As a child I had a problem with pornography and masturbation. It started when I was 10 and I hid it until I was 16 years old. At 16 – after feeling super guilty at EFY – I finally decided to go see my bishop. I had done my research – or I thought I…
I grew up in a strong LDS family. My parents never talked to me much about sex and I took every teaching from the church as “the only way” to live. As a teenager and young adult, I felt a lot of shame about masturbation but was too ashamed to even talk to a Bishop…
I can’t sit here silently any longer. My silence to the issue of sexual assault and molestation would just condone this behavior. My story is different then most. It was around my 19th birthday in 1998. At the time, life seemed to really be coming together. My mother had remarried, I was in my last…
At the beginning of high school, I hung out with childhood friends that were misguided. I honestly was trying to bring them back to the church. I was overweight and was gaining more weight. I was called into The Bishop’s office where I was accused of being pregnant. I had never even held hands with…
I was an active, worthy, temple recommend carrying young adult woman of 19. I met a returned missionary at a dance club, gave him my number, then met him for lunch. We really hit it off. I liked him a lot. We had agreed to meet again, this time at his house to watch a…
On the outside and even in everyday interactions, I’m just a regular person. While I’ve fallen in and out of activity, I’ve never spoken out against the church and I’ve only shared my story of abuse with very few close people. Internally I fight a raging battle as to where I stand with my faith…
I served as a full time missionary for the church. After my mission I soon afterward married an incredibly faithful and loving fellow stake member. I had known her before my mission. She had waited for me. We married in the temple. My life has been deeply influenced by my private closed door so-called worthiness…
I don’t know if this one counts. Maybe it’s not a big deal, but it changed my life. I was 17 years old, oh gosh where do I start… I guess we should start with my young women’s president, and the lessons she taught me when I was 16. I was taught that I would…
When I was 15 I went to youth conference that was a pioneer trek, it was awesome. While we were camping a boy in my group asked me to crawl in his sleeping bag with him, I said no. The next Sunday I was called into the bishop’s office and told he heard a rumor…
I was a recently baptized teenage convert, unfamiliar with the ways of the church. Invited to a Thursday youth activity night at my ward building, I was asked to meet with a man in the building I didn’t know. I would find out the man I was meeting with served on my stake’s high council.…