Later on during the year, Cory challenged his class to discuss their beliefs. Cory told the class that everyone had different beliefs, such moral beliefs or religious beliefs. He assigned Riley and Maya to do a report on Joan of Arc. He assigned Farkle and Lucas to do a report on Thomas Jeffereson. While the kids were doing their assignments, they learned that they had different beliefs. They switched partners a few times during the project. In the end, all four kids did their projects together.
After doing the project, Riley and Maya decided that they wanted to talk about the projects. A few days later, they were sitting in the bay window. They talked about their beliefs.
"Maya, what did you learn from the project?"
"You told me that you pray all the time. The other night I prayed. I prayed for people who lived in my area. And I prayed for you to have happiness in your life."
"Didn't you pray for yourself?"
"No, I didn't want to bug God about myself."
Riley invited Maya to go to church with her that week. She told Maya that she'd she would like the other members. Maya asked if she' have to go to the mall to buy some clothes to wear. Riley told her that she didn't need to because no one at her church wore suits and ties, or fancy dresses. She told Maya that the people usually wore jeans, khakis, tees shirts, polos, button down shirts, sweaters, etc. Maya told Riley that she'd like to go. So Riley invited her to spend the night with them on Saturday night.
On Sunday morning, Topanga woke the kids up at 8:30, so they could eat breakfast and get dressed. After they had breakfast, they started getting dressed. Maya put on a pair of jeans, and a yellow tee shirt that had white and light green stripes. She wore the locket that she got for her birthday. Riley wore a pair of jeans and light blue tee. Auggie wore a pair of khaki's, a white polo and a red cable sweater. Cory wore jeans, a navy dress shirt, and a black blazer. Topanga was dressed like she normally was, when she went to work.
Cory drove them to church that morning. When they got to the church, everyone went in different directions to their class. Auggie walked to the end of the hallway. Cory and Topanga went to the young adult class, which was in a different part of the church. Maya didn't know where to go. Riley told Maya that she'd take her to their class. Maya followed Riley to their Sunday school class. She really liked the Sunday school teacher and the other kids in the class. Her Sunday school had her add her name to the birthday list. The Sunday school teacher told Maya that when someone had a birthday during the week, she always brought ice cream for the whole class.
After Sunday school, Maya followed Riley down to the sanctuary. Cory, Topanga, and Auggie were already sitting in the pew. Maya was able to adapt to the church, even though it was her first Sunday. When it was time to greet the other members, Maya stayed in the pew. She didn't know anyone, but the Matthews. However, several of the members came up to Maya. They shook her hand and told her that they were glad that she was there. After church, she wanted to go back the following week. Maya started attending church with the Matthews on regular basis, and she eventually became a member of their church.