LSD to LDS: How my parents found Christ in the middle of a hippie commune.

This episode  recounts the powerful true story of Amber’s parents' transition from a life of substance abuse in a hippie commune to finding faith in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It covers their early life filled with drugs and searching for meaning, encounters with pivotal figures that sparked a desire for a better life, and the series of spiritual and personal transformations that led them to a devout Christian life. Their journey showcases the impact of sincere faith, the power of change, and the belief that Christ reaches out to all, regardless of past choices, offering hope and redemption. The narrative is interspersed with personal reflections on the nature of addiction, divine love, and the testimonies that brought them closer to God, culminating in a life devoted to serving others and sharing their faith.

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00:00 Introduction: A Sensitive Journey of Transformation

00:49 Sponsor Spotlight: Thrive Life's Impact

01:28 From LSD to LDS: A Family's Radical Change

03:38 A Hippie Commune Encounter: The Beginning of a New Path

09:57 The Spiritual Awakening: From Hallucinogens to Holiness

18:20 A New Direction: Embracing Faith and Leaving the Past Behind

28:11 A Life Transformed: The Power of Faith and Service

33:09 Reflections and Lessons: The Reach of Christ

Transcript

Amber: 0:00

A little warning before we start this episode of the podcast, this story contains mentions of drug use and may be a sensitive subject for some. I'll be sharing a story of my parents experience in leaving a life of substance abuse behind and finding Christ. Their journey is unique to them, and I understand that everyone's story and views may not be the same. No one person or story is better than the other, but just different. I have a feeling you'll be wanting to see some pictures of some of the cool things that I mention in this story. So check out the show notes for a link to where you can view those pictures. Shall we move on? I am so grateful to be able to have the time and means to produce this podcast, but it wouldn't be possible without Thrive Life. Thrive Life is the best freeze dried food that you can possibly find with a 25 year shelf life, high quality food, and a delicious taste. You cannot put a price tag on peace of mind and preparedness. So go to amber. thrivelife. com and set up a delivery to get 15 percent off retail price and free shipping on any orders over a hundred dollars. You are listening to episode three of the Hope Smiling Brightly podcast, from LSD to LDS, how my parents found Christ in the middle of a hippie commune. President Russell M. Nelson said."As you think celestial, you will find yourself avoiding anything that robs you of agency. Any addiction, be it gaming, gambling, debt, drugs, alcohol, anger, pornography, sex, or even food, offends god. Why? Because your obsession becomes your God. You look to it rather than to him for solace. If you struggle with an addiction, seek the spiritual and professional help you need. Please do not let an obsession rob you of your freedom to follow God's fabulous plan close quote this quote made me think of Lyrics from a hymn I love to sing where can I turn for peace? Where is my solace when other sources cease to make me whole? He answers privately reaches my reaching. This is a story of two of God's children who were seeking solace, but did not know where to find it. A story that teaches that no matter your circumstances or choices, Christ is reaching. Whether you can barely think to reach. Or you are reaching with all of your might. His hand is stretched out still. The nicest mode of transportation in the hippie commune was my dad's dump truck. So, my mom knew something was odd when a beautiful black sedan came up the drive and parked in front of their free form hippie home. Others in the commune stopped and watched, but only for a moment. Because when two men in black suits got out of a car, everyone scattered in fear, sure it was the FBI coming for a drug bust. Two people stayed in place. My mom and my dad. My mom didn't move because she was curious why my dad was smiling and had no fear that others displayed. My dad didn't move because he knew exactly who these men were. There was no mistaking the light in their countenance, the smile in their eyes. He knew they were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints, not the FBI. My father's parents believed in God. His mother went from church to church to church trying to find some place that felt like home without much success. It wasn't until they decided to take a road trip across the country that they learned about a faith that would change their lives. They had decided that they were tired of living in a cloudy state and wanted to find a state with more sunshine. So they were visiting different places across the United States. To try and figure out where they wanted to live and in their travels ended up in Salt Lake City, Utah, my dad's father immediately crossed Utah off his list when he realized it was harder to find a nice cold beer to drink than normal. And he was completely aghast when he went to a cafe to get his morning cup of coffee and all they served was Postum. Definitely not for him. But before they left, my dad's mother really wanted to visit the historic Temple Square. She knew nothing