Religious Freedom

On Friday, I was working at Pierce and the principal, Mrs. Barnes, asked me to come to her office and talk to her about Religious Freedom.  I was excited to think that she might be wanting to learn more about the church.  Once I was sitting down she told me that Haylee had been talking with one of her best friends, Destiny, at school and had invited her to church.  Her friend told her that she was a member of another church and Haylee said, "That's okay, you can to change your religion." 

Destiny's mother was concerned that some kid at school was talking to her child about religion convincingly.  I guess Destiny indicated to her mom that it was a good idea.  She asked the principal to talk to Haylee's parents about it saying that the Mom felt that religion was a private thing.  I told Mrs. Barnes that I would talk to Haylee at school about the importance of keeping religion confidential but that when I got home I would be complimenting her for being willing to share her beliefs with others.  She indicated that I might just want to wait until I got home to talk to her.  Her teacher, Mr Williams overheard the conversation and indicated how impressed he was that Haylee likes her church enough to invite friends to come to it.  He also indicate that Destiny does not think it was a big deal and that it does not appear to have impacted their classtime friendship at all.

I checked with Haylee and she said that Destiny had asked her if she was a Mormon.  She had told her that she was and had invited her to church a little bit latter.  Destiny knows that Tyler Allen is a Mormon and asked if she knew him.  She said, "I might" since there was a Tyler in her class at church but that she did not know his last name.  Then she saw his last name at church and learned that she knew him.  She said that the conversation had occurred in the bathroom.

I am very proud of my bathroom missionary and her confidence in religious freedom.