Questions for Former LDS Members

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TexanKnight said:
I am very glad to be out of the Church. I cant ever see myself going back. The odd thing is, though, I never had had a bad moment in the LDS Church, till I went inactive due to my research that eventually led me to leave the Church completely. I loved being a missionary, I loved the closeness and camaraderie of the membership (something I do not get much of in the Catholic Church).

So, here are my questions.
  1. Did you serve a mission
  2. If so, did you enjoy it?
  3. Do you ever miss the LDS Church?
I just am curious if I am the only person with these feelings. I left the LDS in 1990, so I have been gone a long time, but, every now and then, I miss it.
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I was only mormon for a short time, just long enough to learn the weird stuff the missionaries don’t talk about. Mrs God, people becoming GodS and the like.
  1. No not in long enough.
  2. NA
  3. Not really.
They were an instant set of friends, as long as you conformed. I was the only one in the ward to wear a mustasche :eek:.

Went on a young adult outing to the local sand dunes, and I was the only one in shorts. Later I found out the reason, everyone was hiding their “garments”. I had never been told about garments and endowments.

Frankly the mormons frightened me and I fled back to the CC.
 
  1. Yes, Taiwan Taipei Mission 1977 - 1979.
  2. In general I did not enjoy it, though it was a very formative experience for me. It had some good moments, though. Looking back, I can see that it was the beginning of the end for me.
  3. I never miss the LDS church. I did not enjoy being a Mormon. The people and the culture really creeped me out. It was all very controlling and cultish, and the cog-dis was killing me. Add that to the fact that it is all built on the lies of a con man and I am amazed that it took me 11 years to get out. Every time I drive past an LDS chapel I smile and say a little prayer of thanks to the Holy Spirit for rescuing me.
Paul (formerly LDS, now happily Catholic)
 
Nevadaborn. I am just curious how you deal with being a family of two different faiths. I am married and my husband is staying LDS, while I am coming into the Catholic church this Easter Vigil. Any advice is welcomed.
 
nevadaborn,

I am familiar with the LDS at the Dominican Republic. A friend of my mother was the lead architect that designed and help construct the Huge LDS Temple in the downtown part of the City close to the National Music Conservatory. When I used to live in the DR, I would always drive by it. It is almost in the heart of downtown Santo Domingo. It is so huge.

I remember I spent parts of my life educating poor children. I taught arithmetic in poor neighborhoods, basically slums. I did this as part of my Catholic formation in a Christian high school. I was 15 at the time. I remember I would always see the mormon missionaries in their bicycles going around.

You know, it is never too late to ask for forgiveness to your fellow brothers and daughters. Trust God that He will lead you. If it must be done, it will be done.

TexanKnight,

Why don’t you start a Bible study group? You can ask the Priest to post it on the bulletin. God may be calling you to serve Him even stronger as a teacher. After all, your experience as a missionary should help you now to talk about the TRUE GOD, and not the mormon god.
 
nevadaborn and countrygrl,

Last year when I came into the Church, I was a little brokenhearted about hurting my family with my conversion. A close friend of mine, when I talked about it, said “SpeSalvi, one of these days they will be THANKING you for bringing them to the Faith!”. It helped me realize that although my conversion to the Catholic Church would initially hurt and disappoint them, it may possibly help THEM break away from Mormonism one of these days as well. What I was doing for myself WILL help my family in the long run.

As to the logistics of handing a mixed-religion family, my husband and I did that for the first 3 1/2 years of our marriage before I converted. The only real solution we found was to only keep to the “surface” subjects when we talked religion; debating didn’t help much and only frustrated the two of us. Your spouses may not be interested, but try to gently encourage them to go to RCIA just to learn about the basics of the Catholic Church. Not to be converted, just to learn what you’re leaving the LDS church for. Even if I as an LDS member didn’t end up converting to Catholicism, RCIA would have been a very helpful experience as it helped me understand where my husband was coming from on religious subjects.
 
