I'm a Member.

      "Would you even be Mormon if your parents weren't, what if you had a whole new family, would you believe in the things you 'know'?"

      This is a very interesting question that my friend asked me recently. I'll be honest when I say that I really don't know whether or not I would be a member of the LDS church had I not been introduced to it by my parents. But isn't this question true with other religions as well? Let's change this question a little bit:

"Would you even be Catholic if you didn't live in Rome?"

"Would you even be Muslim if your parents weren't?"

"Would you even be an Atheist if someone had been taking you to a church since you were young?"

       There are so many what-ifs in the world, but honestly do they even matter? You could go on questioning the existence of man-kind and the whole Universe by simply stating  'what-if?'. The thing is, is that my life is the way it is, that's it. I happen to be raised in an LDS family and taught in a Christian world. I can't go back and change everything to see if I would or wouldn't be, that'd be stupid because that's not the point of this life.
       I will tell you something though, I may have raised by people of a certain religion, but becoming a member and going to church has always been my choice. My parents didn't force me to get baptized, nobody ever told me that I had to read the Book of Mormon, staying pure for the temple was not for my family's sake. If I told my parents that I didn't want to go to church because I didn't believe, they would never force me to come with them.
       I've been friends with people of so many different religions, I've heard lots of reasoning against my beliefs, I've read so many books of Anti-Mormon literature, I've been given thousands of reasons on why I'm wrong. Sometimes Satan would get into my head and reasoning made sense, so I did once stop going to church for awhile. But,

It has and always will be, MY choice.

       My testimony is not my parent's or my grandparent's, it is not my brother's or my friend's, it is not my bishop's. It's mine. I have the knowledge and beliefs that I do because I wanted to have it, by prayer, scripture study, many lessons, life experiences and the true desire to know. When I wanted to truly know, the Holy Ghost didn't leave me on my own, through precious experiences and faith I've come to know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is of God, and it's where I'm supposed to be. And I'm proud of my religion.