Both my father and mother were born and raised in the LDS faith. My father spent his entire teenage years being pressured into going on his mission and “serving the Lord” for two years. Making his parents happy he turned in his papers, while waiting for his call, he met my mother. My mom grew up raising her own siblings due to the fact my grandfather was working and grandma was constantly sick and asleep 24/7, she became very tied down and needed a way out. My dad then decided he did not want to go on his mission and was immediately kicked out of his house for that reason. My parents considered marriage a way out of this constant controlling life they were living and did exactly that. My mother became pregnant with my brother and soon moved out of Utah with my dad to Arizona. Even though my dad refused to go to church, my mom took myself and two older brothers to church every Sunday. The marriage began to fail when I (third child) was born. It started when my father continually cheated on my mom; she would give in to his lies and would stayed with him. Five years and 2 more siblings later, my dad was still cheating on my mom. She finally decided to divorce him. The church members constantly kept telling her not to divorce him and to pray for him because a wife is supposed to stand by her husband. My mom did not listen and filed for divorce. After that was finalized she decided with all the family we had in Utah, she would pack all of our stuff and bring us five kids there, by herself. We got a good stable basement home and started our life as a family again; my mom was ready to move on without letting her children down. She began to take us to church again and we quickly got into that routine. After about a month of getting comfortable in the church, the bishop pulled my mom aside and explained to her that the church was a charity and that it was not a singles ward for my mother. After that conversation my mom soon stopped us from going and we have not been back since. All she wanted was to start a new life over after a very troubling divorce. I’m a young adult now and continuing my education in college. I was raised to respect what others believe and to treat everyone as equal. I have an open mind when it comes to religion and love learning about. I am not a member of the LDS church, because I have a choice. The LDS religion does not give me a choice nor does it let me grow and learn. For some, it’s exactly what they need. As for me, I decide my life.