As Mike Kennedy explains how he became a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the ironies in his story seem to pile higher and higher. After all, not many conversion stories begin with a simple high school writing project and end with fulfillment of latter-day prophecy.
Though Mike is not the only descendant of Joseph Smith Jr., the first prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ, he is likely one of the few who didn’t know about his heritage from a very young age.
The now 50-year-old Alpine resident was actually born in Cedar City, but his family moved to Tonopah, Nev., when he was only 5 years old. Neither his father nor his mother was a member of the church.
“I didn’t know anything about LDS or RLDS,” Mike explained. “I didn’t know any members or know anything about the church’s history. I can’t even remember people talking about the Mormons.”
Mike found out about his Mormon ancestry when he was a sophomore in high school. His 10th grade social science teacher gave the students an assignment to research their genealogy and then write a paper on one of their ancestors.
Mike went home that night and told his father about the assignment. Roger Allan Kennedy, Mike’s father, immediately disappeared into another room, returning a few minutes later carrying a cardboard box about the size of a dresser drawer.
He gave the box to Mike, telling him briefly that some of their ancestors were famous because they had founded the Mormon Church. Mike took the box and dumped its contents on the coffee table in the front room. He rummaged through some of the items, noticing pictures, a Bible and some journals, but he hadn’t gone through too many of the things before he heard a knock at the door.
Opening the door wide, Mike found two young men wearing nametags and professing to be representatives of Christ standing on his doorstep. They said they had a message for the entire family and asked to speak to the head of the household.
At this point in Mike’s story, he began laughing because of the reactions on the faces of those around him.
“There’s a saying among the Smith family descendants,” says Darcy Kennedy, interrupting her husband Mike. “There’s no such thing as coincidences in this family.”
Mike continues his story.
Only a few days earlier, missionaries from another church had been by their home. His father had hardly given them a chance to introduce themselves before he kicked them out.
“It was rather entertaining how my dad gave them the boot,” Mike said. “So when these guys came, I went and got all my brothers and told them there’s some more entertainment coming.”
After gathering his mother and siblings into the front room with the two young men, Mike told his father some more missionaries wanted to talk to him. Mike could hardly wait to see how his father dealt with these two missionaries.
To Mike’s surprise, however, once the missionaries introduced themselves, his father’s tone changed completely. Instead of kicking the missionaries out of their home, he greeted them warmly.
“He was shaking their hands as if they were long-lost friends,” he said. “My mother’s eyes were wide open and all our jaws just dropped.”
As they were talking, the missionaries glanced at the coffee table where Mike had been working. They noticed a picture of Lucy Smith among the items and asked him what he was doing.
“I told them I was writing a report on my ancestry and had decided to pick a topic on some guy who started the Mormon Church,” Mike said. “They went ballistic. I think they tried to give us all six discussions in the next ten minutes.”
At the time, Mike was the only one who continued with the missionary discussions. However, being busy with work and school, he didn’t make it a priority to meet with two missionaries. He gradually began missing his appointments.
In an effort to recapture their lost investigator, the missionaries talked to another girl whom they had been teaching. Ironically, their first encounter with Darcy had been the same night Mike had let them into his home. Knowing the two were close in age, Elders Archibald and Scott asked Darcy if she would befriend Mike because he had been ditching out on the lessons.
“Mike and I were not friends at the time,” Darcy explained. “But I started talking to him and we actually started dating.”
As a result, Mike continued with the discussions and was baptized four months later. Mike and Darcy were married about a year later in the Provo temple while the two of them were attending Brigham Young University.
Before going through the temple with Darcy, Mike received the Melchizedek Priesthood. In the blessing, he was told that through him prophecy from Section 109 of the Doctrine and Covenants had been fulfilled.
In verse 70, Joseph Smith asks in prayer that the prejudices among his immediate family be “broken up and swept away as with a flood, that they may be converted and redeemed with Israel.”
Mike explained that this verse was prophetic because his grandfather, who was slated to be an apostle for the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, had died in a car accident when Mike’s father was only an infant. Because Mike’s grandmother remarried a man who didn’t like either the LDS church or RLDS church, Roger Allan Kennedy grew up without any knowledge of his ancestry.
The family’s prejudices against the LDS church were not passed down to Mike, making it easier for him to accept the gospel and helping to fulfill prophecy, Mike said.
Mike’s discovery in high school changed the course of his life. He and Darcy are now serving on the Joseph Smith Jr. Family Organization Committee. The committee is working to reunite the entire Joseph Smith Jr. line in a giant family reunion later this year – the 200th year since the prophet’s birth.
Though Darcy said both she and Mike feel inept, they believe this is their calling in life.
“Our whole mission together from the beginning has been to work with the Joseph Smith Jr. family,” said Darcy. “Everything has revolved around the Joseph Smith Jr. family. The church has literally changed our lives.”
Copyright Brigham Young University 1 Feb 2005
