Canadian Latter-day Saint Shares 400-Plus Copies of the Book of Mormon

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By Jason F. Wright, for the Church News

Anick Gervais of Sudbury, Ontario, doesn’t wear a missionary name tag, she wears a figurative jersey. And even though you can’t see it, she says she never takes it off.

“I’m on the Lord’s team,” Gervais said. “And I want to wear His jersey forever.”

Gervais, a member of the Sudbury Ward in the Sudbury Ontario Stake of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is happy to take the analogy even farther. As a member of His team, she’s dedicating her life to becoming an all-star. Following President Russell M. Nelson’s repeated invitation to “gather Israel,” Gervais has introduced thousands of people to the restored Church and has given away more than 400 copies of the Book of Mormon.

At her breakneck pace, she might hit 500 by the time you finish reading her story.

Gervais, 39, has always wanted to do the Lord’s work, she just didn’t know where to start. “For most of my life, I was lost, just searching and searching,” Gervais said.

She grew up in another faith, but in name only, and doesn’t recall Jesus Christ being a topic at home. “We didn’t talk about Jesus. Ever.”

As a teenager, Gervais grew desperate for a spiritual foundation, but her curiosity and seeking were rarely rewarded. “I was always too outgoing, too loud, too much. I was a firecracker, always questioning everything.”

To her friends and teachers, Gervais seemed to have it all. She was captain of the basketball and volleyball teams. She was always involved, serving and volunteering. But inside, she waged a war with darkness and loneliness, and a voice of despair grew louder. “It shouted at me,” she said. “It told me I was ugly, dumb, that no one loved me and that I should just disappear.”

She began to question more than ever the meaning of life, and if God were real, why had He made her the way that He had?

In grade 11, nearly ready to give up on life, love and faith, she heard a clear and empowering voice. This time, the voice wasn’t creating doubt, it came offering hope. “Anick, you cannot give up. You are meant for greatness. I have a plan for you.” Gervais heard and felt the words from head to toe.

Soon, at just 17, with nothing but dreams and $200 in her pockets, she left home for college and began an intense search for this promised plan. “The day I heard that loving voice sparked a journey,” she said. “A long one. A messy one. A beautiful one.”

Over the next season of her life, Gervais began to finally find answers. “One night, my roommate Sarah started telling me about this man called Jesus. I mean, really teaching me — who He was, what He did, how He died for us. And I sat there, tears running down my face, because I had never in my entire life heard that story.”

With a smile, Sarah added, “Oh, and I think He’s coming for you.”

Gervais concedes that life didn’t instantly get easier; she continued to make mistakes and feel broken. But she couldn’t shake what she’d felt. “I was being pulled towards Jesus.”

Amidst the chaos of 2020, her search took on more urgency. “I visited churches, tried to find where I belonged, but nothing felt right.” It wasn’t until she reconnected with an old trusted friend, Church member Aaron Walsh, that she began to find the answers she’d been waiting for.

“I hadn’t seen him in years,” she said. “But I reached out. And let me just say, he was there. He mourned with me, he listened, he became a true friend in one of my darkest times.”

Gervais peppered him with questions. “Where are the prophets? The Bible is full of them. Why don’t we have them today? I thought God was never changing?”

Then came the question that changed the eternal course of her life. “I called him and I said, ‘Aaron, there has to be a book for our day.’”

“There is,” he said. “It’s the Book of Mormon.”

A few days later, Walsh and his wife handed Gervais a copy of her very own. “That was the moment everything changed,” Gervais said. “I didn’t realize then that the book I was holding was the answer to all of my questions. That it would change my life forever and bring me home.”

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Her study and preparation took time, but she now knew the Lord’s plan for her. “I was ready,” she said. “I would do anything to be on Jesus Christ’s team. I wanted the jersey. I wanted to play on the best team that ever existed. And spoiler alert, they win the eternal championship.”

Gervais was baptized on February 27, 2021. “The moment I came out of that water, all my anger disappeared. I felt this incredible peace. A strength I can’t describe. Because Jesus Christ had me. He’d always had me.”

As with anyone else, her journey since baptism hasn’t been perfect, and she attributes any struggles to stopping regular study of the book that started it all. “I stopped reading The Book Of Mormon, and that led to not praying or going to church regularly,” Gervais said. She added that every time she feels herself slipping, it’s the Book of Mormon that gets her back in the game.

Hearing and feeling President Nelson’s invitation to “gather Israel on both sides of the veil,” Gervais went to the temple and devoted herself to missionary work. “President Nelson said gathering Israel should be our number one priority, and I took that to heart.”

Gervais said this invitation, coupled with her love of the Book of Mormon, has inspired her to give away those 400 copies both in person and by mail. “I want to be in the Lord’s starting lineup. We all can. We are here to help gather Israel, to help our brothers and sisters find their way back home.”

To those experiencing a spiritual lull the way she did, Gervais offered simple and pure advice. “If you’re feeling discouraged, stuck, confused, I know what you need to do — read the Book of Mormon. But don’t skim, dig in. And I promise if you show the Spirit you want more, you’ll get it.”

And, like Anick Gervais, you just might get a jersey.

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