Elder John D. Amos Testifies that Focusing on the Savior Is ‘a Guiding Light in Making All the Right Decisions’

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By Amy Ortiz, Church News

When Elder John D. Amos and his wife, Sister Michelle E. Amos, were called to serve as mission leaders for the Louisiana Baton Rouge Mission, President Henry B. Eyring, Second Counselor in the First Presidency, offered them words of guidance that have remained in Elder Amos’ heart.

“You have been prepared all your life for this,” Elder Amos recalled President Eyring saying.

Sustained April 5 in the April 2025 general conference as a General Authority Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Elder Amos reflected on President Eyring’s earlier counsel and shared how the Lord has truly been preparing him to serve.

“The focus on Jesus Christ,” he said, “really was a guiding light in making all the right decisions.”

Whether it has been serving in the home, the Church or the U.S. Navy, Elder Amos said all of his life experiences — combined with a focus on the Savior and his wife’s strengthening example — have been instrumental in his becoming a “real minister” of the Lord.

Preparation by Conversion

Born November 2, 1961, in Lafayette, Louisiana, Elder Amos’ life-long preparation began as a young child.

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“I was born and raised in southern Louisiana as a Catholic,” he said, adding that his parents — John N. Amos Sr. and Dorothy Victorian Amos — would take him and his four younger siblings to church every week.

As he entered his late teenage years, however, Elder Amos said his participation in the Catholic church began to waver.

“[I] just kind of stopped going to church regularly,” he said.

Still, his faith in the Savior remained. “I always believed in God and in Jesus Christ.”

Elder Amos’ belief in and knowledge of God grew as he learned the teachings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, to which he was introduced to by his “missionary” and future wife, Sister Amos.

“I met my missionary in college,” he said. “She was an attractive, nice girl and very virtuous, and so that was interesting.”

Elder and Sister Amos met at Southern University and A&M College in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where they shared a major in electrical engineering. Sister Amos, already a member of the Church, took Elder Amos to a Church dance for their first date and began sharing the gospel with him as their friendship grew.

She said, “I was able to recognize my husband as a good man, although he wasn’t a member of the Church.”

Elder Amos shared that his wife’s character and exemplary discipleship, along with that of other Latter-day Saints he began to interact with, “sparked” a continuing desire in him to learn more about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.

“Getting exposed to the Church members and how they lived their lives, committed to the gospel of Jesus Christ,” he said, “was also positively encouraging and made me want to know more.”

Still, Elder Amos’ process of conversion took time. For two years, Elder Amos met with the full-time missionaries and continued learning from Sister Amos’ example.

“I kind of wore out missionary companionships,” he said. “They probably saw me as not really keeping commitments because I had so many questions along the way.”

Yet, he said those two years were essential for him to wrestle with the questions “only the Spirit and focused effort would answer.” He also expressed gratitude for Sister Amos’ patience in the process.

“She didn’t pressure any of that on me,” he said. “Me coming to understand the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and embrace it and get answers was something me and the Spirit needed to do.”

Integral in this process was also Elder Amos’ prayerful study of the Book of Mormon.

See this related Church News article Get to Know the Newest General Authority Seventies Through Their Testimonies

In his second year of meeting with the missionaries, Elder Amos said, his bishop allowed him to attend early morning seminary with the youth. That year, the youth were learning from the Book of Mormon, and, through their joint study, Elder Amos grew drawn to the book’s simplicity and repeated testimony of Jesus Christ.

“That was really my true conversion,” he said. “It was just all enticing, where it was hard to put [the Book of Mormon] down.”

As Elder Amos gained a testimony that “no doubt the Book of Mormon was the word of God,” his need to obtain specific answers to all the questions he was wrestling with diminished.

He said, “It‘s not that I got all those answers, it‘s just that they were not a priority anymore.”

Accompanying his progress toward entering into a baptismal covenant with God, was progress in his relationship with Sister Amos.

Sister Amos shared that, having joined the Church with her family at 12 years old, she grew up building a firm testimony of the Savior and had developed the determination to follow His teachings and be sealed in the temple.

“My goal was to go to the temple, and it never faltered,” she said. “If [Elder Amos] wasn’t going to be the person to take me there, then he wouldn’t be the person I would marry.”

