In high school, Tanner Hutchens became obsessed with The Book of Mormon musical. Within three days of hearing the music, he bought a plane ticket to New York to see the show on Broadway. Eventually, Hutchens realized this satirical musical wasn't based on a fictional religion. He learned that missionaries and Latter-day Saints truly existed. He became so obsessed researching this new, bizarre religion, he tried to check out some books about "the Mormons" at his local library, but the librarian wouldn't let him check them out.
Hutchens shares: "I tried to check them out and the guy at the counter said, 'You cannot check these out.' 'Why not?' 'Because you sir, will go to hell.' So what did I do? I went home, got a backpack, walked in, put the books in my bag, and I walked out and I stole the dagum books."
Hutchens' journey led him to meet real-life missionaries and eventually take the discussions in a McDonald's so that he would not get kicked out of his home. When he announced to his grandparents that he had decided to join the Church, Hutchens was told to leave and lived out of his car for three weeks before getting baptized.
Hutchens' grandmother attended his baptism, arriving all in black, but his grandparents let him back in their home as he prepared to become a missionary himself. Learn more about his remarkable story in the video below: