Quick update because we are on "vacation" and heading to the Bay Islands today.

Thanks to all for the kind words. It has been a crazy couple of days. To answer some questions, yes I used Google translate to translate the article. My FIL has great English but the other members that were there do not speak English. I would rather not share information about where they live etc. This has been a very troubling couple of days for our family.

I was tempted in the beginning to go for the kill right away, because they seemed vulnerable. I chose to listen and answer questions. My in-laws are great people trapped in a cult, I want to help them out. We are taking it slow.

Best news: My wife wants out and wants our kids out!

My MIL just cries, sad to see. My FIL read all the essays. He is lost, his whole word has been shaken. He did apologize to me and cried about his past behavior.
He told me that he will be released soon as a SP because his time is up. He worries now because he has been told he would be a MP or in the temple presidency.

I showed him the CES letter and he plans on reading it. He asked me for everything I have, everything. He wants to study it and learn more.

I do want share a quote from him "Anon is CA, I love you and will never understand how you put up with me bullying and belittling you. You had the winning hand but never insulted or disrespected me. You are the better man. My life will never be the same, we are not a "special" people, we were deceived and I personally deceived 1000's of people."

I know he will leave the church, he is a good honest man. He is coming with us to Roatan and church is not on the schedule so it should be a fun weekend.

This may not be be what some were hoping for but it is a huge step, and a day I have only dreamed about.

Thanks to the anonymous writers of opinions, well done.

Amazing! Truly Amazing! Thank you for allowing all of us to join you on this ride.

Wow amazing story, thanks for the update.

I have to believe your FIL is representative of the vast majority of international members, who wouldn't be a part of intentional lying and dissembling for anything.

I have spoken before about the potential (much like the Scientology meltdown some years back) for a threshold event to produce a cascade effect in the morg. This may only be in a certain area perhaps, but I think this story portends such a potential -- which could spread elsewhere too.

Thanks for the update!

To use an already overused word: a-w-e-s-o-m-e!

Best wishes to you and your family!

Great news!! Best of luck to you...

Thanks so much, great news for your family, and I hope for all Honduran church members. I hope the other leaders will follow your FIL, and all the members will study the facts and leave too.

You sound like an incredible son-in-law (from one güero to another).

;)

Mormonism may have been started by a lecherous lying conman, but it attracted and raised good people, like yourself and your in-laws.

I feel so bad for those who had the truth burst upon them in those news articles, like a tornado, tearing up their lives and belief systems. Give your in-laws a loving hug from me.

Somewhere, both in SLC and Honduras, there are TBMs who are shitting their garments... Would you want to be the TBM who came here to spy for the lord, expecting trivial items, only to be hit with this? Who is going to forward the first and now this second post to the Big 15?

What about the others who were present when you translated the Essays to them, including bishops? Any news about any of them?

Please, please keep us posted, Anon in CA. I want this to be the Swedish Rescue on steroids times a big number, like, say, 15?

Great job Anon in CA...Sounds like they're on their way out!

Keep up the good job!

It would feel wonderful to have friends, family and neighbors who have judged us or withdrawn from us to finally recognize the truth and fully accept us.

Don't give me too much hope!

Congratualations! I'm sure someone will try to intervene on his behalf, a 70 or someone. But you guys hang tough!

When your FIL come out, I hope he takes a stake full of people with him.

Same here. Not sure how strong TSCC is in Honduras, but just a few leaders leaving in some of the areas I was in in Brazil would have completely destroyed the church. There were "wards" that only had one active priesthood holder. The stake in the largest city in my mission was mostly run by one family...SP and multiple bishops were brothers. There were very few active men. That one family leaving would have destroyed the church in the city...wards would have to be downgraded to branches to be presided over by the missionaries.

For a while I thought your story was possibly BS though plausible, especially due to the fact that the essays haven't been translated as far as I can tell by the church into Spanish. And frankly I bet you care less about what others think on this website and elsewhere than what is really going on in your family.

You know very well what to do. Just be a strong, kind, gentle sounding board for your wife and her family. They will survive this crisis just as the rest of us have survived.

I recently got to meet with the mayors of those towns, including Roatán, and the member of the Honduran Congress for the Bay Islands at a special event in Dallas. Somewhere on my Facebook my girlfriend posted pics of us with these men. It sounds like a fun collection of resorts there and I hope you enjoy it.

I was a missionary in the Tegucigalpa mission. I though that Honduran leaders at the level of mission president at least had a fairly good knowledge of matters such as polygamy. Then again, I thought that a lot of them were in the church for the material benefits.

Thank you for taking time out of your vacation to share this with us. I'm sure this is a vacation you will not forget. And isn't it great that you are able to witness it as it happens. I'm so excited for this stake.

Family first. Well done, be there for them. Been there, excruciating

Great news for you and your wife and kids! And the in-laws. I would recommend sharing the story of Hans Mattheson with him. He needs to know that people in the international church esp. have been deceived, esp since most critical scholarship is only available in English. He should also know that many people have risen very high in the church honestly believing what they were taught, but had the courage to step away when they learned the truth!

Thank you "anon in CA" for sharing these experiences. I admire your compassion and integrity and the integrity of your wife and father-in-law. I wish you all the very best in this transition. I hope we'll hear more from you in the future.

It's wonderful to hear of so many people waking up from being in the fog of Mormonism. Finding that there is actually a world outside of religion, a real world that is so beautiful.

I echo the wish that your FIL, being a respected and well-loved leader, can influence many in his sphere to leave and come out of their zombie-like state. The church doesn't deserve such good people, and people don't deserve to be psychologically damaged by the church.

Thanks for sharing this. This is amazing. Your FIL sounds like a true victim as we all are.

Might I make a recommendation? Just as the church tries to inoculate members against the truth I'd recommend inoculating him against whatever the general authorities are going to tell him. They're going to go after him hard. He represents a lot of people.

Things like this put the lie to the church's claim that it never hid information.

Thank you for the update. I know from personal experience how heartbreaking this is for your in-laws. You have handled it very well, and your FIL is a good man for immediately recognizing, even in his own pain, the pain that he caused you over the years.

There is hope for the family that leaves TMC. There is a future for those that gain sight of this reality.

What a great FIL! He has chose to seek "The rest of the Story" instead of putting up a baseless defense of the issues.

It would be nice if your FIL would agree, to write up a follow up to the New York Times article that show the after effects this information has had on the Lay leadership such as your father.

His story would put into real terms for "the World" how the Polygamy Essays are not known to the LDS masses and how if the masses had known up front they would likely not have become members in the first place nor would they have treated their families like bastard children because the church vilified anyone who learned these facts on their own who then proceeded to inform their loved ones.


Give that man a big hug from all us apostates. Tell him we wish we had fathers who had such integrity.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/19/2014 12:04PM by AmIDarkNow?.