of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints, but she was curious what this place was all about. They agreed to join a tour being led by a kind, middle aged man. During the tour, they learned that their tour guide was a heart surgeon and he volunteered one day a week, giving tours at temple square that astounded my grandmother, that someone that held a occupation as prestigious as heart surgeon would give up that money to serve in such a way every single week it impressed her so much that she wanted to learn more. What was it about this faith that would cause this man to make such a sacrifice? It took a few years, but they were able to learn more. They decided to move to the sunny state of New Mexico, and one day, my dad heard a knock on the door. It was two sister missionaries, asking him if they could tell him something, to which he responded, You too can tell me anything you want. He welcomed these two cute young ladies in and they taught him and the whole family, the gospel. My grandmother was incredibly receptive because of the experience that she had and they all were quickly baptized. My father was 16 at the time, so graduated soon after, joined the army straight out of high school, and church was no longer on his mind. He began drinking and smoking in the army, and thankfully was sent to Germany instead of Vietnam. After his service, he moved back to New Mexico, but decided to live in a commune in northern New Mexico. But the locals didn't like the hippies squatting on their land, so they got pushed out. My dad decided that he would take an inheritance he got from his grandfather and purchase some land right outside Albuquerque, New Mexico. That became the hippie commune. At first, it just consisted of a camper, some tents, and friends, many of whom were felons. He spent his time building a free form artistic home with his best friend. To earn money, he purchased a dump truck and hauled trash and cut and sold firewood. One day, he was delivering firewood to a family that he recognized from when he joined the church. But that family didn't recognize him, with his long hair and long beard. But he also recognized the joy and the love that was in that home and it sparked a seed of desire. He wanted that kind of life somehow, but he just did not know how to find it. Little did he know his life was about to change. He was driving home and passed his best friend in a car. They both slowed down and he backed up his dump truck, leaned out the window. And asked, got a match? What he couldn't see is that there was a woman sitting in the back of that car watching and when she saw my dad lean outta that dump truck in an instant, she knew that would be the man she would spend the rest of her life with. That woman was my mom, my mother. was raised by a mother who was agnostic. She always said, when I die, I'll keep my eyes open, but religion was not a part of her life. Her father was a well educated and well known pediatrician, a good man, but also an atheist. Religion was never a part of her upbringing. She vaguely remembers getting dressed up to go to an Easter service one time. What is interesting is that even though she was never taught about God, she often found herself talking to God. She felt a surprising personal closeness, especially when making a mistake, because she was always so upset with him for not stopping her from making that mistake. She spent her high school years at a boarding school and was a really good girl as a teenager. Still, the only things she knew about Christ was a few things a Catholic boyfriend told her. Besides that, she didn't know much. After high school, she went to college on the East Coast to major in art, and there was introduced to drugs. She had a more powerful experience when she took drugs than was typical of her friends. As she tried different drugs, she found that hallucinogens were her favorite. And in some ways was more addicted to the hallucinations than she was to the drug. She went to study abroad program in Denmark and tried even heavier drugs there. When she came back to the States, she did all the typical hippie things. Yes, she went to Woodstock and remembers having to park 13 miles away and walk to get there. She remembers feeling the ground vibrate the closer she got from the massive amount of people and the sound. Beyond that, she doesn't remember much. And if anyone else who has been to Woodstock claims to remember more, they're probably lying. Because most people were just high the whole time. My mom at some point decided to quit college and move to New York City, where she did most of her drug use. She would dance down the streets of New York City and play her castanets. No, she wasn't high when she did that. She just did it for fun, but spent most of her time tripping in Central Park and was incredibly grateful that she was somehow able to avoid anything terrible happening to her as a beautiful young 20 year old woman hanging out alone in Central Park. Her Best friend and roommate decided to move from New York City to New Mexico, and so she decided to go along with her. It was while she was looking for a place to live that she saw my dad leaning out of that dump truck. And when the living situation in New Mexico didn't pan out, She decided to join the hippie commune with my dad. By that time, the Freeform house had taken shape, so people could either stay in tents or stay in one of the rooms in the Freeform house that was literally made out of scraps