SAO PAULO, Brazil — "I have been very blessed in the last 17 years since I was baptized; however, I remember a particular time when I learned that prior to 1978 the priesthood was not conferred to all worthy men of the Church," said Mario Dias, 36. "It was a moment that challenged my continued membership in the Church.
"I sought out the Lord and asked Him to help me understand that doctrine. It was during that time that I learned that when we have a doubt about doctrine there are two paths: We can abandon the Church and never discover the truth about the subject, or we can go to the Lord and learn what He already knows. Happily, I chose the second, and the Lord taught me things that I could never forget, the most important of which was the reason I was born in this era, and why I wasn't introduced to the Church until 1986. I received a personal testimony that He had reserved me to work in His kingdom on the earth. I thought of my ancestors and how many of them did not have the same privilege that I had. That experience strengthened me.
"I serve as an institute director in Sao Paulo and, more than ever, those doubts of that young man who did not know the purpose of life have been answered. The Lord has used me as an instrument in His hands to bless the lives of many young people."