, I'm Mark Morley, from Washington State, grew up on a dairy farm there, joined the Air Force when I was 18. And then, through the Air Force, I was introduced to the church through my wife and others and became a member in 1987.

Lily:

That's awesome. So Do you have any hobbies that you like to do?

Mark:

My big hobbies that I used to really enjoy doing a lot weightlifting and cycling.

Lily:

Sweet. Yeah, did you ever do like a triathlon or anything like that?

Mark:

I did with my daughter. Yeah, Did you really yeah?

Lily:

How did you guys do? Did you PR for yourself? Yeah, that Did you really yeah.

Mark:

How did you guys do? Did you PR for yourself? Yeah, that's all that matters, yeah.

Lily:

How long did it take you guys to train for that?

Mark:

We trained for probably about six months or so.

Lily:

Yeah, you have to really train for a long time. Where did you guys go? Which one did you go to?

Mark:

It was up north, it was the Brian Shrimp one.

Lily:

Uh-huh, so you had a lot of fun. It was fun, yeah, good, you think you ever want to do another one. No, you're like, I checked that off the box and that's all I need to do.

Mark:

Yeah, it's just. You know I love cycling and hopefully I can get healthy enough to get back into it.

Lily:

Yeah, so yeah, that's so cool, and then hiking as well.

Mark:

Uh is my 10th Rim to Rim.

Lily:

What is that Of the Grand Canyon? I didn't. What I didn't know that was. Is that a thing?

Mark:

Yeah, you hike from one rim to the other.

Lily:

It's a really good trail and there's tons of people on it, so that sounds like so much fun. Well, I'm really happy that you're here tonight and Thank you. Let me just ask the question then what memories do you reflect on that prick your heart in remembrance of your Savior Jesus Christ, and anchor you to him?

Mark:

There's a lot actually. I mean, I'll start with my conversion, which actually started long before I ever knew anything about the church. I, you know, I one summer we went to Bible camp and, you know know, learned about Jesus and different things like that, and I just I can still picture some of the stories. Yeah, so you know. So I always knew about Jesus and my Heavenly Father it was. I always knew it was there. I never I, obviously, in my youth, in my young adult years, I didn't follow him, even though I knew he was there. So, but when I was, I was 24, I had corrected a lot of things in my life and was actually looking for a church to go to, and I'd been to several. The Lutheran church was the one I felt most comfortable with, which was interesting. But then, you know, not only was I looking for a church, I was looking for a girlfriend, slash wife.

Lily:

Yeah.

Mark:

And I met my wife, and you know she introduced me to the church, and so I decided to take the lessons, and this is back in the day, when it was the flip charts, and I told Peggy, though, that I had to do it for myself, Right, that she couldn't be there.

Mark:

Yeah, and she couldn't be there Because I had to know it was real for me not real to be able to get to her, Right. But it was interesting because the missionaries, you know they did a great job. They used to like to come over on Monday nights about 7, same time as Monday night football.

Lily:

So that might be on in the background.

Mark:

But we had some great discussions and they always left me with something to read, and I usually would read more, right.

Lily:

Wow, that's awesome.

Mark:

Yeah.

Lily:

And when were you baptized? Usually, people remember their baptism date.

Mark:

Yeah, it was October 7th 1987.

Lily:

Wow.

Mark:

Yeah, it was. Yeah, that's amazing. I was going to say it couldn't have been, because we got married January 2nd of 88.

Lily:

Well, that was my next question, so I guess things went well with Peggy.

Mark:

Yeah, we got married not long after that and then, actually even before I was baptized, I had orders to go overseas for the Air Force, so we got married. I went and did some schooling and Peggy was with me there, and then I went overseas, yeah, and we finally got her over there. Yeah, that's wonderful, we spent three years in England.

Lily:

Yeah. So when you were taking the lessons, what just rang true to you? Because if you were going to Bible camps and everything before you were clearly familiar with Christ, you were familiar with the Spirit. But what things. Specifically, when you heard the missionaries talk, what parts of the gospel really just rang true to you?

Mark:

Probably the families are forever, you know, and that's, that's an opportunity. It doesn't mean obviously we all have to to live the gospel to have that happen. But, um, I can remember back I was about eight years old, probably about eight years old when my grandmother died and, um, my dad, my mom, had flown there to be with her and stuff. My mom had flown there to be with her and stuff. So my dad came and told all of us kids individually, and I think I felt like I was expected to be sad and cry, yeah, but I was happy, which you know. When I look back, it was like it didn't make a lot of sense.

Mark:

Yeah, but the knowledge that we can be together forever.

Lily:

Right.

Mark:

I think I already had that. Yeah, I had that in me, so you know when they talked about that that was.

Lily:

That rang true to you.