from a lumber yard, she became good friends with my dad at that point because he was in a relationship. My mom began to realize truly how miserable she was taking hallucinogens had made her more paranoid and anxious. She didn't understand why she was here. She didn't understand what her purpose was. And so she decided to ask God. And this is where the reaching started. Even though she wasn't living a great life, she reached to God and asked, why am I here? And she was surprised at the answer. The words came, You are here to learn charity. Oh great, she thought. I give my stuff away all the time. That's charity, right? But she didn't understand the charity he was talking about. God continued reaching to her in unique and personal ways, whether she was able to see a cross within the shape of a landscape or hear words from scripture that she had never read. She recognized that he was trying to teach her about him. Being so miserable in the commune, she decided to use an inheritance from her grandfather to hitchhike across Europe by herself, much to her parents worry. Over three months, she found boyfriends, stayed in hostels, met people who were heading in the same direction and hitchhiked with them, got lice, and hiked a lot. It wasn't until the end of her journey, where she ended up in Ireland, that she reached to God again. After seven days of meditating, asking the question, What do you want me to do? She received an answer. Walk in the path of righteousness, for my name's sake. Again, she didn't completely understand what that meant. And she didn't even know until years later that those very words were from the 23rd Psalm. Because she had never read the Bible. My mother decided to return back to the States and moved back to Oklahoma where her parents were living but decided to stay in a church that literally preached marijuana. One day when she went to visit her parents, her mother said, a man called for you. My mother asked, well, what did he say? He left a message and it was, we want you back. My mom immediately flew to New Mexico. And the first thing she asked her friend that picked her up at the airport was if this man was still in a relationship. And he was not funny enough. My mother read people's fortunes, she read face cards and tarot cards, and one of the first nights that she was back, she decided to read my father's cards, his fortune, and she said, Robert, You're going to go insane, you're going to get married, and then you're going to have happiness. Who are you going to marry? Someone yelled out, you should marry Ruth! Yeah, you should marry me! And then the conversation ended. The next day, they were working on the roof, and she turned to my dad and said, Robert, who are you going to marry? To which he replied, you know I'm going to marry you. They were married in Oklahoma. Two weeks later, unfortunately, the beginning of their married relationship was not wedded bliss. It was very difficult getting along with some of the other hippies living in the commune and it became a big stress on their marriage. My dad and his friends would go out and get drunk every single Thursday night together. Harder and harder drugs were making their way into the commune. There were some Christian friends that tried to reach out to them. They would go picnic in the mountains together. They would talk to my parents about Christ and my mom would talk to them about how awesome LSD was. It wasn't too long, though, before my mom found out she was pregnant with their first child. And miraculously, that was enough motivation for my mom to completely stop taking drugs. It was when my oldest brother was 18 months old and my mom was pregnant with her second child that that fancy black sedan drove up their drive. The story goes that those home teachers didn't have anyone to home teach. The branch president had taken away their assignment and given it to someone else because they were not good at doing their home teaching. In remorse, they went to the branch president and begged him to please give them a family to teach. He agreed and told them he knew just the family, my parents. when they showed up at the commune, my mom was pretty confused because my dad had never spoken about religion. She had no idea he had ever been baptized into any type of faith. But what she did realize is that these men carried the spirit with them. Christ had taught her what it felt like. And she knew that these men were men of God. She loved having them come to visit and teach. She was so in tune with things of a spiritual nature, that when my mom and dad would leave to go somewhere, and the home teachers would miss them, On their drive home, my mother would tell my dad the home teachers have been here. And sure enough, there was a note left behind that they had stopped to visit. She also could sense when they were coming, and would tell my dad. They were good and kind. They brought her organic gardening books and tried to get to know what her interests were. When they taught her about the Word of Wisdom, she decided to stop drinking coffee, but had no idea what it meant to be a member of the church. My dad observed my mom moving towards God and understood it better than she did in some ways. Her desire for God increased his desire, and he decided to stop smoking. But all he said about these men visiting and this faith was, I don't know, But I think there's something to that Book of Mormon. Those home teachers coming around is what