I'll share with you what a school day was like for me as a teenager. I woke up at 5:30 am to shower, get dressed, and get my stuff together for school. I had scripture study with my family at 6:30 am. Sometimes we had to wait for my dad to get back from playing early morning basketball at the church. We ate hot cereal (usually oatmeal) at 7:00 am and then I walked to school with my brother. Yes, my brother. He was one year younger than me and we were and still are good friends. Students at school asked if he was my boyfriend because they couldn't imagine that I'd walk to school with my brother. I attended classes in high school with one period each day for seminary. I walked across the street from the school to a seminary building where with other Mormon teenagers, I was taught from The Bible, The Book of Mormon, The Doctrine and Covenants, and The Pearl of Great Price--all books of scripture. At lunch I sat with my brother and our friends. After school I worked at a job, then played church basketball or volleyball or softball and once a week attended youth activities at the church. I almost always ate dinner with my family. Before each meal we had a family prayer. Before I went to sleep, I read my scriptures, wrote in my journal, and said my prayer. This routine isn't much different from the teenagers in our family today. My children are also involved in music and sports. Exciting, huh?! Probably a lot like your life.

All over the world, other Mormon teenagers study scriptures individually and with their families, have personal and family scripture study, and attend seminary. Many attend early-morning seminary, where their classes are held early before school starts.
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Mormons believe that in order to develop their testimonies and stay strong and faithful, we need to do two basic things daily--pray and study our scriptures. That way we develop a personal relationship with our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Yes. Dating is fun and a great way to get to know other young people. I would say a date is a boy and girl going together on a planned activity.
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In my novel, Not of This World, Marti's parents are very restrictive on her dating. In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, youth are encouraged to date with guidelines. Some of the guidelines are to wait to date until 16 years old, go with at least one other couple--no single dating, avoid dates with the same person--date many different people, and date those with high moral standards. The For Strength of Youth Pamphlet is a great resource for dating guidelines. Each family and teenager must decide their rules within those guidelines. Since youth can attend church dances at the age of 14, I think that dating and hanging out are different activities. To me the term group dating doesn't mean hanging out in a group at someone's house or going to a party. Group dating involves a young man asking a young woman (or sometimes the girl asks the boy), finding at least one other couple to go on the date with them, and planning a fun activity where all in the group get to know each other. Then while on the date, the young man and young woman are particularly attentive and courteous to each other. Do the young man and young woman kiss on this date? That's a question for another post.

As a child I listened to and sang the song, "I'm a Mormon," by Janeen Brady. It is set to a marching beat and made me proud to be a Mormon. Now I'm writing a YA novel about an ultra-conservative LDS family and I'm still proud to be a Mormon but am concerned that my novel will portray Mormons in a bad light. I've also noticed that most LDS or Mormon authors who are not writing strictly for the LDS market, try to keep their religious/cultural opinions and views off their author websites. Separation of church and state and not wanting to be preachy or cross a line. The first line in the song is "I'm a Mormon, yes I am. So if you want to study a Mormon, I'm a living specimen." I thought blogging about being a Mormon would help me convey simple truths about Mormons from a Mormon point of view and teach those who are interested what it means to be a Mormon, and when my book is published--after much hopeful wishes and diligence--these entries will answer questions from readers about the characters and situations in the novel.

First question: What is a Mormon?
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Answer: A Mormon is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Mormon is a term given to us because a book of scripture that we study is called, "The Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ," after a prophet who abridged and compiled many of the writings in that book. For a while, we tried to get away from the name Mormon because we wanted others to know that we follow Christ, that we are Christian, not followers of Mormon. We refer to ourselves as LDS: Latter-Day Saint, a Saint being someone who follows Christ through baptism. And latter-day because we follow the gospel and authority established by Jesus when he was on the earth, but now in the latter days. But since most of the world knows of us as Mormons, we go by that too.