In recent weeks, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has released new videos featuring Church leaders and members recounting how simple member invitations contributed to their respective conversions.
Three of the new videos tell the “Love, Share, Invite” experiences of General Authority Seventies — Elder I. Raymond Egbo, Elder D. Martin Goury and Elder Aroldo B. Cavalcante.
The videos are available on the “Love, Share and Invite Stories” page in the Media Library of ChurchofJesusChrist.org and the “Living the Gospel of Jesus Christ” channel at YouTube.com.
Elder Egbo
Elder Egbo was raised in another Christian faith. His sister’s persistent ministering and invitations eventually led him to the Church and baptism.
During their evening conversations about religion, she once told him plainly, “I know the Church is true” — a declaration he had never heard anyone make. Then came the invitation he couldn’t dismiss: “Don’t wait until you can do nothing about it before you accept that it is true.”
Moved by her testimony and invitation, the future Church leader quietly slipped into a Sunday service and took a seat in the back row. His sister was at the pulpit and expressed happiness that her brother was there. The entire congregation turned to find him — easy to spot in a pink shirt. After the meeting, everyone extended warm invitations for him to come again.
“The testimonies that were borne in that meeting made me even think deeper about conviction of those people, how convinced they were of what they were saying,” he said in the video. “It was the ministering of my sister that got me to the Church, that got me to be baptized.”
Elder Goury
Elder Goury had a friend who knew he loved sports. Every Saturday the friend made time to take Elder Goury to a football pitch to play.
The friend then invited Elder Goury to Church worship services and activities, where he helped him feel welcome in the ward long before he became a member.
“I was amazed and blessed to be in a ward where I was accepted warmly by every single member of the Church,” Goury said in the video. “I’m deeply grateful for what Ali and his wife have done for me.”
Elder Cavalcante
For nearly a year, Elder Aroldo B. Cavalcante’s cousin extended a new invitation every single week — soccer, sacrament meeting, table tennis — and every week, Elder Cavalcante turned him down.
His cousin never stopped asking.
Then one Sunday morning came a different kind of invitation — a regional conference — something he’d never been asked to before.
“OK, maybe I can go,” Elder Cavalcante said in the video.
He went — and never stopped going. What kept him coming back were the ward members that welcomed him in and continued to invite him to activities.
“I felt that I had a new family,” he said. “They gave so much love to me.”
But the door was opened by his cousin’s unwavering persistence.
“I’ll never forget how committed my cousin was with me,” Elder Cavalcante said. “He is an example to me of how we need to share the gospel of Jesus Christ. He made all the difference in my life.”
Member stories
Two additional videos feature members who were introduced to the Church through simple invitations by Latter-day Saint friends.
One member’s path to conversion started when a sister showed her a Church Easter video, followed by an invitation to stake conference.
The other started with a friend’s invitation to play basketball.
