Mitt Romney doesn’t exactly advertise the fact that he is a Mormon. Actually, he avoids speaking about his Mormon faith as much as possible.   But in a country where the separation of church and state is not taken all that seriously, you knew that Mitt was going to have to speak on the issue at some point in the presidential campaign.

Romney spoke to CNN about his faith as part of a documentary.  The film is titled “Romney Revealed: Family, Faith and the Road to Power.”  In the film, the Republican candidate talks about working as a missionary for the Mormon Church of Latter Day Saints during a trip to France.   His goal was to convert as many French people as possible to the Mormon faith.

Romney spent up to 50 hours per week in the street working to get people to convert.   He did it all in French and said that he was rejected quite often but continued to persevere.

“When you’re off in a foreign place and you only take to your parents once or twice a year by phone — that’s all that’s allowed — and you’re out speaking to people day in and day out about your faith and your religion and differences between your faith and other faiths… you say, ‘OK, what’s important here? What do I believe? What’s truth? Is there a God? Is Jesus Christ the son of God?’” he said.

Romney speaks even more deeply about how his experience as a missionary helped him to understand his relationship with God.

“And these things drew me closer to the eternal and convinced me that in fact there is a God. Jesus Christ is the son of God and my savior, and these are things that continue to be important in my life, of course,” he said.

During the trip, Romney was seriously injured in a car accident.  He was riding with the mission president and his wife to the South of France and the car was hit by a drunk driver.   The mission president’s wife lost her life and Romney was also pronounced dead at the scene.

“The policeman on the scene apparently thought I was in worse condition than I was and wrote, in French, ‘He is dead’ on my passport to distinguish me from others,” Romney said.

Romney’s wife Ann also said that she got a call telling her that her husband was dead.  His parents got the same call too.  Romney also said that, years later, his wife being diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis was a trying time for his family. Say what you want about the policies of Mitt Romney, but he’s overcome a great deal to get here.

– Black Blue Dog