Mark:

Yeah, and just I mean reading through the Book of Mormon. You know, having knowledge of the Bible I mean I was never a religious scholar or anything like that, but I knew the Bible a little bit. And then to read the Book of Mormon and just read through it. You know the chronology of it and everything else. It was fascinating.

Lily:

Yeah, it's really cool. I like that. Are there any other? Any other memories you want to you'd like to talk about?

Mark:

I don't know, I don't know. I just through my life, I think that we're all a mirror. You know, like I said, my early years, you know, up into my early twenties, um, were quite rebellious. But I remember as a child crying myself to sleep and telling myself how I didn't want to be like my father. But it's exactly what I became. Yeah, it's be. You know, I mirrored that um, and it wasn't until I was 24 20, 86 I was 24 um that I realized what I had become. Yeah, and I knew I didn't want to be that. So I made changes, Right, and then what I see is the people that you associate with and are close to those are the ones that you mirror. So you know, the older you get, the more retrospective and everything you can have.

Lily:

Yeah.

Mark:

And it's just, it's joyful to know that I want to be around good people, um that they make me better.

Lily:

Right.

Mark:

And if I'm better, I can help make them better, right, exactly.

Lily:

And how do you feel like that, tied in with your relationship with your savior, as you started really getting closer to him, do you? Did you really feel like, wow, maybe, maybe I might be reflecting him a little bit, like like how, how has that been?

Mark:

and and maybe it was a little bit more of I could see the blessings. You know, as I, as I became more righteous. Um, you know that I? I felt more righteous. Um, you know that I? I felt more comfortable and um, you know, it's like I can try to reflect him in my life.

Lily:

Yeah.

Mark:

So a quick story about my conversion. So, like I said, I I had cleaned up my life. A good friend and I we bought a home together and um just to get off of base Yep. And I we bought a home together and um just to get off of base yep. But so we did that and one after one evening we were supposed to go to Boise it was about 45 miles away to to to go out right.

Mark:

I didn't drink at the time and and I think he still did, but anyhow, I didn't drink at the time and uh. But it was just about time to go on a Friday night and there was a knock on the door and he answered it and was deep in discussion with the missionaries and I was like, oh my gosh, it's time to go we got to go.

Lily:

Girls are waiting for us yeah.

Mark:

So, um, I went back to my bedroom and found my CD from ACDC and just put it in, and when it got to Hell's Bells, I cranked it up. We left not long after that, but it was probably. Well, that would have been probably November, december timeframe, and July is when I had the missionaries come to my house. So by, like I said, august of 1986 is when I cleaned up my life and that was like November, december. So I don't think, obviously I wasn't ready. Um, and maybe, maybe the Lord was prompting me, I don't know.

Lily:

Yeah, but you're able to take those steps to the right direction.

Mark:

Yeah, oh yeah. When I told my friends what I was going to do, they were like you can't, there's no way yeah. But I did Wow.

Lily:

And then how was that? Because it's basically the repentance process right, yeah. So how was that? Choosing to clean up your life pre-Christ and the gospel versus afterwards Was there really a difference? Or do you feel like the Lord was really still had his hand in it the whole time and it was only upon reflection that you were like, oh my gosh, like he was there when I was trying to clean up my life, like, how was that?

Mark:

Yeah, I feel like he was there. I don't think um. You know, obviously the holy ghost wasn't in me yet and it wasn't constantly with me right, you just had there were times, yeah and you know, after I was baptized you get the holy ghost and then it was just like you know, I am able to go back and say, oh, maybe you know he helped me to do this, or whatever.

Lily:

Yeah, or inspired you or prompted you to do that.

Mark:

Yeah.

Lily:

That's so neat. So do you have any advice for people who are wanting to get their lives back together but have maybe people like your friends saying, nah, you can't do that, or maybe those inner thoughts that are like you can't do this, like you know yourself? You can't, you can't get clean, Like what? What would you tell them?

Mark:

you can't get clean, like what? What would you tell them? Gosh? I mean, I, um, I'm a very strong-willed person, so you know the comments of oh, you can't do this. That probably helped set me and and I guess the other thing is I didn't just set out to completely clean up my life. I said I'm going to do this for a year to prove to myself, I can. Um, and it was about the year time when I met my wife, yeah, so.

Lily:

So it's just that small little degree turn yeah, where you just say you know, I'm just going to try this and just give yourself a goal, give yourself a timeframe and then just maybe even see what happens. A year's a long time for like, for a lot of different behaviors and actions.

Mark:

Oh, especially when you're 24, right.

Lily:

Yeah, Are there any other thoughts that you have or anything else that's kind of coming to your mind right now? I know Peggy talked a lot about her family, your family, in your interview and stuff, and so how has your relationship, maybe your memories with your family and your children, how has that helped your relationship with the Savior or how you know, like, how has that I don't know maybe how has that been?

