I was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when I was eight years old. You could say I was sort of born into it, as my father, mother, seven other siblings, and both sets of grandparents are all members as well. I grew up in a small, rural town in Southern Idaho where vegetation is almost as sparse as non-LDS families. As children we were never quite sure which denomination these families belonged to: that they were not Mormon was the only distinction we made. As I was growing up my parents saw to it that I attended the three-hour long Church services every Sunday, the weekly youth activities, and our local four-year seminary program. After completing high school, I chose to pursue my academic studies at two Church-owned and operated institutions of higher learning, first at Ricks College and then Brigham Young University. But it seemed that the pinnacle of my Church education would take place when my twenty first birthday finally enabled me to become a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.