I just found out that not only was I not invited to my younger brother’s Mormon mission talk, but that my ** was there. (The talk is culturally about as important in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as a Bar or Bat Mitzvah is in Judaism. And I care about my brother and what he does. I also went to my sister’s talk even I no longer affiliated with the church. The same goes for others who have the same approach with the church regarding their loved ones.)

My ** left me just three days after I renounced LDS Mormonism to ***, according to court documents.

Need I say more?

Boy does The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints mind-control its members to revel in that sliver.

Mormons — or, excuse me, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, are you still here? — hate being told that they are being mind-controlled, but I’m not sure how else this is anything but mind control.

Otherwise, it would leave nothing but a purely sinister act (not from him), meant to attempt to drive someone to want to be off the face of the earth.

A lifetime of being immersed in this alternative-reality culture has taught me that they are intent on proving that they are not mind-controlled.

However, I am either wrong nonetheless, or they cannot escape it.

(Though it can be done. I have and so have many others.)

Then, he left me a voicemail, immediately before he was going to the church’s Missionary Training Center that in attendance was an uncle whose abuse of his former wife left her in the same domestic abuse shelter I had to go to after being abused by my parents. (Another uncle was there, too.)

I do not think that the invitations came from him. But to not invite his own brother that has communicated an inordinate amount with him?

I was blown away.

He told me he didn’t think I would come. Even if he didn’t consider that I would support him because I love him, I am still surprised I wasn’t invited.

Then, to learn that my ** was there?

While I wish my brother had told me about it, I think that someone else invited my **.

And, he didn’t tell me that my ** was at his talk.

Even if you no longer affiliate with the church but enjoy sociality with family and friends as before, you can still find social settings organized by the Utah Valley PostMormons. There, you can find your people. And of course, if you don’t enjoy those relationships like before, the many UVPM events that happen each week can be even life-saving.

Led by wonderful people like Kirsten Barksdale and Larissa Norman, UVPM is also for folks who just are struggling with it or are “never Mormons” seeking a break from the predominant culture. Find their events on Facebook and Meetup.

— -

For more articles like this, please support The Seer Stone at the Hero’s Journey Content Patreon page.