Mark:

Starting my own family with Peggy was. I was determined not to make the same mistakes, right and again. Like I said, it's there's. You know it's the mirror and you know I know I wasn't a perfect father. I yelled at my kids and things that I wish I never did. Very relatable, don't worry you know, but I'm a much better opah. Yeah, so yeah, and I'm very proud of my children. They've all grown up to be good contributing adults. You know, they contribute to the community, everything else. My daughter has given us two beautiful grandchildren.

Lily:

That's wonderful, yeah, and that's kind of like the fruits of everything that's happened, right, yeah think about that as a mother of young children.

Mark:

They will eventually give you grandchildren.

Lily:

The son will come out at some point. We're definitely in the trenches right now and it's been long, but it's okay. Everybody has to go through it. It's like an initiation thing, right, initiation into later life. But yeah, no, I'm actually really grateful, even in the hard times, that I I think about it, cause I think about the mirror that you talk about, and I think you know, at the end of the day, I'm a really relationship oriented person, and so I I think I would be I don't know so lost if, at in when I was older, that I sat at a table and I didn't have little people that are not little anymore, right, that are like big and grown, and all these people like friends, right, which is, but it's deeper than friends, it's more than just that, and I am looking forward to conversations that are not about my little pony or Paw Patrol right now.

Lily:

I'm waiting for those to come. But it has been really cool to see that mirror effect of as my husband and I have been trying to implement scripture study to the best of our ability. Or, you know, when we make a mistake we try and say, okay, we can repent, it's okay, you know, and it's cool to see that reflected back right and it's cool to see as a parent. It gives you that tiny tiny minute lens of what our heavenly parents probably feel as they're watching us kind of bumble around here in mortality and try and figure things out.

Lily:

So so I I like how you bring that up, because it's true.

Mark:

Yeah, it's, you know. I mean, like I said, when I was a parent a younger parent we were not that my wife didn't try, but family scripture, study, family home evening wasn't. It wasn't as important to me at that time. Yeah, I never grew up with it or anything.

Lily:

Me neither.

Mark:

But being together as a family I mean spending time with my children was super important yeah, that was everything yeah that's and that's how I feel too.

Lily:

I realize it really is about the connection that you make when you're doing things and you're together. Yeah, and that's something that I don't know.

Lily:

It's invaluable oh yeah, and if, if you don't nurture it and care for it, it's just not there, Right? And so, yeah, I think it's, and I like how you bring up you know you wanting to try and be a better dad than your dad was, Cause I feel like that's how me and Michael are. We're like, you know, we want to be better parents than our parents were, you know, and just perpetuating that positive cycle so that we can hopefully we can have greater and greater positivity reflected back right as each generation tries their best to like just get a little better, just get a little better, Right? So I like that.

Mark:

Yeah, I mean, I still remember growing up. You know a lot of the things that happened in my household, that we were told how bad they were, but they still continued.

Lily:

Yeah.

Mark:

Right. So you know, and maybe that instilled in me the ability to have the strong will I do to be able to make change.

Lily:

Yeah, exactly, you made me stubborn.

Mark:

Yeah, yeah.

Lily:

That's so fun. That's awesome. Well, if there are no other thoughts, which is totally fine, or no other things you want to talk about, which is totally fine would you mind just leaving us with a testimony then?

Mark:

Sure, I have a very simple testimony. I know that this church is true. I know that Joseph Smith restored this church here on the earth in this last dispensation, and it's a knowledge that I have. When I was first investigating the church, one of the young airmen asked me. He's like how come you're doing this? You think this guy wrote this book. I'm like yeah, and I asked him.

Mark:

I said I said because I knew he was Christian. I said do you believe that Moses parted the Red Sea? He's like. Well, of course. And I said for somebody to write this book is is less believable than Moses being able to part the Red Sea.

Mark:

And it was just you know. I know that our Heavenly Father, still today, has miracles among us, so it's just a knowledge that I have. It's very simple. I've made a life out of very complex things, but turning them simple in my mind, it's a gift from my Heavenly Father that I can look at a schematic and know exactly what it is, no matter how small it is, and we can make it happen. It's just what I've done and that's a gift from my Heavenly Father. And that's how I view the church as well, very simplistically. It's true, if you pray about it and truly, truly pray about it, you'll know.

Lily:

Yeah, thank you. What a beautiful testimony. Well, I appreciate the time that you've taken to interview with us tonight and I hope you have a good evening.

Mark:

I hope you do as well.

Lily:

Thanks again for tuning in to More Than Coincidence, Remembering Jesus Christ in your Story. I hope you do as well.