made my parents realize that change was needed. They realized that if they stayed in that commune, they would succumb to those heavier drugs. They knew they needed to leave to get away from drugs and a toxic atmosphere. My mom knew that if they stayed, that there was a good chance their children would be taken from them. They decided their best option was Vale, Oregon. A small town where half of the residents were my mother's relatives. And the other half, they soon learned, were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. When they moved there, my dad got his journeyman license to become an electrician. And, yes, my dad was an electrician, and I grew up in a home with no electricity. We will talk about that in future episodes. He got a job with an electrical company and his assistant, sure enough, was a member of the church. My dad recognized this and every time they would pass a church, he would make a little off handed comment about the church to get a reaction out of him. And finally he admitted, Hey, I'm a member of your church. As soon as his assistant found this out, he invited him to come back to church. And so my dad went, and my mom went to the laundromat. One day when my dad got home from church, he said, I loved hearing those words again. The moment he said that, the words"spiritual unity" were spoken to my mother's mind, and she knew that was the key to strengthening their marriage. My father continued going to church and re read the story of the first vision, and remembered that sweet testimony he had received as a 16 year old. Once he went back to church. It was an overnight change. He stopped drinking and Miraculously never needed outside help to overcome his addictions One day, my dad asked my mom if his friends could come teach her about the church. She recalled that when they came, they were the most humble men she had ever met in her life. They were so kind that she knew they were men of God, and it made her very willing to listen. After meeting with them for the first time, she decided she would read the Book of Mormon. She read the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price in four days and says she didn't even need to kneel down and ask if it was true. She knew., It was a full circle moment for her when she read in Moroni 7:47, but charity is the pure love of Christ. She finally understood those words that were spoken to her heart and mind years earlier. Their friends came to teach her the gospel every other night. But as surely as Christ was reaching, the adversary was reaching too. It became clear to her that evil was real. And, if she joined the church, she would be protected from it. The first time she walked into a chapel, she noticed all the stair step families, and always wanting a large family herself, she felt right at home. But there was one thing she wasn't sure about. As the mission president interviewed her before her baptism, he asked if she believed, that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. She looked at him, smiled, and lied, and said that she did. The mission president, wise and discerning, could tell that she didn't have a testimony of that thing, but promised her that if she kept her baptismal covenants, She would know that he was a prophet. Just a few weeks after, she received a witness that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God while reading the Book of Mormon. And that night, she was woken three times by the Spirit speaking the words Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. After her baptism, both of my parents received their patriarchal blessings. And my dad was absolutely thrilled that God wanted him and had a work for him. And they were both committed to serving God for the rest of their lives. But soon after, my parents got a devastating call late at night from New Mexico. My father's best friends, who had gone out on their traditional Thursday night to get drunk, were involved in a car accident, and everyone in the car was killed. My parents knew in that instant that had they stayed my father would have been in that car. It was devastating to them to lose such dear friends and in search for comfort my dad wanted to return to New Mexico to be near his family. My mom agreed as they both promised each other that they would attend church every single Sunday. They moved back, but they had sold their freeform house and so bought another small house right across the ditch from the commune. They still had their hippie friends, but everyone was a bit standoffish because they were worried that my parents had become narcs. And honestly, the death of everyone's friends had really rattled the commune and everyone kind of started going their separate ways. My parents were immediately drawn in by the faithful members of the local branch of their church, and they never looked back. Though the home teachers that had so faithfully taught them had moved, so they never knew the fruits of what they had done. Though there is a miraculous story that happened over 30 years later that I'll have to share with you sometime. One year later, my dad received the Melchizedek priesthood and started temple prep, and 18 months after my mom was baptized and pregnant with her third child, they were sealed in the Mesa, Arizona temple for time and all eternity. Their fourth child, me, would come two years later. My parents ended up living a beautiful life devoted to Christ. They had five children and adopted