I was 12. I lived in an all American Ward (My Dad was stationed in Germany in the US ARMY), they just built the Frankfurt Temple. I was so excited to do baptisms for the dead to make my Grandma in Utah so proud of me. I was interviewed by our Stake President for Temple Worthiness and they had one little girl after another go into his office. Back to back appointments. It was my turn! I was ready. I went into the office alone.
I was wearing my floral dress with tights and flat shoes. My feet still could not touch the floor. I remember he was wearing a dark suit and had a deep voice. He had a paper weight on the desk. A boat in a bottle. I kept touching the boat in a bottle. The Stake President…asked me questions. Do you have a testimony? Do you pay tithing? Do you obey your parents? Then he asked “Do you masturbate?” I didn’t know what he was talking about? I never heard of that word?
I liked to go fishing with my Grandpa…so maybe he meant fishing? I knew that I could bait a hook. Masturbate and bait. It seemed logical to me. I fumbled around ready to end my interview because I was hungry from fasting all day. I responded with “I think I masturbate pretty well, I go fishing”,
I remember his eyebrows raised and he told me to stop fumbling and playing with the items on his desk. He then went into step by step on how to masturbate with me. He told me about my vagina and asked me if I had inserted my fingers or any object into my vagina. I remember feeling really awful. It hurt me for several more years to come. I was told by a therapist that this was sexual abuse the way he talked to me about my vagina and breasts. I have many more stories about Bishop interviews as an Adult….. but it started as a young child. I have since exited the Church on my own.