As a child I never had religion in the home, my parents were never interested in anything to do with religion. Between the ages of 10 & 11 I attended Sunday school at a local church, but the gospel wasn't preached there. I found the church very boring, I had asked the Pastor how I could know God and was told "you're too young to worry about that." By the time I was twelve I decided the church was dead. In my early teens my parents and I moved to Birmingham, England. During that time I remember feeling that there must be more to life, the neighborhood where I lived was particularly rough and many of my peers were getting involved in drugs, crime, promiscuity, etc.

Whilst at secondary school I undertook a project on child development, on religious faiths and how different religions bring up their children. I lived a few minutes walk away from the headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I walked into that office; little did I know how that visit would change my life. Anyway to cut a very long story short I left my name and address there. Two young missionaries knocked on my door one afternoon. I was invited to a series of meetings at my neighbor's house. Before long I was attending the LDS church, and the red carpet treatment was laid on, although I would like to point out that the people were genuine. I received my testimony that Joseph Smith the founder was a prophet and that God had restored Christianity through him. I loved the then Prophet and believed that the LDS church was the only true religion on the earth and withdrew from all my gentile (non- Mormon) friends.

I was baptized into the Church on my 16th birthday in 1988. The people were kind and friendly but I was unaware that I had lost the ability to think for myself. I never questioned the doctrines of the Church. For the first two years I was extremely happy. When I reached eighteen things started to change. I felt uncomfortable with the way that women were treated, men 'lording' their authority over women. Women were expected to be wives and Mothers, which is an important role but women who went out to work were frowned upon. I can remember the then prophet Ezra Taft Benson giving a speech about women who had careers were neglecting their children. I also started to question in my mind the doctrine of baptism of the dead; Mormons believe that everyone has a second chance of receiving salvation. Mormons spend a fortune on tracing their dead relatives in order to be baptized on their behalf.

The end of the road for my membership finally came about through a work colleague who was educated in Mormonism, he was also a born again Christian. He went about telling me about the flaws in Mormonism. He told me that to be a Mormon I had to be a racist, as Mormonism believes that black people are inferior to white, and until 1978 they were not allowed to hold the Priesthood. I asked my stake president¹, if this was true (I expected him to deny it), he said that it was true, the Church had taught this doctrine, and I was completely shocked. I finally decided to leave after watching a television documentary, about Mormonism. The program highlighted that Mormonism was not of God, that the Book of Mormon was a fraud; The Temple ceremonies are occultic and that Joseph Smith was a liar an adulterer and basically was a false prophet. The program also highlighted the Mountain Meadow massacre and the polygamy that had gone on.

After watching the program I phoned my Bishop and told him to remove my name from membership. My request was denied I had to threaten the Church with legal action, to have my name removed. They visited me for some time to try to persuade me to return. They eventually stopped visiting when I moved to another house, (although I did not move for that purpose). Although I had left the Church and had no intention of returning, I believed that all other churches were in total error. I tried to attend several churches and also studied other cult religions (i.e. Jehovah's Witnesses, Hare Krishna, Islam, Spiritualism and Unitarians), but these held no interest to me. Something would prevent me from going any further. For four years I had no affiliation with any religion. I often refer to this as my wilderness stage. I was aware that I still had a great void in my life that needed to be filled; I was unaware of how to fill it. I tried everything (an unsuccessfully I might add).

Then five years ago, in March of 1996, I was walking round the estate where I lived; I heard music coming from a church and went in and sat down without even thinking about it. At first I felt a little uncomfortable about being in the church, after a short while the pastor got up and said, if you don't have Jesus as Lord and Savior when you die your going to hell. The whole thing was very moving, basically the gospel was presented; finally it all hit me that Jesus had died for me and my sins. For many years I believed Christianity to be complicated. I tried to understand the Trinity and how we could be saved by grace not works. That evening was a particularly emotional time for me I really felt God's love and presence. I committed my life to the Lord that night and I can honestly say that my life has never been the same.

God has done so much for me. Before I was saved I always felt dirty, to say that I hated myself is an understatement, to feel clean and worthy in God's sight is wonderful. I was also full of phobia's fear of train lines, fear of death, fear of matches. Jesus has completely set me free. The god of Mormonism was never satisfied with what I did, I could never do enough, but that is not what life is meant to be like, we can never earn God's love. Jesus has paid for our sins in full. I now feel that God is calling me to reach out to those who have been deceived. My Husband and I run a ministry here in U.K. called Ex Mormons For Christ. Mormons are not deceivers they have been deceived themselves, they are decent good kind people and I still love them very much; but Mormonism is a second hand religion; there is no relationship with God

If you have been involved in the Mormon Church in any way I urge you to investigate what I am saying. If you have any questions please contact me at the following address. I will respect your confidentiality and will not be pushy, as I know how difficult such a move would be for you. Your eternal destiny is a stake; don't waste your life following a false prophet as you only get one shot. Make the right choice follow the real Jesus today!

1) The Mormon Church is divided up into Stakes in a region this would be the equivalent of an Anglican Diocese and then the stake would be divided up into wards equivalent of a parish. The stake President is the equivalent of an Anglican bishop and the bishop is the equivalent of the local pastor.