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Hi everyone, I’ve been on the StayLDS forums since 2018. I recently logged into that site for the first time in a while, and found out that it’s being migrated here. It’s been quite the long faith journey for me. I’m not going to write it all here, but feel free to look at some of my past posts to get an idea of what my path has been like.
When I first joined the forum, I was a student at BYU starting to question my beliefs. I was struggling with severe depression that was the result of my traumatic experience serving as a missionary. I’m much better now and I would even consider myself relatively happy these days. Though I still have LDS friends and family, I’ve distanced myself from the church and haven’t been back since 2022.
And yet, the journey continues. I recently made plans to visit the country where I served my mission, which has caused me to engage in some reflection of my experiences over the last decade or so. I’m hoping this trip will help me process and finally make peace with some of the memories that I’ve been carrying all these years.
Good to meet you, Arrakeen. The only reason I can think of for someone to use that screen name is that they are at least fond of (or vaguely familiar with) Dune, which is one of my favorite series. I, too, hope your trip back into the old mission grounds goes well. It can be a challenge, especially when the original experience wasn’t all sunshine and roses. Wishing more of the closure you are hoping for and less being retraumatized.
Hello Arrakeen. You knew me as Roy at StayLDS.
I, too, am happy to hear of your progress. My family has not been attending the LDS church for about a year. We have tested more extended visits to some of the other Christian churches that we have enjoyed in the past and we have found one that we mostly enjoy. It helps me greatly that I don’t feel obligation to believe everything that the Pastor says. I can go for socialization, for the experience, for community support, and to enjoy general messages about Christ’s love and sacrifice, and nobody interrogates me about my beliefs.
The LDS church, in contrast, is recently contacting my wife to get her TR renewed and we have had discussion on whether she should go in and be honest or just make up excuses on why she cannot go.
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