eight more. My dad always expressed his testimony to me of that first time returning to church. He would say, Amber, I knew what it was like to live life completely devoid of the spirit. And when I walked back into that church building, I remembered the sweetness of the spirit, how it felt, and I never wanted to live without that again. And he didn't. I love how the good things about my dad's hippie life never left him. He never put value in material things and was always seeking to share. Though we left the commune, our living circumstances were always simple. Living in a home that had no plumbing for a time, and no electricity for most of my life. For how those home teachers changed his life, he was the most devoted, diligent home teacher I have ever witnessed. Everyone he home taught, even families from over 30 years ago, our family still has a special bond with because he truly treated them like his brothers and sisters. He loved the Book of Mormon for what it taught him about Jesus Christ and how it gave him strength to change. his testimony can especially be found in how he spent the last years of his life. He spent his time taking copies of the Book of Mormon and covering it with leather and creating beautiful designs. He wanted the outside of this beautiful book to portray the beauty that was inside. And then he would take them and give them to Anyone and everyone. He always said if the end result is that one out of a thousand people accept the gospel of Christ, praise be to our God. He said, It is my testimony to you that the key of our salvation is in the fine print. Love each other. Measure to others what we wish to be measured to us. How we treat the least of humanity is a measure of what we really are. God loves all his creation. Not just you. If money and things are of greater worth to you than your neighbor, you are in need of some fine tuning Oh yes, and a side note about that heart surgeon that gave my dad and his parents a tour of Temple Square. Years later, when my dad realized a heart surgeon was serving as an apostle for the church, he wrote him a letter and asked him if that would have been him who gave his family that tour, to which he replied, yes, it was him. And that heart surgeon is now serving as our current prophet, President Russell M. Nelson. for my mother. What she loves about her particular journey is that she didn't learn about Christ from all the differing opinions out there. She learned about him through the pureness of his diligent reaching to her. He taught her who he was before she ever even understood religion. Through very personal experiences with him that she can't adequately verbalize. It is very evident that He brought her to Him, therefore she has always had complete trust. And because that was the foundation of her knowledge, when incredibly difficult trials came, she knew she could trust. When questions came that she didn't understand, she knew Christ would give understanding somewhere inside her. She said to me, I knew Christ first, and because I knew Him, I was able to recognize his gospel when I saw it. His hand was stretched out to her when she wasn't living a life people would consider holy. And she knows his hand is stretched out still as she continues to seek him today. The most important lesson I've learned from my parents experience is that Christ reaches our reaching. Yes, we have to qualify for a greater portion of the Holy Spirit to reside in us at all times. And that is an absolutely beautiful and powerful thing. But no amount of darkness or evil can resist the power of the Holy Spirit. Nothing can prevent it from entering the most unholy places. The power of evil cannot compare to the power of God. God reaches his children in any circumstance, in any way necessary. Nothing stronger than his arm. He is reaching to you, his child. Reach back. We all need rescuing from something. What is your reaching? Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf said, Because He loves you, He will find you. While our loving Father desires that all of His children return to Him, He will force no one to heaven. God will not rescue us against our will. So what must we do? The invitation is simple. Turn to Me. Come to Me. Draw near unto Me, and I will draw near unto you. This is how we show Him that we want to be rescued. close quote, as you consistently listen to this podcast, you'll notice. Two things. First, I love to offer questions. I do it because asking questions is what has absolutely changed my relationship with my savior. Number two, each episode will always focus on a characteristic of Christ. Why? Well, I'll repeat what I tried to testify of in my first episode. Coming to truly know Jesus Christ can do what all other self help resources offer, but it can do it even better. So the question I'd love to share with you that you can perhaps ask God, if you feel so inclined, is to ask for eyes to see how Christ has reached and is currently reaching in your life. Ask what you need rescuing from that maybe you don't even recognize. I can promise the same words that are spoken in the hymn Where Can I Turn for Peace. He answers privately, reaches my reaching, in my Gethsemane, Savior and friend, gentle the peace he finds for my beseeching, constant he is and kind, love without end. Christ is reaching. Christ is reaching. Is hope smiling brightly. Tune in next week as I share stories from my unique upbringing and what they taught me about Christ.?