Countrygrl said:
Nevadaborn. I am just curious how you deal with being a family of two different faiths. I am married and my husband is staying LDS, while I am coming into the Catholic church this Easter Vigil. Any advice is welcomed.
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Well, I personally have made a lot of mistakes and misjudgments during my conversion process. I wish I could go back and do things differently. In particular I wish I would have been less argumentative and more understanding of my wife’s fears and concerns. A book that I found helpful was ‘When Only One Converts” by Lynn Nordhagen. It has a lot of personal accounts of situations when only one spouse converts to Catholicism.

My own advice would include the following.
  1. Don’t argue! Heated arguments aren’t usually going to convince anyone. They will however generate resentment, anger, and create more distance between you and your family. If family members want to calmly discuss why you left Mormonism and converted to Catholicism, that is fine. Even then, don’t let the tone of the conversation get out of hand. Let them know above all that you are doing this because you love God and believe that God wants you to become Catholic. It’s not a repudiation of your love and commitment for your family.
  2. Know your faith. Mormons, like many others, usually have a lot of misconceptions about the Catholic faith and Catholic history. You may be the primary source of information for your family about the Catholic Church. There is a lot of good material on this website and many good books out there as well that can help. If you ever don’t have an answer on hand for some question or if you are having difficulty justifying some aspect of Catholicism, don’t let that create any doubt. There are almost always answers to your questions and remember that the weight of both evidence and reason is firmly on the Catholic side.
  3. Live your faith. At the end of the day you living out your faith as a disciple of Christ will probably have the most influence over your family. Focusing on your own relationship with the Lord will help you deal with your own struggles as the only Catholic in your home and will allow God to use you most effectively to bring souls to him. Perhaps living with non-Catholics is the cross we are called on to bear. Not a cross of our choosing, but what cross ever is? Even Jesus asked his Father if the cup could pass from him, but we need to say with him “not as I will, but as thou wilt”. Bear it with love for the Lord and for your family.
  4. Pray continually for them and don’t ever give up hope. This is one I really try to work on. Its easy for me to get discouraged with my situation. Hand your concerns over to God and entrust your family to him. He is always faithful to us, and he loves our families even more than we do. I find that praying regularly for the conversion of my family ends up making me more patient, kind, and at peace. Ultimately conversion is done by God, not us.
  5. [This one is not directed at the Mormon posters on this site and is not meant to be offensive. In any case, I am old enough to remember what church the LDS regularly identified as the ‘great and abominable church of the devil.] To the extent possible remove Mormon influences from your life. Although God can always draw good out of evil and use Mormonism for His own good ends, it is a false religion started by a false prophet. I really believe that Satan lies at its origin. Now don’t say this to your LDS family members, it will only cause strife. But you yourself should limit Mormonism’s influence over your own life. I myself choose not to attend Sunday services regularly with my family. Maybe that could change if they were willing to attend Mass with me. I also avoid LDS reading material. I’ve spent enough time already reading LDS books and apologetics. If you are endowed I assume you have already got rid of your temple garments. You should have already received some minor exorcisms during the RCIA process in the ceremonies at the Mass. During your baptism you will formally renounce Satan and all of his works. I truly believe that in my case this renunciation (along with baptism) will finally and completely sever all the covenants I made with the Mormon church in the temple. Maybe it sounds superstitious, but I believe that going through the endowment ceremony, temple marriage, and wearing LDS garments to some degree bound me to the devil.
God bless and God willing we will both become members of the Body of Christ this Saturday. :signofcross:
 
Patavium said:
nevadaborn,

I am familiar with the LDS at the Dominican Republic. A friend of my mother was the lead architect that designed and help construct the Huge LDS Temple in the downtown part of the City close to the National Music Conservatory. When I used to live in the DR, I would always drive by it. It is almost in the heart of downtown Santo Domingo. It is so huge.

I remember I spent parts of my life educating poor children. I taught arithmetic in poor neighborhoods, basically slums. I did this as part of my Catholic formation in a Christian high school. I was 15 at the time. I remember I would always see the mormon missionaries in their bicycles going around.

