I joined the church because my lifelong friend, Noah, is a member and he has a sister who also has a hearing impairment. She went to the same school as me. He and I clicked. He knew what I was going through, not being able to verbally communicate like everyone else normally does. I grew up Roman Catholic, but my parents drifted away from the church because my mum worked hard to support us, and my dad was a drinker. When I was a teenager, Noah would invite me to attend church, and the Young Men activities. I really liked the atmosphere and how other boys made the effort to learn sign, it made me so happy. It mixed social activities with Gospel and that made me feel at home because I was lacking that at home. My parents knew I was spending a lot of time at the LDS church and one day my mum said to me that I’d soon become a Mormon. My reply was, “Yeah, probably.”
After my sixteenth birthday in March, I asked my parents if the bishop could come over so I could have lessons with the missionaries and have Noah there to sign for me. Mum said yes. Mum knew that I didn’t feel right being Catholic and also Noah and his family were kind to me and really good people. My parents knew that many young Roman Catholics say they’re religious and say that they’re true to their faith, but then you see that on Friday, Saturday or Sunday nights they drink, do drugs and other crazy stuff. Then they go to Mass on Sunday morning, they repent, say sorry and do the same thing the next week. I hated seeing this, my father was an alcoholic, so I know what it’s like to grow up and see that. I didn’t want to be like him and had lessons and then decided to be baptised. I feel blessed because Noah and other members who know some AUSLAN translate to me during church. I’m not an outcast because I can’t hear and in my own way I can participate with other members.