Transcript: Conversion is not just a moment. It's a journey. You know, when you think you're really happy and you have everything you want, all your friends, all the materialistic things, good family. But there's something more and you want to go deeper. So you ask yourself that question: where can I find that?

And so, for me, what happened was a big family reunion where my whole family got together and all the aunts and uncles, all the cousins, we came together and we had a four day reunion at this campsite. And when I showed up, I was just surrounded by so many people that were full of this joy and such peace. And I wanted to have what they had because I realized what I thought was happiness was very superficial and surface-level.

I started asking them questions because I wanted to know the answers. So the first day I would go around and say: “What's the best piece of advice you've ever received and how do you live your life like that? What was the moment that just changed your life?” I would ask everyone that: “What was that thing, like… What was that thing? Why are you so joyful? What is that? Because I want that.” And because I knew there was… There had to be something more because if this is it, this isn’t that great.

And so as I was asking these questions, I realized it was their relationship with God and their faith that really brought them that joy and that peace. I thought happiness came from your circumstance. I didn't want to only be happy if I was in an environment where other people were happy, but wherever I go, I can have that. But on a deeper level of happiness than I had before. And so I kept searching, searching, searching, searching.

There is this one workshop that I went on when, when I showed up, all the girls were asking me about who I am, what I do, and where I go to school, all these things. It was like the first day I showed up and I just felt really known. And these people really wanted to get to know me and wanted to develop a friendship. Like, even though I showed up late! And it was the first day. I showed up and they were just like, just wide open arms, just introducing themselves. So I felt very much at home there.

The workshop was on the philosophy of work and how to sanctify your work and sanctify your ordinary life. So through the ordinary things. And I was just like, well, it's so simple. I could do that myself. I'm just a college student. I don't have to go out and change the world and do all these crazy flashy things. I can just go back to school and go back to work and go back to the things that I was doing before, but do it in a way that I can strive for holiness and strive to be a saint in that way that isn't this flashy thing. And so it was really the first time where Opus Dei and their spirituality really became personal for me and really, like, kind of shocked me that: “Wow! I can do that.”

It's not just for people that have it all together. It's not just for those people that have always lived this way of life that are perfect because yeah, I might have a past where I was searching for happiness in different ways, but God is calling me to now go back to where I was, in the same environment that I was before. But to go back and help myself to grow in holiness, but also the other people, because everyone else is searching for happiness too. And I want them to know what I've kind of figured out and what I've seen, and I want to make other people feel known as well.

And so when I went back to school… I'm part of what they call Army RTC, so it's the military. And we do a lot of training, like hard, physical training. And so it's the same type of training that I've always been doing. But when I came back, I was like, okay, I can actually offer this up for somebody

and for other people. And I can, in the same training that I'm doing, I can do it to glorify God. And so I thought, okay, I'm going to be joyful for everyone else that is running alongside me so that as a way to be charitable to them so that they can see that, and think, “Why is she joyful? Because this hurts, this isn't fun, we're suffering. Why is she smiling?”

God was calling me to go on this path and then… bringing it back with me to school and the military and the training and all that stuff, that was like, okay, this is how you're actually going to practically do it. That's been really fulfilling for me too, because I'm like, now I can do what people have been doing for me and I can give to them what I've been receiving.

And also I do some pro-life work. It's really with the formation that I'm receiving, where it's really showing me, with what I'm doing with the pro-life work, how to make people feel known and to figure out where I'm really called to work in that movement because there's so many different things that you can do. And so I think for me, really working in pregnancy centers is where I can make these women feel known because they're going through suffering as well. But bringing what I'm receiving with my formation, with the Work, with my Catholic faith, showing these people that are suffering a lot… but you can be joyful through suffering.

So I think overall, I mean, life is a journey and there's conversions. It's like we were talking about; it's not like one day where it's, okay, I had this deep conversion and change of heart and I want to go all in and then it's going to be so easy and perfect from there. I still keep falling. I keep falling, but it's a matter of keeping getting up and just keeping receiving that formation and being surrounded by people that want that for you as well and are continuing to help you grow, and to get advisors ann then continue to just dive deeper into my prayer. So yeah, I think, it’s really cool to see the journey, but it's also cool to see that it’s just… It's just going to keep going deeper.