KEEPING THE CIRCLE OPEN

Jaynine Thompson was adopted as a child by her extended family, who joined the Church at about the same time. Even with knowing her adoptive parents loved her, she still struggled with feelings that she didn’t belong anywhere. The gospel and the Church have helped her know where she belongs, and she now works to […]

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MANTENIENDO EL CÍRCULO ABIERTO

Jaynine Thompson fue adoptada cuando era niña por su familia extendida, que se unió a la Iglesia aproximadamente al mismo tiempo de la adopción. Incluso sabiendo que sus padres adoptivos la amaban, ella todavía luchaba con los sentimientos de que no pertenecía a ningún lado. El Evangelio y la Iglesia la han ayudado a saber […]

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ASK THE UNIVERSE

Megan Spurlock was raised in the Church in Utah, but considers herself a convert because she did not commit to the Gospel and the Church until she was an adult. What was your experience with the Church while you were growing up? Both of my parents come from old pioneer families that crossed the plains. […]

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Trust & Happiness

Editorial Note: Tandi passed away a few months after this interview on November 28, 2020. We are honored that she entrusted us with part of her story. Our deepest sympathies go out to her family and friends.  Tandi Bronston was diagnosed with a glioblastoma brain tumor at the end of 2013, with only a 50% […]

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On My Road to Damascus

Robyn Burkinshaw is the secretary of her stake Relief Society, and a gay woman. She was raised in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and has always had a love of the Gospel. When she left the Church as a young adult and struggled deeply with depression, she felt a devastating distance between […]

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The Bottom Line of the Gospel

Listen to this interview at the Mormon Women Project podcast, available on all platforms. This interview is part of our Mixed-Faith Marriage series. Leslie Schwartz-Leeper’s parents divorced when she was very young. Her mother raised her six children by herself, and taught them that the bottom line of the gospel is love. Leslie always had a testimony, but […]

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Miraculous Ways

A job loss. A family member’s illness. A cancer diagnosis. All difficult trials, made even more difficult when they all happen at the same time. Olivia Luk and her family faced this unimaginable series of events in 2002. They met their challenges with tears, prayers, and faith—the kind of faith that Olivia had developed when she joined the Church as a young woman in Hong Kong. And she found that Heavenly Father responded to her family’s needs in unexpected ways.

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PEOPLE LIKE US DO THINGS LIKE THAT

Raquel Cook’s biography so far might read like an adventure novel—living and working in Korea, meeting the Dalai Lama and Mother Teresa, studying at Oxford University, surviving the violence of 9/11 in New York City—but she’d rather you wrote your own adventure. Now a professor of education, Raquel reflects on her unique path and how she encourages her students to get out and see the world. And she explains how her study of world religions helped her better appreciate her own Mormonism. “There is truth everywhere,” Raquel says, “and there is happiness everywhere, and there is beauty everywhere, and people are good. Ugly is rare. People are just beautiful and good.”

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When You’re Ready

When Pam Shorr decided to stop attending church, she doubted she would ever go back. She recalls thinking, “I really want to find who I am and what I believe. I just want to do my own thing for a while.” But eventually, Pam found herself prompted to return, and an inspired Relief Society president showed her the way. She describes her reactivation in the Church as difficult, terrifying, and inspiring. “When I returned,” she says, “I was ready for the whole thing, and I have never looked back.” Pam is interviewed here by her daughter, Krisanne.

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In the Lord’s Time

As a wife and mother in a part-member family, Peka draws on the inspiration of her mother — who was also a “single parent in the gospel” — to support her husband as he learns about the Church and teach her daughter what she believes. Issues of race have proven challenging for her non-white family, and Peka discusses how much she appreciates member friends who embrace her husband for who he is and not for what they want him to be.

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Playing From Her Heart

Tina knew from a young age that music was her life’s calling and she is a professional saxophonist in New York. It took longer for Tina to realize that she is gay, but a period of inactivity from the Church didn’t stop her from paying her tithing every month. It was appreciation and practice of Buddhism that led Tina back to the Church in her remarkable journey back into activity.

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The LDS Women Project

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