Gerard Regnier:
CLASS OF 1963
Grand Junction High SchoolClass of 1963
Grand junction, CO
Gerard's Story
Actually, it all started for me back in Hitler's Germany:
In retrospect, it is a miracle that I even exist at all, especially, being alive and well in the USA. I'll explain by hitting some of the high points of my life:
In a nutshell, my mortal life began in a forced labor camp in Hitler's Nuremberg, Germany. My mom and dad were forced to go to Germany, by the Nazis, and work to support Hitler's war effort. My dad, from Belgium, and mom was from France. The Nazis forcibly removed Dad from the university and Mom was taken from her home in France and told to report to the train station. If she did not report, that she would be shot. In Germany, Dad was eventually sent to a real concentration camp because he refused to work. He did this by defiantly refusing to put on his shoes. Mom was sent back to Dijon, France, where I was born. I guess they didn't have work for a pregnant woman, so they sent her back to France.
Next, I miraculously arrived on the soil of the United States of America. My next "good luck" was to live and grow up in mountains of Colorado where I spent my childhood years. I lived in Denver until I was about four years old. After that, moved to Grand Junction, Colorado, where I lived until I was about eighteen years old. After that, arriving in Salt Lake City to get a "higher education" (at least that is what I thought I was doing at the time). In retrospect, it seems that I received a "higher education" than I could have imagined in my wildest dreams.
In my spare time as a young college student, I received a different "higher education". It was about the restored gospel, I learned about the true nature of the Trinity. God the Father and his son Jesus Christ are really two separate living beings. This struck me like a ton of bricks when I very first discussed this with a couple of Mormon missionaries. Previously, I was greatly troubled by what I had been taught as a Catholic concerning the Trinity. It just didn't make sense. After a few discussions with them, I kn...Expand for more
ew that Joseph Smith actually saw what he said he saw. It all happened exactly the way he said it did. He was not delusional, crazy or a liar. He was not coerced, forced or paid for what he did. He had no personal "axe to grind" to disprove any other religion. All he wanted to do was to find out which church he should join. Throughout and to the end of his young life, he was ridiculed, persecuted and condemned for what he saw, heard and did. He ultimately sealed his testimony with his own life. He was killed at the hands of a mob. Joseph could have saved his life by simply denying what he knew to be true. The Book of Mormon has its own built in proof system that really works. There are the three and eight witnesses who saw, held and hefted the plates from which the document was translated. I have read the Book of Mormon many times. It stands solidly alone on its own merit. It contains and is God's own truth. My overall view of the "big picture" of the Book of Mormon is that it is a tender love story about God's merciful care and love of his mortal children here on the Earth, on this, the American continent. That's the way I see it.
Initially, my mother disapproved of me joining "that church". She refused to let me join. I had to wait until I was old enough to join on my own and without her parental consent. I remember my mother saying "if you join that church, I will disown you". That was a hart breaking decision to make. You see, my mother was the only living relative that I knew. I had no one else. Well, I joined "that church" anyway, at her great disapproval. She never did disown me.
I don't know exactly what to say or how to express it, but I can look back over my life and see the workings of the hand of the Lord. He has carefully led me along all throughout my life, starting from war torn Europe, to the mountains of Colorado in the USA. The time span began before I was born, it continues through my life. I can feel the Lord's tender, loving and guiding care even to this day.
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