Millennial Mormons: Where Myth and Reality Meet

My grandma is not a millennial. She was born on Christmas Eve of 1929. But I want to highlight her story here as well because she has been so instrumental in shaping my adulthood. She's always created safe and brave spaces for those around her and been willing to listen and ask questions as well as share opinions. So pardon me for breaking my own rules. I have been missing her a lot, especially in the past couple of weeks as I have felt weighted regarding women's value in society and the church and my own complexities as a human. She passed away in November 2016, almost two years ago, but moving to Indiana, her dear home of fifty years, has helped me feel close to her spirit. Even though she is no longer here, m y relationship with her is not over, it has simply changed. My grandma is a champion of love, of intellectual queries, and of spiritual growth. My grandma read thousands of books over her 86 years of life, taught early morning seminary for decades and Gospel Doctrin

A note from the editor: This story pairs well with story 9, “Joy in the Journey.” Many of us long for certainty in our futures. We desire to know the details of coming years regarding our physical locations, careers, finances, marriages, and children, whether illness will touch us or someone we love, how government policies will change, and ultimately, the kinds of losses and joys we will experience. We want to be ready for whatever life offers us, but we want to know the what, when, why, how in advance. However, as Anne Lamott observed, “The opposite of faith is not doubt, but certainty.” Part of the beauty of life is the unexpected. Part of the challenge of life is an incomplete picture. Story 11 of this project? Just learning to embrace life in all its ambiguities. story 11 of many. If you had asked me five years ago as I was graduating from high school where I would be in 2018, I would have been wrong. Looking back on these years, the path that I have taken has

A note from the editor: Every gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer individual needs to know that you are valuable. That God loves you. All of you. I believe that God created us differently so that we could help others understand what it is like to be us. So that we could learn how to invite others to "come in" to "come out" with our personal experiences and perspectives. Understanding and loving and supporting LGBTQ people in the LDS church is VITAL to being disciples of Christ. As Dieter Uchtdorf has often invited us, "Come and add your talents, gifts, and energies to ours. We will all become better as a result." We can each do better at appreciating the wide range of gifts God has given us and those around us. While the church officially may not yet have the most helpful of resources for how to bring two seemingly different core identities together, let us each individually sit down with our brothers and sisters, help them carry their st