Fortunately, Elder Amos eventually accepted the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and was baptized in 1989. Elder and Sister Amos were later sealed June 9, 1990, in the Atlanta Georgia Temple.

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Preparation by Service

Now married for nearly 35 years, Elder and Sister Amos have built a family and professional life centered on the Savior Jesus Christ and serving God’s children.

Following their undergraduate time together, Sister Amos pursued a master’s degree in engineering management and worked for NASA for 30 years. Elder Amos earned advanced degrees and certifications in engineering; and, during his career, he worked in various engineering research, development, design, operations and teaching positions.

Through it all, Elder Amos said, their focus remained on the Savior and strengthening their home and family.

Additionally, Elder Amos said, his growth in the gospel advanced as he continued observing his wife’s example and fostering the willingness to serve in whatever capacity the Lord would have him.

He said: “My missionary who became my wife had, and still has, just an unparalleled, firm, 100% commitment to the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. That was just a continuous foundation for me to build off.”

Being naturally shy, Elder Amos explained that as a recent convert he served quietly but faithfully. “I would always sit in the back because I’m kind of quiet, [I] don’t really volunteer for things, but I do what I’m asked to do.”

Having received the assignment to home teach a few families in the ward, Elder Amos would visit and minister to them month after month, eventually building strong relationships with them.

After about four years of ministering to these families, Elder Amos said, he received the surprising call to serve as a bishopric counselor to one of the men he had faithfully served as a home teacher.

“Nobody saw that coming,” he said. “Me being the first one.”

Elder Amos was still a relatively new member of the Church and said there were a lot of gaps in his understanding of Church administration and how to fulfill his calling.

“Being engaged in the gospel grows you to another level that you can‘t get otherwise, and so that grew me to a whole other level of discipleship.” He also said the more he served, the more he felt the Lord’s trust to participate in His work.

As the years went by, Elder and Sister Amos continued to serve and put the Savior above all things. When they received the call to become mission leaders for the Louisiana Baton Rouge Mission from 2020 to 2023, they were ready and willing to make the necessary changes to accept the call.

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“The decision and the commitment were already made a long time ago,” Elder Amos said. “When the Lord calls, we just answer.”

Serving as mission leaders, Elder and Sister Amos trusted the Lord’s guidance. Neither one of them had served a mission, but they knew that if they gave their all, the Lord would magnify their talents and understanding in His service.

Said Sister Amos, “We used all the knowledge that we have from college, from our work and career, we brought that with us into the mission.”

As they did so, Elder and Sister Amos said, they were able to help the missionaries understand the simple doctrines of the gospel and strive to become “lifelong disciples.” They were also blessed to manage the “many moving parts” of the mission and see miracles through their service and that of the missionaries they served with.

“I just felt an extra closeness to what we were doing in bringing and inviting our people to come unto Christ,” said Elder Amos, describing the miracle it was to serve in southern Louisiana, where he and his wife are from.

Looking forward, Elder and Sister Amos know the Savior will continue to lead, teach and empower them to accomplish their part in His work.

“I do not fear,” Sister Amos said. “I have faith that whatever the Lord asks me to do, He is going to be right there.”

Elder Amos offered his testimony and said, “[The Savior] absolutely guides and directs His work that we are all a part of. … Our role is to cheerfully do the things that we can do, and we can just rest assured that He will perform the miracles.”

About Elder John D. Amos

Family: Born in Lafayette, Louisiana, on November 2, 1961, and grew up in Opelousas, Louisiana. Son of John N. Amos Sr. and Dorothy Victorian Amos. Married Michelle Evette Wright on June 9, 1990, in the Atlanta Georgia Temple; they have three children and six grandchildren.

Education: Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering from Southern University and A&M College in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and advanced degrees and certifications in electrical power systems, digital signal processing and nuclear engineering.

Employment: Retired; engineering duty officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve, Siemens Energy Inc. engineering director and engineering adjunct professor at the University of Central Florida.

Church service: Area Seventy in the North America Southeast Area, Louisiana Baton Rouge Mission president, stake presidency counselor, bishop, bishopric counselor, ward Sunday School president, ward executive secretary, high priests group leader and Nursery leader.

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