I don’t know that any of that would’ve happened if they hadn’t been Mormon. Do you think the religion allows people to be that gullible for all types of con artists?
When I was about 10, our home teacher, some old guy who my parents thought hung the moon, challenged me to learn all the Articles of Faith before I even had to have them all learned for my Primary awards. He said he would have something special for me if I did (I'm thinking present, money, something good).
So I did. Like in one month. The next month when he came and I told him I had them all memorized, he quizzed me on them and I delighted everyone. Parents were so proud. The surprise? He wanted to take me on a date. Yes, he called it a date. That was back when every year the Primary had the Daddy-Daughter Date. So he called it the home teacher date. My parents thought it was cute. He wanted to take me out for ice cream.
I remember my parents made me dress up (in a dress!). I did NOT want to go. He kind of creeped me out as it was and I didn't want to go somewhere in a car just me and him. He picked me up and my parents thought it was so cute. He opened the front door of the car for me and then he got in. We hadn't gone far and he told me to scoot over closer to him (in the 60s before seat belts). He put his arm around me and pulled me over into the middle of the seat and kept his arm around me. All I remember after that is wanting to go home. Nothing else happened. I do remember being at the ice cream parlor and him asking people if he didn't have the cutest date. I'm sure they all thought it was my grandpa and was cute.
Years later I thought about that and was like "what kind of parents DO that? Why would they send their 10-year-old out with an old man when she said she didn't want to go? And with a guy calling it a date? I would never in a million years have had it in me to say "no" to anything he had tried. I couldn't even say it about staying on my side of the seat. He was the home teacher. He was a Mormon. He was a man.
I thought of that when watching "Abducted in plain sight." YES, it happened because they were all mormons!
I was pulled off a public school bus to go to primary because the sister that ran the primary car pool didn't believe that I was NOT supposed to attend that very Wednesday. Never should have happened.