Why I Choose the Restored Church

By Carlos Rabanales, Guatemala

I owe everything I have and am—my family, my values, my profession, my purpose in life—to the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.

After I learned to read as a child, I started reading the Bible. By the time I was 10, I wanted, like Joseph Smith, to find the right church to join. I started to investigate churches around my home. Then one day a friend of my mother invited us to a family home evening.

“This is it,” I thought. “This is the church!”

Two weeks later, we were baptized members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

We lived in a poor area of Guatemala, where gangs were starting to form. Many of my older friends joined some of these gangs. Had I not come to know the gospel, I probably would have joined a gang and been killed before I turned 18, like some of these young men. Joining the Church was a turning point in my future opportunities.

Knowledge and Testimony

After joining the Church, I had a hunger for knowledge. By the time I turned 14, I had read all the scriptures and Church books available to me, like Jesus the Christ and Articles of Faith, by Elder James E. Talmage (1862–1933) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

In 1984, I sang with a choir at the dedication of the Guatemala City Guatemala Temple. I wondered why some people were protesting the dedication and handing out literature against the Church in front of the temple. Around that time, I also saw some people leaving the Church for various reasons.

I finished reading the Book of Mormon two months after I was baptized. My testimony of the book has never left me. Because I know it is true, I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet, that he was called of God, and that this is the Savior’s Church.

man reading scriptures — Because Carlos knows the Book of Mormon is true, he also knows “that Joseph Smith was a prophet, that he was called of God, and that this is the Savior’s Church.”

A testimony comes from God. If He tells you this is the true Church and you know it was God who told you, then that’s it—you know (see Joseph Smith—History 1:25). Everything can be understood and withstood through that lens.

Recently, I was visiting with a family member who is struggling with his faith because of some things he saw on the internet.

“If you can find something better than the gospel of Jesus Christ or that makes you happier than the gospel, then go after it,” I told him. “But I know from experience that there is nothing better or that makes us happier than the gospel of Jesus Christ.”

I told him that some people say God does not exist and that the gospel is not true, but they don’t earnestly seek the truth. And there are others like the father of King Lamoni, who was so eager to know God that he prayed, “Wilt thou make thyself known unto me, and I will give away all my sins to know thee” (see Alma 22:17–18).

Loving and not judging are vital when helping someone who struggles with difficult questions of faith. My family member said he wasn’t going to attend church anymore, but he didn’t stop attending. I think he kept attending because we share a close relationship, and he feels that I understand his doubts.

Music and Tender Mercies

As my testimony grew while I was young, so did my love of music. That love began when I entered a Latter-day Saint chapel and saw a piano for the first time. I feel that the Lord had a plan for me because I felt drawn to the piano. I opened the piano bench, found a book on how to play piano, and began teaching myself.

Soon, I was playing the piano in my ward every Sunday and singing in the ward youth choir. When I turned 16, I began attending the National Conservatory of Music in Guatemala. The conservatory’s choir conductor, Beto Echeverria, urged me to become a professional. Since then, I have played the piano and conducted many choirs at Church events. Eventually, I became the Church’s music coordinator for the Central America Area. Today, I work as a piano technician and music teacher.

man singing with his daughter — Carlos, singing with his daughter, Rocio, discovered his love of music after he entered a Latter-day Saint chapel, saw a piano for the first time, and taught himself to play.

When President Russell M. Nelson visited Guatemala in 2019 as part of a nine-day ministry to Latin America, he spoke at an evening devotional, where I was asked to conduct a 200-voice choir. Sometime after we had started rehearsing, I had a dream.

I dreamed that I would be able to say hello to the prophet. After the devotional, as President Nelson waved farewell with his handkerchief to the 22,000 people there, he turned to me and said in perfect Spanish, “Thank you very much. Well done!” Then, speaking to the congregation, Sister Wendy Nelson said, “I didn’t know you had a Tabernacle Choir in Guatemala!”

Another tender mercy I have received by serving through music came in 2024 when I was invited to sing with the Tabernacle Choir on Temple Square during the April general conference. And yet another blessing came when, through BYU–Pathway Worldwide, I finished my bachelor’s degree—something I had desired since I was a young adult.

Without any doubt, I can say that I owe everything I have and am—my family, my values, my profession, my purpose in life—to the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. It has brought me protection, direction, and countless blessings.

family standing together — “Everything can be understood and withstood” through a testimony of the Savior and His restored gospel, says Carlos, pictured with his wife, Claudia, and their children, Jose and Rocio.