Dominic Gutierrez remembers the first time he felt God’s love like it was yesterday.
As a teenager in Safford, Arizona, childhood memories of abuse and homelessness had caught up with him, and his feelings of loneliness seemed inescapable. He didn’t think he had a purpose and didn’t believe that God existed. But then one day, he remembered something that would change his life forever.
Previously, his friend had given him a copy of the Book of Mormon, which Dominic stored away in his room. But on this occasion, he decided to crack open the cover and turned to the introduction.
Seven words in, he felt something he never had before.
“It was the best thing I had ever felt in my entire life. I wish I could describe it in words. … It felt as if everything beforehand didn’t matter. It felt like someone actually cared about me that entire time, and I didn’t see it until then,” he says.
Now Dominic goes by the name of Elder Gutierrez as a full-time missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Texas San Antonio Mission. Baptized in 2019, the recent convert could have taken an easy out from missionary work — his past challenges and the pandemic could have been enough of an obstacle to deter anyone. But his desire to serve is unshakable because of his love for the God he once didn’t believe in, and because of his conviction that small invitations from members can literally change lives just as they did for him.
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