On my mind.

Being a mormon away from Utah has really helped me see what it means to be a mormon. In the west most people seem to know a bit about our church, the things we do and what we believe. In Oklahoma my experience has been a lot different. We get asked things like- Are you similar to Jehovah's Witnesses? Are you polygamists? Are you christian? (No, no, yes.) I like answering questions because I think it makes people more familiar with Mormonism. I'm used to people warmly teasing me for being the quirky Mormon girl, but here in the bible belt people are very serious about their religion- serious and at times overly defensive.

One of the hardest things I've had to deal with is people thinking Mormons exclude ourselves from society. I never thought much about it before because I grew up around a lot of members, but with us being a small minority here, people who aren't involved in our faith, easily label us as isolationists. I've been thinking about this a lot lately and it concerns me because perhaps we tend to keep to ourselves. I think it comes down to the age old struggle of finding balance. It's difficult to juggle school and homework plus church assignments, service, time alone with my husband, personal time and time socializing. Plus, I tend to be naturally somewhat solitary and don't need as much interaction. Most of the time church, service and socialization blend together because there are only so many hours in the day. I've been asked several times why we're always at church. This makes me laugh because sometimes I feel the same way, but I think what we label as "church" is really us visiting and serving other members, going to church activities and attending enrichment classes, which are separate from our Sunday worship service. Sometimes I wish I were brave enough to say to my non-member friends, "Come hang out at our Relief Society activity." -not because I have an ulterior motive to convert, but because I think it'd be more fun with friends.