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Transcript

[MUSIC PLAYING]

How to retain the traditions of my people and still be a good member of the Church. [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]. My name is Patrick [INAUDIBLE]. And I'm a full-blooded Navajo. I would say this is a topic that, certainly, I deal with every day. And I feel like I don't have a concrete answer on it. I am also a Native American dancer. And so that also allows me to share my culture and share a story with people. A lot of times, I get to do a presentation and dance for people who may have never met a Native American. And in that moment, I'm representing my culture. And so a lot of times, I feel like, myself, I'm always thinking about my culture. But then I'm also thinking about the gospel within my life. And I know many other people out there deal with trying to find a balance between those two. But how I see it is, there's a classic story they talk about for all Native Americans, how we live in two worlds, the Native American world and the non-Native American world. And that's how I see our Native American traditions and my faith in the Church. I feel like most people see them as being two separate entities, two separate worlds. But I feel like they can cross. There are some areas where there are similarities. And I feel like finding those similarities and being able to see a path which leads to my firm belief that I am a child of God, it allows me to--I feel like it makes me even more proud to be Native American. It makes me more proud of my culture and my heritage. And I would say that just finding the similarities, that's certainly helped so much. [MUSIC PLAYING]

Live in Both the Native American and Church Cultures

Description
As a Native American member of the Church, you may feel like you live in two separate worlds. However, the beliefs and values of these worlds often overlap. You can find balance by honoring the similarities of both cultures.
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