France-Paris I always feel like I need to go back and look up my investigators and apologize to them for wasting their time! I missed out on all the good stuff I've read about here and other places - things missionaries did, rules they broke, etc. I was way too obedient and missed out on a whole lot of fun!!
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You're NOT a failure - I agree with the others, you have your whole life ahead of you! I know it doesn't feel like it right now but honestly, you're on the brink of discovering who you really are. You don't have to live by some outdated rules of behavior, you can do, think, feel, eat, wear whatever you want! Let go and let that concept in - it's an incredibly freeing feeling that those Mormons wi
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Wow - that is the best description of the church I've read yet. What a great analogy - if only TBMs could wake up to the destruction that's being done to their spirits as you did with the alcohol, just imagine! Great post!
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I just finished reading applesauce's story - I began it yesterday (at work) and read every word. I don't know what the reference is to Kirby or who he is but I don't think that matters. Thank you Eric for posting this and thank you applesauce for writing it. I see so much of myself in your story and felt many of the same feelings you did when you left the church. Your story is so poignant and hea
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Because they don't know how to say no - it's fear of eternal damnation!!
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OMG - I didn't realize they can't even wear capri pants or flip-flops on campus - how odd is that??? What's wrong with capri pants? Oh - gasp!! - someone might see your .... ANKLES??? And flip-flops? What do those YBU students wear on their feet in the summertime? Socks and hiking boots?? So totally ridiculous
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I feel exactly as you do Mistyblue. My children and I left the church 10 years ago after finding out just how fake it all was. I was utterly devastated too. I'd served a mission, married in the temple, held every calling, never missed paying tithing. It felt like my whole world was suddenly a lie. It took me a long, long time to come out of that. I don't believe in anything anymore. I'm too afrai
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Tell that .. um .. friend of your brother's, it's vodka, maple liqueur, maple syrup (but of course!) and dry vermouth - 2 oz, 2 oz, 1 oz, 1 oz. Shaken, not stirred, and poured over ice, then garnished with just a drizzle more maple syrup -mmmmmmmmm - lip-smacking good!
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Here in the great state of Vermont, I'll be drinking a Maple Martini as soon as the next 12 minutes go by, I run to my car and drive 5 miles home. I won't be able to make that drink fast enough - what a week!!
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We don't have DI in the east. I took all my temple clothes and garments to my local dump on Hazardous Waste Day. Seemed appropriate.
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Black leggings go with just about anything - and honestly the skirt length doesn't really matter when you've got leggings on. I LOVE the Star Wars theme on the right - can't quite tell what the left one is. Then again, modcloth is one of my favorite sites!
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I'm so sorry to hear about your troubles Eric. I've been on and off the board for several years but lately have been coming here more often and finding such comfort in the posts. It's got to be a difficult job in itself keeping track of every thread and reply and making sure things are what they should be. I hope your daughter's okay and as someone said above, you deserve to be tired and cran
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I joined the church when I was 20, against my father's wishes but with my mom's approval. I was a totally gung-ho golden convert, ready to change the world. About a year after I joined I met a young man through a newspaper personal ad (the way it used to be done) on a dare from my best friend. The young man had mentioned he was a Christian and my girlfriend thought maybe he just didn't want to st
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and how in the world did we not ever think that was weird???
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I would have thought that all the sexual abuse within the church and all the millions they've paid out to the victims of that abuse would make them see the light. Let priests be normal men and maybe the sexual frustration would resolve itself normally instead of taking it out on innocent victims who carry the burden the rest of their lives. Just my two cents.
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They delay getting there until the last minute because they don't want to be asked to give a prayer or a talk or pass the sacrament! At least that's how it was here in our small New England branch. I HATED Sunday mornings - getting 4 kids ready all by myself because my ex always had to be at church early for one reason or another so I was left fighting to get everybody up, fed, dressed, out t
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Mhm - this is quite telling: It could be that the coping mechanism is found at the pharmacy. Mormon Utah has the highest rate of antidepressant use in the United States, twice the national average.
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You probably had a lot more fun in Samoa than I did in France, be grateful! At least you had warmth and the ocean, winter in France is not fun, especially riding a bike. I had French from second grade all through high school, took two years in college, took the aptitude test and lo and behold, got called to France. However, my best friend, who took the aptitude test with me and had studied German
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Wow Baura, thanks for that. I joined the church in 1979, got my mission call in 1981 and honestly truly until this very moment believed that the 12 sat around a table with the first presidency once a week, read off the submitted names and the president called out the mission and signed the mission call. That's what I was told and I've always believed it - I'm totally in a state of shock right now
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So is a Second Anointing the same thing as having your calling and election made sure? I remember hearing that term but having not a clue what it meant ...
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Unfortunately I was stupid enough to be converted at 20 years of age - took it all, hook, line and sinker from those handsome elders. When I went on my mission to France two years later, we were having lunch with a family who'd been in the teaching pool for way too long. The father said to me that his only problem with the church was that you had to pay to go to the temple (an image of the cash r
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Is that really true? Don't those TBMs who buy the Keurigs and visit the coffee shops have to answer questions about the WoW before they can get a temple recommend? Oh wait - right, they just lie about it - how could I forget?
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We didn't have a car, we rode bikes. I hated knocking on doors - HATED it. We'd bike about 7 miles out to where there were big buildings and then spend the day going door to door, eating lunch in the stairwells unless someone chased us out. As much as I hated teaching the discussions, it was always a nice break from knocking on doors, especially when my companion would do her best to make it last
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Schwinggggggg!!!
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Yep, just one more thing for them to use their "holier than thou" attitude. I always want to yell - "Hey everybody - these people are all wearing the same underwear!!"
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My oldest daughter is gay and it's what ultimately led us all out of the church. She and her sister had stopped attending and I wasn't forcing the issue. Their YW secretary came up to me one day after Sacrament Meeting and told me how much she missed both my girls and I told her that they just didn't feel comfortable attending any longer with my oldest being gay. She replied "I know, but it'
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I agree with both replies - it's all about the DRAMA with your SIL and she's definitely trying to stir it up with you. I think I'd follow sunnynomo's suggestion and just keep it short and to the point. Unfortunately Facebook is a way for people to be so incredibly passive aggressive that it just makes me crazy - don't play into it!!
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And don't forget the cash registers in the temple - that was my first big clue that something just wasn't quite right there. But still, I believed. I honestly believed that the prophet spoke regularly with Jesus and that he probably also made appearances when the twelve were all together. Not sure when I started thinking maybe they really DIDN'T see Jesus on a regular basis but I do know it took
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You're exactly right - no one, and I mean NO ONE - understands what it's like to leave the Mormon church unless they've actually done it. No one understands what it's like to be in the clutches of a cult unless they've experienced it. I went through some pretty dark times after I left - feeling so incredibly stupid for having let myself be caught up in the church, for having raised my children to
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Thanks for both suggestions! I hadn't even thought of Facebook although I'm on it and several of my former companions/flatmates are on there. They know I've left the church but surprisingly are still friends - maybe because we're separated by thousands of miles and they never have to risk being seen with me in public? Who knows? Anyway, I'll check around for some of the others I knew - don't know
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