jl182

Im just interested and curious if any converts to the church would like to share thier stories? I'm in the process of learning about it and would just like to hear how it was for any others. How did the LDS church come into your life? What brought you to make the decision to become a member? How has it changed your life since then? How did any non LDS family members react? This is just pure curiousity if anyone would like to share I think it would be really interesting to hear!

Thank you for your answers everyone!! You are all really helpful even if you don't think you are. :) Thanks ZionWoman it does help me understand how they are feeling. To answer, no he hasn't and isn't going to go on a mission. Not any of his older brothers went either, no one in his family really has. We are not intimate and we do not live together either. We try to respect his and his family's beliefs and not do anything too much against them. Dravin, I agree with both of these things you said especially that last part about loving and staying away from anger or hate. I admit, at sometimes it's been a little difficult not to feel angry but I try to remember that they are important to me and to act out in anger toward them would be damaging to our relationship. Annatess, thank you so much for posting and telling me a little about your experience. Lots of times I've felt really alone through this and it's good to know there are people out there going through kind of similar experiences...I just want you to know I really loved what you said about favorites and stuff, it made me feel a lot better and I never thought of it that way but I agree :) You don't have to answer this but did you join the church when you guys got married?? Was your family supportive? I'm just curious cause it's just a few more things I've had do think about Anyways thanks everyone for taking the time to offer advice I really appreciate it and any more is welcome too!

Hi I am not LDS. I just really need some help and advice and I don't really have anyone else to talk to about this. My boyfriend and I have been dating for over 3 years. Him and his family are LDS and I am not. When we first started dating, we were 18 and his parents were very upset about it. When they found out I wasn't LDS, they tried to get him to end our relationship and his mom said some really hurtful things about me. They told him he would never be happy with me, that I would ruin his life, and that he would cause a rift in their family if he stayed with me. Obviously, it upset both of us very much. Things were really bad for a while after that. It hurt my feelings a lot..I just didn't expect it. I've always had mormon friends and they've usually always been very warm and welcoming even though I am not in their church, so I was startled by how hostile his parents were and I didn't know what to do. They treated us very different. My bf has a brother who had an LDS girlfriend (now his wife) and they were always very sweet and approving to them, while to us they were always harsh and cold and disapproving. His brother got far more privelages with his gf than us, and they got along very well with his girlfriend while it was hard for us to even talk.. Well, after some time I guess they realized that we weren't going to be just a highschool fling and things improved. They didn't expect my boyfriend to tell me the things they had said and they felt bad when they found out that he did. After about a year they were a lot nicer to me, had me over more and got to know me better. Now it's been 2 years and I've spent lots of time with his family, I've gone to church with them tons of times and I come over for dinner and hang out and they hug me goodbye and everything, so it's a lot better, it's just...still not the same. My bf's brother and his LDS wife are still treated very differently. I still feel bad most of the time I guess it's hard for me to forget their initial reaction. Most of the time I still feel very awkward and uncomfortable, and unwelcome at his house. I've always been very shy and most of the time I end up only talking to my Bf. It hurts because I really do love him and I love his family too, they are good people and they just wanted what they thought was best for their son and reacted too strongly I think. Even though things are better now, I still can't completely let my guard down and be myself around them. I want to be happy there, I want them to like me, and I want to be able to talk i'm just..intimidated and scared of them. I'm scared to be myself About the LDS church..I am interested in it. Of course after dating someone in the church for this long I have thought about joining. I am very open to learning about it and a lot of the things i have learned I like. I have been to LDS church LOTS of times over the years, and I am interested and open to learn more. I went to a sacrement once and the speaker touched me so much it made me cry! But I just don't think I'm in a place to convert quite yet. I am only 20 years old, and I still want to learn more before I make that choice. I just don't think I'm at that place in my life yet. I don't believe in converting JUST to get married. I would only convert if I truly believed in the church. Of course, I want to learn about it for potential marriage to my boyfriend. We do talk about marriage and we know we are going to marry each other. He's said he would marry me in or out of the church. My boyfriend would never ask me to convert and he never has pressured me or anything, and I would never ask him to leave his religion. We both accept each other how we are. But I know it would mean a lot to him if i did get sealed to him in the temple and was a church member with him. So my main question is...how can I make things better now? I may convert someday, in fact I feel I most likely will convert. But until then, or if that doesn't happen...I was just hoping someone could give me some advice. I'd love an LDS perspective on this, to maybe help me understand how they are feeling more? and what I can do to make it better? How to feel like they don't resent me Do you think I could ever fit in with them? Even if I didn't convert? I'm sorry to have written so much, hopefully someone reads this. I appreciate ANY advice at all!!