Connor Smith
Connor Smith, an East Ridge High School graduate, has been called to serve a two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). Connor will serve in the Barbados Bridgetown mission. He will give two years of his life preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, without pay.
More than 76,000 missionaries of the LDS Church are serving worldwide. Every missionary gives up dating, music, tv, movies, etc., devoting their full-time attention to The Lord and the people where they are assigned to preach the gospel. They only make calls home twice a year, usually at Christmas and Mother’s Day. Young men serve for two years, generally at their own expense, and always without pay.
“I feel blessed for this opportunity,” Connor said. “To give God two years of my life preaching His gospel cannot even compare to what He has given me.” Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are Christians – followers of Christ. “We believe that Jesus Christ is our Savior and our Redeemer and that only through Him can we be saved.”
A missionary’s purpose, according to LDS.org is “to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end” (Preach My Gospel, 2004). Also, according to http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/topic/missionary-program, “the missionary effort is based on the New Testament pattern of missionaries serving in pairs, teaching the gospel and baptizing believers in the name of Jesus Christ.” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has 422 missions across the globe and about 16 million members.
LDS missionaries also serve the communities to which they are assigned because “our mission is to serve,” Connor said. For example, during Hurricane Harvey, the LDS Church has “sent nine trucks with supplies including hygiene kits, food, water, cleaning supplies, clothing, diapers and wipes” (heraldextra.com, September 1, 2017). Tens of thousands of LDS volunteers, including Mormon missionaries, are also on hand to help. This is just one of many of LDS humanitarian efforts around the world. More than 189 countries have received aid from the LDS Church since 1985 (mormonnewsroom.org).
Connor will labor for and on behalf of the people of Barbados where the LDS Church, according to mormonnewsroom.org, has one mission, three congregations and a total membership of just over 1,000. Prior to his call to the Barbados Bridgetown mission, Connor achieved the rank of Eagle Scout. The Eagle Scout award is the highest rank achievable in the Boy Scouting program of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). Only about five percent of all Boy Scouts achieve the rank, according to BSA.
Connor is the son of Paul and Karen Smith. Connor attends the Chattanooga branch of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was Prom King and a Mr. East Ridge candidate this past school year.