My name is Stephanie and I am a Mormon, post from Mormon.org

Hi I am Stephanie Ann Kines Quinn and I am a Mormon, here is my profile and my testimony of Jesus Christ. 

I am currently a full time mom. I have 3biological kids and I adopted a sibling group of 6 kids from foster care about 8 years ago. I love being a stay at home mom but it has it challenges at times. Several of my kids have special needs and it is tough on a day to day basis. I don't know how I would do it without my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I rely on them each day as I pray to help my children with the many struggles that often seem non stop.
As far as hobbies, I love to read, I totally enjoy having others to my home and I like to cook, especially different soup recipes.
I graduated from Brigham young University with a degree in family and community history which is another way of saying, "genealogy". I love feeling like a detective and finding relatives and putting family trees together.
I served an 18 month mission for the Church when I was 21 years old. I was sent to Antofagasta, Chile, where I fell in love with the Chilean people. It was an extremely difficult experience for me, but I learned so much. In addition to teaching the people about Christ, I learned in my own life that the main person I need to rely on in tough times is my Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ.

Why I am a Mormon

I was raised in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. My dad had converted right around the time that he and my mom were married and my mom comes from a long line of Mormon heritage. So I was raised in a home where the gospel of Christ was taught and I grew up sticking to it pretty closely. When I got to college however, I was contemplating a mission and started to wonder if I knew for certain that this church was the only true church or if I was relying too heavily on my parents faith and the tradition of our family in just growing up with it. One day I decided to visit Temple Square visitors center in Salt Lake City, UT. I decided to walk around the Visitors Center and pretend I was not a member of the church and try to image how I would feel if I were hearing the message for the very first time. I felt such a beautiful and calm feeling (which in the church we often refer to as feeling the spirit). An older sister missionary came up to me and was talking to me. I didn't tell her I was a member but then suddenly she said, "you already know this is true don't you". When she said those words a strong and undeniable feeling rushed over me, not a feeling I hadn't had before but stronger, more intense, telling me yes, you do know this is true.
I have felt that feeling often as I have worked on building my relationship with God. There have been times when I have felt alone or discouraged or felt despair, but during the times when I have tried my hardest (very far from perfect) to live what I believe that spirit or feeling has been there again. Each time I feel that I know that my Heavenly Father and my Savior Jesus Christ are aware of me, they know me personally, they know how I am feeling and they are there to help me.
I don't know how I would get through life without the knowledge that there is a God who loves me, of who I am his daugher and he wants the best for me and is there to help me, even if sometimes helping me means allowing me to make mistakes or suffer consequences or endure trials. I truly believe that my life is tailored to help me to grow and become what my Father in Heaven created me to be.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is authority to perform a baptism important?

If you look in the Old Testament in the Bible, authority was important even than. In the house of Israel different tribes had different responsibilities, for example the Levites were in charge of being the priest in the temple.
When Jesus Christ went to be be baptized himself as an example to all of us of what a correct baptism should be, he went to John who had the priesthood to baptize him.
God is all about things being legitimate. In American culture we authorize people who are lawyers, or doctors, or other occupations to show that they have the credentials to do what they are doing. God is the same, he authorizes righteous men to perform baptisms that have God's legitimate authority so that the baptism can be acknowledged as valid.

Do Mormons practice polygamy?

