When I made the decision to not be confirmed in the Catholic faith, I started going to different churches of Christian denomination. And I remember always feeling really good. But I don't-- in that hour, hour and a half, of singing in praise and a message shared by someone.
It really stopped once I left that building. There was no opportunity for real personal connection. I kept finding things that would glean of it, and then the light would dim. And so, when I started meeting with the missionaries, when they would talk and share things, I thought, this is very much in line with everything that I know and learned growing up in the Catholic faith. So it wasn't a lot of new information at first. So I felt very comfortable. And I felt like this is true. This is not being tainted. This is not being changed. It's truth. Joseph Smith, who was pondering and searching and praying, which one of these churches is true? And I see that in today's day and age as well. There are so many churches with a lot of wonderful purposes to help people connect with something greater than themselves. But they don't show you the way to have that personal connection and that relationship. And that personal connection and relationship with Heavenly Father and the Savior is what leads to that eternal happiness. And that's what I was searching for.
Noelle and her husband, Christian, live in Mission Viejo, California, and they're expecting their first child. She was baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in August 2004.