You know, it is never too late to ask for forgiveness to your fellow brothers and daughters. Trust God that He will lead you. If it must be done, it will be done.
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I was there before the temple was built. I haven’t had the opportunity to visit the country again since my mission. Maybe someday.
 
1.No.
2.N/A
3. While I dont miss being a Mormon, there are times I do miss being RLDS. I had good times, and met wonderful people.
 
Thanks for the advice everyone! And I will check out that book you suggested nevadaborn.
 
This is probably the BEST advice I’ve ever seen nevadaborn. Thank you

Steph
 
TexanKnight said:
The Catholic Church, for all it’s wonderfullness, has never given me the feeling of camaraderie. We go to mass and go home. No Sunday School, no socializing.
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Might I suggest you find a new parish home?..or better yet, suggest social gatherings in your current one if there actually aren’t any? (Perhaps they exist and you haven’t heard about them?) While I don’t know your parish, I am confident in saying it’s very much in the minority if there is literally no socializing. I have fond memories from the time I was a toddler and ever since of gathering with fellow parishoners; for coffee and doughnuts in the hall following Mass, for picnics in the summer, Catechism classes, Bible study, meetings regarding numerous service/charity projects…to name a FEW.

I’ve attended and/or been a member of more parishes than I can count by now, and I have NEVER been to one that had not one social group.
 
TexanKnight said:
  1. Did you serve a mission
  2. If so, did you enjoy it?
  3. Do you ever miss the LDS Church?
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  1. No, was contemplating if I should go or not when it became suddenly clear(like a burning in the bossom) that if I didn’t go on a mission, I wouldn’t marry molly mormon, get sealed in the temple, wouldn’t attain the highest degrees of glory and therefore doomed to be a second class mormon. So much for free will choice.
  2. NA
  3. Nope, nothing compares to receiving Christ’s Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity entirely. As well as hearing the Priest say “Through the Authority vested in me through God’s Holy Church, I absolve you from your sins.”
 
RebeccaJ said:
nevadaborn…just wondering how the Easter Vigil went 🙂
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The Easter Vigil, baptism, confirmation, and the Eucharist were all wonderful. The grace of baptism indeed! I’m finally home, thanks be to God. :signofcross:

btw – I changed my username to include my confirmation name Irenaeus

St. Irenaeus, great defender of the catholic faith against all heresies, pray for us
 
nevadairenaeus said:
The Easter Vigil, baptism, confirmation, and the Eucharist were all wonderful. The grace of baptism indeed! I’m finally home, thanks be to God. :signofcross:

btw – I changed my username to include my confirmation name Irenaeus

St. Irenaeus, great defender of the catholic faith against all heresies, pray for us
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Praise be to God!!!
 
nevadairenaeus said:
The Easter Vigil, baptism, confirmation, and the Eucharist were all wonderful. The grace of baptism indeed! I’m finally home, thanks be to God. :signofcross:

btw – I changed my username to include my confirmation name Irenaeus

St. Irenaeus, great defender of the catholic faith against all heresies, pray for us
Click to expand...
w000t! Welcome home!! 👍
 
Welcome home!

Not to bash the LDS church, but has anyone else noticed how much more powerful the Eucharist is vs. taking the sacrament in the LDS church? I remember being SO surprised when I came into the church and partook of The Holy Eucharist for the first time… Such an amazing, powerful experience. I had never experienced anything like that before and it was, to this day, one of the most beautiful moments of my life 🙂

Had I known the difference between the two, I would have been a Catholic much earlier on I think!
 
nevadairenaeus said:
The Easter Vigil, baptism, confirmation, and the Eucharist were all wonderful. The grace of baptism indeed! I’m finally home, thanks be to God. :signofcross:

btw – I changed my username to include my confirmation name Irenaeus

St. Irenaeus, great defender of the catholic faith against all heresies, pray for us
Click to expand...
Then a Happy Easter has begun. 🙂 Welcome home.
 
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