Hey, welcome to not Somali Mormon podcast. Today I have a minisode for you, obviously. You know that you saw the title. This one comes from Hunter. Thank you, Hunter, for writing in. He says, hello fellow ex-Mormons. My name is Hunter. I'm 27 and live in Studio City, California. I just finished listening to the devilish

distortions episode of y'all's amazing podcast. I have never heard two ex-Mormons speak about what I have

been feeling for so long, and it was the most satisfying podcast listen I've experienced.

Okay, I have to pause there. Oh my gosh. Thank you.

That means the world to us. I'm honestly blushing. You know, it's just crazy to hear that. And it's so

kind of you when you guys ride in and you tell us these beautiful things. So thank you.

He goes on. I was raised Mormon. My parents and extended family are all active except for my siblings. Thank God. Our family tree basically

dates back to the beginning of the LDS Church. For myself, I'm pretty far along in my ex-Mormon journey. Not that it ever

stops really, and it's been within the past two or three years I felt very comfortable with

where I'm at. I think everyone that leaves goes through different stages. For me, it was feeling

judged, then anger, then questioning my decisions, then praying, then back to being angry,

etc. So I'm going to pause here because I totally relate, Hunter. For me, I think it was very

similar to what you described. I was really feeling judged. I was extremely

confused and conflicted about what I believed, what the church told me was true, and what I thought was

morally right. And then I had a stage of rebellion which included anger and I was that you know

super angry kind of anti-Mormon for a bit although it wasn't super public because I grew up in

Utah County and I couldn't really do it much many places

besides the internet but anyway then I went through a phase where I thought that I was so

confused and so angry because perhaps Satan had misled me and I needed to pray more and that I was the problem.

And I thought, oh, I might need to go back to church.

Luckily, that didn't stick for more than a week or two.

But I remember feeling it intensely.

...