I am sure most people over a certain age remember cute Ricky in Silver Spoons! I did not realize he was LDS. I thought it was cool to read about what he and his wife did for this Single Adult Conference.
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Throughout his childhood and adolescence, actor Ricky Schroder thought religion was for others, not for a person like himself. Now a recently called assistant executive secretary in his ward, Schroder, who converted to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 2000, said he can see the influence divinity has had throughout his life. ''As I reflect on my youth and childhood, I can see God had his eye on me,'' Schroder said. ''Whenever I was struggling ... it seemed a hand was given to me to help lift me up. And eventually I would take it ... sooner or later.'' Schroder and his wife, Andrea Schroder, were the keynote speakers at Saturday's session of the second annual Single Adult Conference for Salt Lake area singles 31 years and older. An event organizer, Duane Millard, estimated 1,000 people attended the Schroders' addresses, during which both got teary-eyed. In each of their speeches, the Schroders, who have four children, spoke in part about inherent talents children of God are given, and how those can be developed. Schroder is probably best know for his role in the TV series "Silver Spoons." ''We are teachable -- all of us,'' he said. ''I believe we're extremely changeable and moldable creatures.'' Andrea Schroder, who spoke first, said every individual has a purpose in God's plan, and it's their responsibility to find out who they are and what their role is. ''God has (made) us with this infinite potential ... it's beyond our comprehension,'' she said. Instead of comparing their abilities to others', people need to see ''God as our gauge ... because we're all created as unique individuals,'' she said. Citing examples from her own life, Andrea said the plans and goals people have don't always come to fruition, which was a sentiment Ricky also mentioned. ''We can make the right choices and not have the desired results,'' he said. ''But if you've tried, if you've grown, if you've experienced, then (life) was a success.'' Ricky closed by saying people have the power to bring into their lives the things they desire and think about. |
MormonTimes had a story on his conversion. I found the wife, Andrea to be so strong. It is truly amazing the things that we go through in this life.
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Andrea Bernard, like many other teenage girls in the '80s, had a crush on Ricky Schroder. Posters of the blond star of the sitcom "Silver Spoons" hung on the walls of her childhood bedroom in Calgary, Alberta. She wrote in her diary the details of a dream when she was 12 years old wherein Schroder picked her up from school in a limousine and whisked her away from all her classmates. "Little did I know that a few years later, we were to meet, fall in love, get married and go through all of life's ups and downs together," Bernard, now Andrea Schroder, said. But marrying Ricky fulfilled only part of Andrea's childhood dreams. Raised in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, she found herself attending church by herself soon after she married the then-unreligious actor in 1992. The sometimes-disparaging realities of adulthood sank in as children came and she found herself feeling isolated. "I was staying at home with kids while Rick traveled. I was living in another country, separate from the familiarities and support of my family in Canada. And I was going to church alone," she said in a speech at an LDS single-adult conference in Salt Lake City in May. Although Ricky Schroder had taken the missionary discussions -- once when they started dating, and again after they were married -- he wasn't really receptive to the church, and was at times oppositional, she said. "I never believed (religion) was for me," Ricky said while speaking at the same conference. "I convinced myself I didn't need it and everyone there was too d--- happy anyway.... They were too nice, they couldn't possibly really know me or like me like they pretended they did.... I had this sort of paranoia that they just wanted to be friends with me because I was famous or something. I couldn't understand that they were really happy and they really did care about me," he said. Although it was sometimes difficult, Andrea said her solitude in spiritual matters provided her with a greater testimony of her church. Without family members around to encourage her to go to church, she took the initiative in her spiritual life. "Rick's lack of spiritual support paced me to help strengthen my testimony and my relationship with Heavenly Father," she said.. After a few years of marriage, she went to the temple with some friends and came out with a dramatically different attitude. "It was like I had a new set of eyes....I was able to see all the amazing things that he is, and it didn't matter whether he was a believer or not. I appreciated him for his willingness and dedication for fatherhood, for his love for me, for his hard work, for being humble,'' she said. Not long after Andrea's change of heart, Ricky surprised his wife when after nearly eight years of marriage, he said he wanted to get baptized. |