Read Oral History #188. Available in English.
I grew up in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints so I’ve always had it in my life and it’s always been natural to me. I was more open about the church when I was younger too. I didn’t think too much about what other people would think. It was hard though, because there weren’t a lot of members. I had a friend that was the same age as me and then there was another girl who later became inactive. And because we were so few we didn’t have a lot of activities. My parents were a great example though and I kind of lived on their testimony. It also helped to go on Young Adult Conferences. And I think it was really in high school when I started realizing that I had to get a testimony for my self and choose which way to go.
In high school I had many new friends, and I didn’t hang around the friends I grew up with as much. The friends I grew up with knew my faith, and the question now was whether or not to tell my new friends about my beliefs. And in that age I wanted to fit in and be cool and I was really thinking about what other people might think about me. There were actually a lot of people that I didn’t tell. And I was quite nervous about their view on the Church. But I’ve always felt good when I’ve tried to stay close to the Gospel, reading scriptures and having prayers. And I knew that is was good and true because I’ve always had this feeling that the gospel made me happy. And there was always a piece missing at times when I wasn’t as close to God. I was almost lying to myself, because I was not truly happy if I didn’t have the Church in my life.