In the past year, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has hit two stages in big ways: the U.S. political arena and Broadway. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has tentatively addressed his relationship with the Mormon faith in the Republican primary race at the same time as audiences on Broadway flock to the smash hit "The Book of Mormon."
On the Hill, members of the Tufts Mormon community take a personal and community-based approach to the faith. Every Tuesday night, the Tufts Latter Day Saints Student Association (LDSSA) — a group of seven students — meets at the Interfaith Center where they pray, talk, laugh and catch up on each other's weeks.
The church as a whole encourages a special time set aside every week when families or young singles get together for communal spiritual thought and an opportunity to relax and socialize.
In addition to Tuesday night meetings, every Sunday, the LDSSA attends a local congregation, or what the LDS Church calls a ward. The Tufts group attends a ward in Cambridge, bringing them together with undergraduate students from schools in the Boston area, including Harvard, MIT and Boston University.
LDSSA co-leader Kismet Lantos-Swett, a senior, explained that the LDS church is a Christian organization, but that it differs from other Christian churches in several important ways.
"Jesus Christ is the center of our church," she said. "In that respect we are a Christian church, because we believe that he was our savior, atoned for our sins, and came to save mankind."
"However … we are different from other Christian religions because of our history," Lantos-Swett said.
"One of the big things that makes us different than other Christian denominations is we believe that Jesus Christ and God have always called prophets to teach his plan and gospel," LDSSA co-leader Jeffrey Torruellas, a senior, said.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints became an official organization in 1830. Mormons believe that in 1820, a 14-year-old boy named Joseph Smith from New York had a revelation.
"We believe he saw a vision of God and his son Jesus Christ, who told him to organize the Church," Lantos-Swett said.
According to the beliefs of the LDS Church, Smith was told to restore Christ's original church, which had fallen away since his death and the death of his apostles.
"We hold the leaders of our church as prophets and apostles, and we believe that they do receive revelations for church members in these modern days. Many other Christian religions believe that the Bible has been closed, that all the scriptures have been closed, but we believe that they are open and in action," Lantos-Swett said.
A community on the Hill
Lantos-Swett compared the group members to brothers and sisters from the same family who, despite being different in many ways, share a united experience.
"It is a wonderful thing to know that there are a few people in the Tufts community who have similar experiences to me, and who I can relate to on this level," Lantos-Swett said.
"We get together and try to support each other in academic and social issues, and be the support for each other that our families are at home," Torruellas said.
For two freshman members of the group, Kyle Duke and Mara Lemesany, the active LDS community has been a significant part of their social lives in their first semester at Tufts. Though small, the group has been welcoming, they said.
"I knew we would have a small group of LDS students, and I am perfectly happy with it," Duke said. "It is important for me to have other LDS members that go to Tufts and to know that there are others that have the same beliefs and standards I do. Socially, we have our own clean fun. We are like our own small family here at Tufts."
"Because there are only seven of us, everyone is a core member," Lemesany said. "In a way, I like that more than a larger group because we have the opportunity to become a close-knit community," she said. "Finding a campus with other LDS students was a priority for me when looking at colleges, because that kind of connection provides a one-of-a-kind support, understanding and strength."
Members with a mission
In addition to the seven members on campus, two Jumbos are currently far from the Hill in Chile and Hungary participating in one of the most recognized features of the LDS Church: a mission of up to two years to share the gospel of the church away from home.
Currently, more than 50,000 members of the LDS Church from the ages of 19 to 25 are serving missions throughout the world. A missionary's work, Lantos-Swett said, includes proselytizing as well as community service.
"You are interacting with the community, and trying to teach them about the Mormon church, and how it has been a significant change in your life as a missionary, and how it can make a change in the other's life," she said. "We just feel we have a great message to share with the world, one that can bring a lot of happiness."
Two of Lantos-Swett's brothers have gone on missions to Hungary, and another to Italy. She said she plans to go on a mission after she graduates.
"It is sort of a way to completely give up your time and energies to serving the Lord. It is a very physical and literal testament of your faith that you are willing to go and do this," Lantos-Swett said. "For me, it's something from a very young age that I knew I was going to do."
Torruellas went on a two-year mission to Ecuador between his freshman and sophomore years at Tufts.
"For me, it was a great, life-changing experience in more ways than I can say," he said. "It strengthened my knowledge of the truthfulness of the church, and I was able to help a lot of people spiritually and temporally through various service projects. It definitely strengthened my faith," Torruellas said.
Daily prayer
Their faith is a part of everyday life for the members of Tufts LDSSA.
"We believe in keeping a close connection with God, and believe we can have his spirit with us to accompany us throughout our day, Torruellas said. "We pray and read scriptures every day to keep ourselves close to God, and to have his spirit to guide us in our daily decisions."
"I pray at various points in the day," Lantos-Swett said. "Prayer is a very comforting thing, and a way to communicate with God and gain a sense of peace." The Bible and the Book of Mormon, Lantos-Swett said, are also a large part of her worship routine.
"It serves as a guidepost to what I'm doing, and if I am feeling as if I am making good choices," she explained. "Sometimes it's a censure, and the lessons I learn remind me I can do better, be more thoughtful, kinder and less selfish."
The LDS Church's Word of Wisdom guidelines — which forbid caffeine and alcohol, include a strict law of chastity and encourage modest dress — poses challenges to students who choose to study at a school like Tufts. Indeed, many Mormon students choose to go to a school like Brigham Young University (BYU), where over 98 percent of students are members of the LDS Church.
Both Torruellas and Lantos-Swett, however, said that the challenge of attending a liberal arts college rather than an institution like BYU has increased their conviction in their beliefs.
"It's not so much hard in that there [are] external pressures from members of the college community;—I've had only positive experiences with others," Lantos-Swett said. "But the fact you are different is more of a challenge. You are constantly reminding yourself why you've made those decisions. It's good to be reminded of your convictions and have them put to the test, because it gives you a firm foundation for your moral standing and code of conduct."
Torruellas agreed that Tufts provides an environment that exposes him to beliefs that contradict his faith — and teaches him how to learn from it when this happens.
"For me, I preferred to come here to experience a greater diversity of opinions and thoughts," he said. "Our beliefs are challenged more often, and this is a good thing for me, because it continuously forces me to examine my beliefs. It has actually strengthened my faith," Torruellas said.
"In an environment like BYU, it is easy to take what everybody's saying and roll with it," he said, "but here we have to take the responsibility on ourselves and investigate. If we are going to be strong in our beliefs, we really have to know them — if not they will always be challenged."
