PROVO, Utah — Harry Reid — a Church convert and majority leader of the U.S. Senate — recently received a letter from his oldest granddaughter, Ryan Reid. In the letter, Ryan explained that she was working on her Young Women Personal Progress Program. One requirement dealt with faith.

Photo by StuartJohnson/Deseret Morning News

U.S. Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and his wife, Sister Landra Reid, at left, take their place on the Marriott Center dais prior to Sen. Reid's BYU Forum address. The lawmaker said many good-hearted members played roles in his conversion.

She asked her grandfather if he could write about an experience that helped shape his testimony of faith.

In reply, Sen. Reid wrote of looking up at the night sky from his tiny hometown of Searchlight, Nev. He studied the Milky Way, marveling at the galaxy's immensity. He knew billions of stars existed beyond his limited view.

"My outlook on life — my faith, is best summarized by an inscription found in a Cologne, Germany, cellar where Jews hid from the Nazis which read, 'I believe in the sun even when it is not shining. I believe in love even when not feeling it. I believe in God even when He is silent."'

Sen. Reid concluded his letter to young Ryan with his testimony of God, His Son Jesus Christ, the restored gospel and its leader, President Gordon B. Hinckley.

Almost a year after becoming the highest-ranking Church member in public office, Sen. Reid shared his thoughts on faith, family, politics and public service at an Oct. 9 forum at Brigham Young University. Several thousand students and faculty members attended the mid-day speech in the school's Marriott Center.

Sen. Reid's sojourn from an impoverished, forgotten mining town to the one of the world's most powerful offices reads like a Horatio Alger dime novel. In his forum address, the Nevada lawmaker spoke of growing up in a home with no indoor toilet or hot water. Work in one of Searchlight's mines was sporadic for young Harry's father. His mother earned a few dollars taking in wash from the town brothels.

The only school was a two-room building that served grades 1 through 8.

"Searchlight had not a single church," Sen. Reid said. "Not a church service, no services as I was growing up. It took me many, many years to understand the greatness of our country — my parents were poor, they drank too much. They were uneducated. My father never graduated from 8th grade, my mother never finished high school.

"But I learned in America it doesn't matter the education of your parents, their religion — we had none— their social status — we had none, their color, their economic status — we had none. I am an example of this. If I made it, anyone can."

Harry left Searchlight to attend high school, boarding with relatives in Henderson 50 miles away. His Aunt Ray was the family oddity — a Mormon. But the future senator's first true exposure to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints came in the form of two schoolmates, Bernard Cannon and Ron McAllister. They were everything he wasn't.

"Bernie — big and very popular and a star athlete, even as a freshman — was the son of a local bishop. For reasons I still don't comprehend, he was so very good to me and made me feel that I was not the hick that some thought.

"Ron asked me to attend something he called seminary. He said don't worry about the religious part of the deal," recalled Sen. Reid, drawing laughter. There in seminary he learned about Church history and, for the first time, the mission of Jesus Christ.

Harry Reid also met his future wife in high school — a Jewish student named Landra Gould. After high school, the two were married by an LDS bishop in Henderson. The 19-year-old newlyweds soon found themselves in Logan, Utah, to attend Utah State University. They rented a basement apartment from a kind LDS man.

One evening Harry ran up the stairs to borrow an item for dinner. He saw through the window a curious scene: the whole family, mother, father and children, kneeling in prayer around the table. He had never seen a setting quite like that.

A short time later, Landra Reid was invited by her bus driver (and a stake missionary), Mr. McPherson, to listen to the missionary discussions. The young couple listened to the missionaries' Spirit-driven message and accepted their baptismal challenge.

"The Church has been a blessing to us and our five children," Sen. Reid said. "All have attended BYU...I have vicariously lived my boys' missions in Argentina, Ecuador and Spain and feel blessed to have been able to witness our children's marriages at the Salt Lake, San Diego, St. George, Oakland and Mesa temples."

The lawyer-turned-lawmaker who once found hope in the leadership of President Franklin D. Roosevelt also spoke politics.

"My faith and political beliefs are deeply intertwined," he said. "I am a Democrat because I am a Mormon, not in spite of it."

Sen. Reid spoke of his support for working people and labor unions. He called global warming an "environmental emergency" and called the invasion of Iraq a foreign policy blunder.

On the topic of abortion, he added: "I am pro-life and have been for the 25 years I have been in Congress. Some say Democrats can't be pro-life, but I am proof that we can."

The Senate leader also commented on the ongoing presidential election that includes a fellow member. "I hope that Mitt Romney's presidential bid is determined by his political stands, and not on his religion."

Public service, he added, remains a noble calling that allows one, in King Benjamin fashion, to serve God by serving others.

"Within the Church there are hundreds and hundreds of examples," Sen. Reid said. "From Ezra Taft Benson, while an apostle serving in President Eisenhower's Cabinet, or Reed Smoot while an apostle serving in the United States Senate, or David Kennedy serving as Secretary of the Treasury, or Rex Lee as U.S. Solicitor General, or the recently departed (President) James Faust serving in the state legislature, or Elder (Dallin H.) Oaks, now an apostle, serving as a member of the Utah State Supreme Court, or of course, the late Elder (David B.) Haight, who served as mayor of Palo Alto, Calif."

E-mail to: jswensen@desnews.com