Ammon Dennis Trimble Ammon Dennis Trimble
Click here for my wife's testimony.
I was born in Fillmore, Utah on April 16, 1970 to Dennis Mervin Trimble and Roxie Dale Trimble. I am the 3rd of 8 children in a very loving LDS family. My father grew up with an LDS background, his ancestry going back to coverts from England during the first missions. My mother joined the LDS church when she was 19, she had a Southern Baptist background. Both of my parents served LDS missions, were married in the Manti Temple, and graduated from BYU with Masters degrees.
I was raised with strong ties to the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith the Prophet. My mother would read the stories of the Book of Mormon and teach her children in every way possible, so that they would know the truths of the Gospel. She wanted nothing more than to help her children to gain a testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ. I gained that testimony at a very young age. I knew that Jesus was the Messiah, that Joseph Smith was the prophet of God in the last days, and that the Book of Mormon was the record of prophets from this continent. My father taught me to love the world that God had given to us to use. Some of my most cherished memories are of fishing and hunting trips. My parents did a very fine job teaching and raising me in the Gospel, as far as they knew the Gospel.
As I grew older, I began to see a great amount of hypocrisy in the people of the church. I saw a great lack of interest for living the fullness of the Gospel, and a great interest for the things of this world. I wrote it off as snobbery and division of the classes, thinking that it was just the small town "clique" issue. I noticed changes in doctrines of the fullness and false ideas of what the fullness is. I wrote this off as, "Christ will fix all this when he comes in glory at the beginning of the Millennium."
I served an LDS mission in the Harrisburg PA. Mission Sept 1989-Sept 1991. During this time I began to think about the deeper doctrines that had been taught by Joseph Smith and Brigham Young. I wondered why they had been forsaken or denied by other church leaders. I remember telling myself many times, " This is the closest thing to the Fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ on the Earth at this time." I had no idea, at that time, that the LDS leaders had done what Nephi prophesied:
"And my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they who lead thee cause thee to err and destroy the way of thy paths." (2 Nephi 13:12)
I had noticed some of the changes and problems in the LDS doctrines but again gave in to the tradition I had been taught. That false tradition being, that the leaders can never lead the people astray.
After my mission I began to work on a normal LDS lifestyle; get a family, finish school, get a career, a home, cars, debt, be a good father by working your life away in Babylon. I married Rebecca Jean Strong on March 20, 1992 in the Manti Temple. One year later our family grew as we were blessed with a son, Ammon Dennis Trimble Jr. Two years after Ammon Jr. was born we were blessed with a baby girl, Sara Jo Trimble. I was starting to feel very comfortable in the situation that I was in. Everything was going very well for my family. I was teaching the Gospel Doctrine class in the student ward that we attended. I had a good start on getting a Bachelors degree in Special Education and Elementary Education.
In the Fall of 1996 I finished my training and graduated from Southern Utah University with a Bachelors in Special Education and Elementary Education. I was offered my first teaching position at Cross Hollows Intermediate School. My wife and I bought our first home, four bedroom, two bath, with a fully fenced yard. I thought I was set for good! I was on my way to financial security with summers off !!!
Having been wrapped up in building my future, I had put my spiritual feeling on the side burner. I didn"t think about the deeper doctrines that had caused me to question "the Brethren". For the most part it irritated me that there were contradictions in modern Mormonism. My beautiful wife tried to get me thinking about those doctrines because her mother had become involved in what I then considered an apostate group. I had gone to the Bishop with my wife to ask him some questions about Adam-God and Plural Marriage. He told us that he thought that Brigham Young was wrong about Adam-God and that Plural Marriage is only used when righteous seed is needed. My wife had gained a testimony that the LDS church is in apostasy but she found it very difficult to tell me for fear that it would end our marriage. At this point I was teaching the course 14 Sunday school class but I didn't enjoy going to church. The Spirit was not there!
On March 1, 1997 my wife told me that she knew that the LDS church is in apostasy. She told me that she believed James D. Harmston was God's prophet and that the True and Living Church of Jesus Christ of Saints of the Last Days was God's church. She wanted me to find the truth with her and she invited me to the Models. Becky and I attended the Models on March 7, 1997. I found myself being taught the fullness of the Gospel as I had never before thought it could be given to me. I felt the true spirit of God as a true prophet, Jim Harmston, taught me. I had been fed spiritually for 26 hours but I wanted more! I felt as though I was overflowing with the spirit of truth and knowledge, I wanted more! The day after the Models ended, March 9th, Becky and I were baptized.
After our baptism we made preparations to move to Manti, Utah to "Gather with the Saints". On April 20th I was set apart as a counselor in the Stake Presidency. I continued to learn and grow in the spirit as I never thought possible. On June 30th I was called to the Quorum of the Twelve to be an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I stand as a witness of Adam our Father and God, Christ our Redeemer and Lord. I know that they live for I have been in their presence and felt of their eternal spirit and power. Though I did not see them with my mortal eyes, I have felt of their powerful presence and that witness and revelation burns in my soul. I know that the literal gathering of the Lord's elect is taking place here in Manti, that there is a people that is trying to live the fullness of the gospel as revealed by the Prophet Joseph Smith. The LDS people have rejected the laws of God and have embraced the world, even Babylon. They have allowed their leaders to change those thing that can not be changed, for all must be saved on the same principles. If you will study the words of God's prophets and pray with true intent the witness of the spirit will be given to you. I testify this to your soul in the holy name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
E-mail: atrimble@tlcmanti.org