Posted by:
hilary
(
)
Date: February 28, 2011 06:00PM
Wow, my head is just spinning. Here is the full story, so you all can understand better.
I was baptized in the LDS church when I was 17 years old. I was a convert. Due to some terrible experiences with LDS men, and the missionary who baptized me, I never went a day to church after my baptism.
Just recently, I had a conversation with a very close friend of mine, (who just recently left the church as well) about baby blessings. I told my friend that my boys were both blessed in the church, one in 1995, and the other in 1997. My Dad had asked if he could give the boys each a blessing, and my husband and I reluctantly agreed, and let him do the blessing out of respect to him and his beliefs. My friend had mentioned to me that I should have recieved a certificate of blessing on both kids, and that both their names would be put on the record of the church. I felt so betrayed by my LDS parents that they did this, without letting my husband and I know there would be strings attached to that blessing, that I decided at that point, to write to the Church headquarters, and have my childrens names removed from the records. (My parents are on a mission right now, and even though I was upset about finding this out, and I wanted to confront them, I didn't want to say anything out of respect for their mission).
I ended up writing a letter to the church, and they told me I had to go through my Bisop here in Las Vegas. The bishop honored my request and the church removed my oldest son's name, and my name off the record of the church, but could not find a record for my youngest son, (who was also blessed by my father). I sent my bishop an email, asking why they couldn't find a record for my youngest son, and he wrote me back and asked if Alec had been baptized like Ryan was. At that point I freaked out, and told my bishop that Ryan had never been baptized to my knowledge. I was so surprised by this news, I thought, "how could this possibly happen"???
I was told my son was baptized on March 5, 2005 and confirmed on March 6, 2005. I was also told that it was in the Las Vegas Mission, which doesn't make a bit of sense to me at all. The only LDS family I have live in St. Geroge Utah, and we do spend a lot of time with my family up there. My children have been to church on several occasions with them as well when they were younger. I didn't see any harm in it at all, I trusted my family with my kids.
So long story short, Everyone is denying this could have ever taken place. My son's membership record even shows my husband full name on it, along with my address...How could the church find me? I never wanted them to know where I was living. Someone must have given our information to the ward here. My husband has never been a member of the chruch either...How would they have his full name? It just sounds fishy to me, and I totally believe they are covering up for someone.
I guess my question to you all is this....
Do they throw out any baptismal records, even though his name is now removed from the records of the church? And why can't they find my younger son's record??
Has anyone ever heard of a child being baptized without a parents consent?
My son does not remember being baptized. He said he doesn't remember much when he was 9 years old. Could they have manipulated it in such a way as to make him think it was just some kind of game, so he wouldn't talk about it with us? My parents both knew we didn't care for the beliefs of the mormon church, but maybe they thought they were doing my son a favor by having him baptized. When I showed my son a picture of a baptism on the computer, he said where the man is raising his arm jogged his memory just a little, but he's really not for sure.
When a child of record is blessed, do they ever remove their names off the record, if that child never is baptized? That would explain why they can't find my younger son's record.
If anyone can help me, I'd appreciat it. I thought about hiring an attorney, just to help get the record. My dad is denying it all. He says it just can't happen, and quite honestly, I want to believe what he's telling me is true. I don't know what to do. I feel so broken. :-(
If anyone at all can help me, I would so much appreciate it.
Thank you,