In the Scriptures in the Old Testament, the ancient prophets and patriarch's practiced polygamy. For example, Abraham had Sarah as a wife, but he also had Hagar, Sarah's hand maiden by whom he fathered Ismael.
When Jesus Christ was on the earth he taught his gospel. It was the same gospel that had been taught by God since the days of Adam and Eve. Christianity wasn't just started when Christ came. It started with Adam and Eve being taught that a Savior would come and he did come. He suffered for all of our sins and sorrows in the Garden of Gethsemene and then again on the cross. When he died, some of his teachings died with him. Different people most good and some with not so good intentions, took bits and pieces of Christs teachers and began their own churches. Disagreements over doctrines and other breaks in the varying churches caused church after church after church to form, all trying so hard to be as close to Christ gospel as they could, but none having the complete truth.
When Joseph Smith was called as prophet, his mission was to bring about a Restoration. A restoration means to restore or to bring back. God directed Joseph Smith to put back all the pieces of the gospel of Jesus Christ that had ever been practiced since the beginning, since Adam and Eve's time. This time, our time is to be the last time before Christ comes again, and God wanted all the teachings, all the doctrines to be restored back to the true church, all the pieces brought back together. Like I mentioned above, polygamy was practiced during the Old Testament periods of the earth and so in order for every single doctrine taught be brought back into the true church, that would also include polygamy.
When the government of the United States outlawed polygamy, a decision was made that no new polygamous marriages would be performed in the church.The churches wished to honor the laws of the country. Those that practice polygamy today are not members of the Church of Jesus Christ. Many people have difficulty understanding polygamy because in our culture that is not considered acceptable. There are countries today in our world that do practice polygamy but not in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We may not fully understand why polygamy was part of God's gospel in Abraham's day or in our day. However, we can see by reading the scriptures that it frequently been part of God's teachings among his covenant people. When Joseph Smith under the direction of Jesus Christ restored the gospel and all the Saviors former teachings, polygamy also needed to be restored as a gospel principle because it was part of the gospel originally and all truths needed to be restored to have the complete truth, the complete gospel available upon the earth.

Personal Stories

How can we develop greater harmony in our homes?

This is one I struggle with a lot. With 6 teens in our home it is often very busy and there are lots of strong personalities and differing views. Attending church as a family seems to help ALOT. It isn't always easy, ok, it is really hard to get everyone there without some difficulty but being at church, reminding us that families can be forever and that we want to be together forever, helps us. We also have greater peace in our home when we do fun things together as a family. We used to go camping alot when the kids were little. I used to love cooking or watching my husband wash the camping dishes (which surpisingly he loved) and while working watching the kids run around and just play together. I talk to my Father in Heaven a lot and plead with him for peace and harmony in our home, and when I do I often feel it come and know that he has heard and answered my prayer.

Can you think of a specific challenge in your family that Gospel Principles helped overcome?

Prayer: Prayer is the only way I can make it through life. Prayer gives me perspective and reminds me that God is my creator and he has created me with a specific purpose here on earth. I don't know what the big picture of that purpose is for me, but step by step he guides me and allows me to develop faith in Him that all experiences I am having good or bad, are for my benefit to help me reach my potential and the purpose of my creation. Prayer helps me to feel guided, to feel his hands holding me helping me step by step to learn, to grow and to pick me up when I fall.

How I live my faith

Being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to me means living my religion every day and not just once a week. I am not always great at remembering but I do try and say my prayers each day and read the scriptures as often as I can. I do a lot of talking to God through out my day which brings me comfort and perspective but I need to do better in also having formal prayers kneeling down next to my bedroom.
For a while I have been a teacher in the women's organization called the Relief Society where I would teach one Sunday a month. I loved doing this assignment (which we term a "calling") I learn a lot and it encourages me to dive in a investigate different religious topics. I love reading on lds.org to see what the apostles and prophets have taught about a certain subject so I can learn more.
My high schoolers attend seminary Monday through Friday at 6:00 a.m. before heading to school or homeschool. I am proud of them for attending, and it is a great way to start their day before heading to school and being bombarded by a lot of peer pressure and influences that I want them to stay away from.
My boys participate in Boy Scouts and my teen girls participate in the Young Women's organization. My youngest son is in primary which is the organization for kids ages 3 to 11.
On Sundays, as a family we attend church. It isn't always easy getting everyone there, especially having 6 teenagers. Usually I start my Sunday praying that Heavenly Father will help keep a good feeling in the home and help me get the kids all to church. Once we are there, everyone is pretty happy to be there and I love sitting together as a family and taking the bread and water (the sacrament) and learning more about Christ.