French twins Samuel and Ruben Paris say they have always been “weird.” As young children, they told their parents not to drink or smoke. At the dinner table, they sidestepped political discussions for deeper questions about existence and where to find peace. Looking at the stars at night, they wondered who made the sky.
Their parents were both raised religious—but neither continued their faith into adulthood. Like many people in France, they saw religion as divisive and hypocritical, so they raised their children in a loving and open-minded home and left God out of it.
But Samuel and Ruben felt a consistent pull toward something more.
Praying to the Voice Inside
The twins often felt out of place and lonely during their upbringing in Dijon, France. They played competitive soccer, which they say became an environment filled with judgment and criticism. They also chose to stay out of things most teens were doing, like drinking, smoking, and living morally unclean lives.
“We weren’t really able to find peace with the people around us,” Samuel explains. “So, just by looking at the sky and by praying on our own, we felt something different. At first, it was really hard. We weren’t able to call it Jesus Christ or Heavenly Father. We were just praying to the voice that we felt inside us.”
Over time, the twins’ confidence in this voice grew, and their prayers became more specific. For Samuel, this meant praying in the entryway of their home, sometimes in certain pajamas or with a special blanket.
For Ruben, it was asking specific questions.
“When I was about 15, I always prayed to know how we would be able to baptize people who passed away,” he says. “In the Bible and in other churches, that’s not possible. … But what about people who are not on earth anymore? I always felt that something was missing in other religions.”
He also consistently asked God to create a church where things made sense—one where the commandments and the beliefs were clear. He continued these prayers for years.
Moving to Colorado and Finding the Church
Having reached the highest level of competitive soccer in France for their age group, Samuel and Ruben decided to go to the US to play collegiate soccer in Colorado when they were 18.
Immediately, they felt they belonged in America in a way they never had in France.
“There are a lot of Christians in the US,” Samuel says. “We were really amazed to see people believing in God.”
At school, the twins met Ryan Payne, who lived on the same floor of their dorm building. They noticed he smiled a lot, and his actions were clean and moral. He was “weird,” just like they were.
“He lived according to his beliefs,” Ruben says. “He really stood out to us.” When the twins asked Ryan why he lived this way, he told them about his belief in God and his membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Soon after, Ruben and Samuel went to church with him. When they walked into sacrament meeting for the first time, the congregation was singing the hymn “I Believe in Christ.” Samuel and Ruben were amazed at the power of so many people singing together. They attended church every Sunday for the next four months.
They spent more time with Ryan, reading the Book of Mormon and praying together. It was refreshing to have a friend who shared their values and was genuinely happy.
“We felt a connection with someone we never felt before,” Ruben says.
After the twins had been to church a few times, Ryan referred them to the missionaries. During the first lesson, Samuel and Ruben thought they were being made fun of since the Church’s standards were shockingly similar to the way they’d always lived.
Ruben thought of the prayer he’d been offering for years—asking God for a church with clear commandments. A church that made baptism possible for people who had passed away. A church that made sense.
“I was so lucky,” he says. “I found the truth.”
Returning to France and Getting Baptized
After just five lessons, the twins knew they wanted to be baptized. Their parents were hesitant about the idea and tried to assure the brothers that they didn’t need to join a church to be great people. But Samuel and Ruben explained that the gospel was more than an organization. It offered a purpose for creation, and it gave meaning to life. This response put their parents at ease.
The twins wanted to be baptized as soon as possible. But they decided to wait until after the semester ended so they could be in France with their family. Samuel and Ruben returned to France in May 2023 and were baptized three weeks later on June 10, 2023.
They lived and worked in the south of France through 2024 and received their patriarchal blessings in March of that year. Deep inside, though, they knew they weren’t supposed to stay in France. They felt God pulling them to Utah.
Life in Utah and Life in Christ
In April 2025, the twins listened to what they felt in their hearts and moved to Provo. They began spring semester at Brigham Young University, and on July 5, 2025, both were endowed in the Orem Utah Temple.
As they sat in the session, they understood that Jesus Christ’s mission is to help all of us return home—a mission made possible through ordinances and covenants.
“We could really feel that we need to reach Him in a certain way,” Samuel recalls. He and Ruben looked at each other during the endowment with smiles on their faces. The specific clothing, the sacred rituals, the prayers—all of it felt familiar. It was an experience they’d been trying to create since they were young children.
The biggest change they’ve seen in their lives is through their developing relationship with Jesus Christ. That relationship has transformed their sense of identity.
“We know that Jesus Christ is the best example in life,” Ruben says. “He will never leave us, He will never hurt us, and He will always be there for us compared to people. So that’s the thing that’s changed. Now, our focus in life is to help people find their true identity and to find love and peace.”
“Growing up, we really tried to be someone we weren’t supposed to be just to fit in, either at soccer or with our classmates,” Samuel says. “But now I really know who I am. I know where I come from. I know where I want to go—where I will go . … By being myself, I’ve found a lot of peace.”
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