We get to be here and be alive, so why not
enjoy every single moment?
Growing up, I went to church.
I was the church youth group leader, president,
and I had a faith.
I've always had faith.
And somewhere along the line I lost my faith in God and Jesus.
But I still had a faith in, I call it, the universe.
So, you know, you do good things,
good things happen to you.
And so that faith was always there.
So I've always been into fashion.
I love clothes.
When I was younger, I used to talk to my clothes.
So somewhere along the line I figured out
I wanted to do styling.
And I worked with somebody who worked with an athlete.
And from there I met Dwyane Wade,
and I started working with Dwyane Wade.
So I found this niche that was not--there were athletes,
they needed to be dressed, but nobody was dressing them.
And that's how I started working with athletes.
Calyann is a force of nature.
At my company, we did a deal with Dwyane.
And Calyann was the driving force behind that.
So as part of working with Dwyane,
I worked with Calyann, quite a bit,
actually, over the past five years.
With styling and most industry jobs,
it's a very, very fast-paced life.
You're in it.
You're partying.
You're going out.
You're drinking.
When she walks in a room, everyone
knows who Caly is because she just attracts people.
And she's super fun.
Calyann's the life of the party.
And all the things that come with being
the life of the party and that fast-paced lifestyle,
Calyann was definitely a part of.
So we were at a retreat for Dwyane Wade.
And everyone's out drinking.
We have drinks in our hand.
I look over at Clark, and I'm like, "Clark,
why aren't you drinking?"
And he says, "Well, it's part of my faith.
We don't drink."
And so it kind of was like--but you're fun,
but you're not drinking.
And I need to know more about this.
And I said, "Oh, I'm a member of The Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints.
This is one of the things we believe."
And it was kind of in passing for a little while
on like--"Oh, OK.
That's weird" or "That's cute."
You know, like, "It's not what I do.
But OK, Clark, that's fine."
As I started to get to know him, I
looked at how he lived his life with his family
and how although he had all of this other stuff going on,
his family was the most important.
And you don't see that a lot today.
I have a great family.
My family is--we're very family oriented.
But I could feel that something was missing.
So on my way to Mykonos--I had Usain Bolt, one of my clients,
and Dwyane, both of them in Mykonos at the same time.
I was flying there, and my flight was delayed.
I had a choice between getting my stuff, all my luggage,
or leaving it there and making my connecting flight.
I chose my stuff.
Of course, I missed my connecting flight.
So I'm walking through the Athens
airport, like, boo-hoo tears.
I can't believe I chose all of this stuff
over being there for my clients.
And I started to realize there was something that--I had
started to build this prison for myself.
I just--I realized, I need to change.
And I said, "As soon as I get back to Miami,
I'm clearing everything out.
I'm doing a full cleaning.
I'm going to quit drinking."
So about two or three months after she decided to stop
drinking, she said, "OK, Clark--tell me about this
religion thing."
And I'm, like, "You really want to know?"
And she's, like, "Yeah.
Just start from the start.
Tell me about the religion thing."
And so he's telling me.
He's telling me about Joseph Smith
and how he goes into a grove.
And then he goes on about these plates.
And so I'm like--"Whoa, whoa, whoa.
Wait.
So you're gonna tell me that you, this practical person,
believes that some guy found these gold plates that has all
of this book written on it?"
She looks at me and says, "That is the dumbest thing
I've ever heard."
I was like, well, that didn't go quite as I planned.
And finally I was, like, "You know what,
Clark--I want to know.
I want to read this book 'cause you believe in it so much.
I'm here.
We're discussing this.
I'm gonna read it.
And I'm gonna prove you wrong."
Because that's what I enjoy doing.
I enjoy questioning everything and proving people wrong.
So I said, "Give me your book.
Let me read it, and we'll see what happens at the end."
So I gave her the Book of Mormon.
And two or three weeks later I get a text that says, "OK,
Clark--questions about the Book of Mormon."
I said, "Great, you're doing what
you said you were going to do.
You're reading.
Good job!"
And so we have this text string going along on Caly's questions
about the Book of Mormon.
And for the first two to three weeks, it is rough.
Every time the phone buzzes with a question from Caly,
I'm like--"Oh, boy."
And I'll show my wife.
And Kammy's like, "Good luck with that one."
I started reading it.
And there's a lot of scripture or text in there
that come off very racist.
So that was a lot of our argument.
I have a whole--the whole back of my book is just as many
times as it refers to the "curse of blackness"
and "their skin became white."
And so I was arguing with him.
I'm, like, "How can there be this religion
and it's faith in God but yet there's
so much text in it that just feels like you're alienating
a whole group of people?
This is--for me, as a Black person,
you're telling me that I'm cursed."
I think about three weeks into it, I'm like--"You know what,
Caly?
This isn't going to work.
This was a bad idea.
Just give it back to me.
Thanks for trying.
This is clearly not going to work."
And she just laughed.
She said, "Nope.
I said I'm going to read it.
So I'm going to keep plowing ahead."
And that night I read 2 Nephi 26:33:
"For none of these iniquities come of the Lord; for
he doeth that which is good among the children of men;
and he doeth nothing save it be plain unto the children of men;
and he inviteth them all to come unto him
and partake of his goodness; and he
denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond
and free, male and female; and he remembereth the heathen;
and all are alike unto God, both Jew and Gentile."
And so it was--that moment right there was--it was like an "aha"
moment.
So here I'd been arguing, you know, "Racism!"
And, you know, we're talking about inequities and all
that I've did.
And it's like, God loves everybody.
No matter who you are, no matter what you are,
no matter what you've done--God loves everybody.
Based on the questions she'd be asking me,
the conversations we were having, I knew that 2 Nephi 27
would be good for her.
And I'm on my way to pick up some supplies for a party.
And I start reading it.
But I start to cry.
And I was like--I said, "OK.
I can't read it right now.
Let me finish doing what I'm doing."
I get in the U-Haul, and I start crying uncontrollably.
I hadn't even finished reading what
Clark had given me yet to read, and I'm crying uncontrollably.
And I'm trying to get back to my office, which
is 10 blocks away.
I mean, a drive I've done several times.
And I keep hitting detours.
And I hear this voice in my head.
And it's like, "OK, you can either believe
or you can continue to be a skeptic."
And I finally get to my office.
And as I'm texting Clark, I'm like,
"Clark, I have a decision to make.
I can either believe or I can continue to be a skeptic."
And as I said it, "I stopped crying
and it all made sense to me."
So Calyann sends me this picture,
and her eyes are a little puffy.
And then she sends me another picture.
And I can tell she'd been crying.
And underneath she says, "My 'Jesus is real'
face," in quotes.
And I think it was just the culmination
of all these feelings that she'd had while reading
the Book of Mormon.
And it just hit her--like, Jesus Christ is real.
And she starts flying through the Book of Mormon.
By the time she hits Alma 1, I can't keep up with her.
It's probably between 5 and 10 chapters a day.
And Alma is her homeboy, as she says.
She fell in love with Alma.
And by the time she got through Alma,
I think she's starting to ask, "OK, so what happens next?"
I said, "Well, you should come to church."
And so she started making sure her trips to California
would be on weekends so that she could start coming to church
with us.
On one of the Sundays that she came to church,
I was leading the Sunday service.
And it was a service where anybody
can come up and give their testimony of Jesus Christ.
And I was going up to close the meeting.
And I see Calyann walking up to the pulpit
to speak to this audience of 350 people.
And she comes up, and she just gives the sweetest
testimony of the Book of Mormon and how
it's allowed her to realize that Jesus Christ is real.
For anybody who has read the Book of Mormon,
you start feeling something.
Something's there.
Something's missing.
You need something more.
So I text him.
And I was, like, "I think something's missing."
He said, "The Holy Ghost."
And I was like, "You know what?
I think I'm ready to get baptized."
Seeing her journey and the things in her life
that she had changed even up to that point and the other things
that she was willing to change, that right there
is the power of the Book of Mormon.
And credit to her for realizing that's what was missing.
I asked everybody to come in all white.
And everybody abided.
It was very, I think, angelic.
It's just one of those experiences that you chalk up
that you'll never forget--joy at 100.
It's like, I can start all over again.
You feel love, and you feel a forgiveness,
and you feel a happiness and a peace in you.
It's just really a renewal of your life.
It's like being born again.
It sounds so cliche.
But it really, really is.
It's a fresh start.
The entire experience was amazing.
Calyann wanted to share her faith at the baptism.
I'm not here to convert or bring so many people.
That's not why I share it.
I just share it because this is what I'm living through.
And I hope that anyone who may be wavering in their faith can
go back in and find--like, read the book.
Just pick up a few chapters and just start reading.
Just start reading, and it'll--I'm pretty sure that
there will be something that will speak to you that will
help reaffirm how--confirm that this is true.
And God loves you.
He's here for you.
Just believe, and see what happens.