I first became interested in Freemasonry a number of years ago, went so far as to visit the local lodge, meet with a few members, but I didn't petition at the time, I was worried that fitting in would be difficult as every member I met was well over 80 yrs old and I (at the time) was in my late 20's. It didn't seem a fit. About a year ago I moved across country and ended up in a small town that I knew no one other than my fiance. On my first day I was asked if I was a mason or an elk, I was neither but it did let me know the masons were active in the area. I knew my boss (who was about my age) was a member, and so were several other co-workers. I asked a co-worker, I petitioned was investigated and finally initiated as an EA fairly recently.
There was a significant delay between petitioning and initiation for two reasons, one the town I live in is a fairly conservative Christian town and on my petition page I was asked what religion I followed, I wrote Agnostic, this raised some concerns. The other reason for the delay is there is a summer break the lodge takes and I was voted in just before the break. The Agnostic issue was fairly easy to overcome as I simply had to explain my particular brand of agnosticism in that I believe in a deity, I was just unsure of what that diety was, that I followed no specific religion but follow my own moral code that I believe the GAOTU would approve of.
2be1ask1