I Was a Mormon: Anita Boyle

I was born into a large Mormon family, grew up in a predominantly Mormon small town, 4 years of Mormon seminary, Ricks College (now BYU Idaho), Mormon mission, then BYU. Typical Mormon upbringing. I went to the temple of course, beginning just before my mission. I remained absolutely certain that "the Church" was "true" until I was 40 years old.

Even though I had had several Christian friends in my life, mostly when I was working in places other than my hometown in my early 20's, I stubbornly refused to accept anything that they tried to teach me. In each of those situations I had tried to "convert" these friends and was frustrated that they wouldn't accept what I was trying to teach them.

When I was 40, a Christian co-worker, began a dialog with me about religion. I eagerly welcomed these conversations as I had by then moved back to my hometown and had missed these types of "opportunities to convert" others to Mormonism. This dialog continued for over a year. It was not about me questioning "the Church." For months I stubbornly held on to my beliefs and didn't waiver in my "testimony." But then things started to change. I learned the true meaning of words and concepts like "righteousness" and "grace," and learned the true nature of God, and that the idea of a universal apostasy was unbiblical. I started to accept some of these ideas while stubbornly clinging to my old beliefs. I studied the Bible and I prayed. Finally, one day, my friend and I were discussing the Book of Mormon, which I still believed was scripture. My friend suggested that we pray together and I asked God to open both of our hearts and both of our minds and to let both of us understand the Truth. (Up until then I had only prayed that my friend’s mind would be open, because I was so certain that I already knew the truth.) After this prayer, I just knew. That day I asked Jesus Christ to save me and He did!

It took me a while to actually leave the Mormon Church. I had a job in the ward that I kept doing for awhile until I just couldn't stand going anymore. I continued to wear my garments for about 6 months or so. At first, I left without saying anything and started the process of trying to find a good Christian church in my area. There aren't very many here and they are all very small groups. I attended each one and chose one that seemed a good fit, but I ended up switching to another one after a few months and have been with them ever since.

My former bishop called me in to talk about why I wasn't coming anymore, and I told him in that meeting that I had been born again and asked him to begin the paperwork to have my name removed from the records of the Mormon Church. He said that he would... but he didn't! Meanwhile, my daughter was also saved a short while later and with the help of some of my new Christian friends, I found a website with instructions on how to write a letter to the Mormon Church and the address to send it to. I wrote the letter and sent 3 copies: one to Salt Lake, one to my Stake President, and one to the Bishop. When I finally got a response from Salt Lake, it was a letter telling me that I needed to talk to my bishop about it and a pamphlet asking me to reconsider and come back. Anyway, it ended up taking over a year, and even though I had informed the Bishop of the date that I was going to be re-baptized a Christian and that I expected the paperwork to be done before that, it wasn't. But I went ahead with my baptism anyway, and a month or so later both my name and my daughter's name were finally removed from their records.

Anita Boyle
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Ruth says... (Reply)
"I can relate to your story. I was 35 years old when I was saved and made Jesus Lord of my life! It's hard because my whole family shunned me. Then slowly my mother and 1 brother was saved. Keep pressing on, the goal is turning on the Light for our families!" (6/11/15)
Sam Burrows says... (Reply)
"I am sorry if this is overbearing, but, rather, might we see this as glorifying God, and I am happy to see that you have a testimony of Jesus Christ, and I believe that you truly want what is best and that you seek the truth. I am so happy that you truly love the Lord. But might I also point out that I am Christian because I am a member of the LDS, or Mormon church. We believe in Christ. We rejoice when others do. Beware of those that claim that we are not Christians, for then, what is a Christian? So I pray that you will pray to the Lord for guidance in your life. That you might even read the Book of Mormon, and follow Moroni's invitation to pray sincerely if it is not true, with faith in Christ, and that you will intend on acting upon God's answer to you. And I bear testimony that God has revealed to me the truth, even that He can show you exactly what is needed for you to know, and that He is always loving. I know that He looks out for you to this day, and may you be blessed with increased faith in Him. And, though you may consider yourself a "Mormon" today, I still encourage you to do what you believe is right, and that you might bless others with your faith in Christ. I know that God will bless you with the help you provide for others as you invite people to Christ. May you and many other believers be in our prayers continually." (8/7/17)
Kelly says... (Reply)
"Have any of you really taken the time to read the Bible? If so then you would know that GOD said everyone has free agency to go where they want as long as they believe in him and only him. What kind of Christian church would teach against another? Also if you have read the Book of Mormon we are warned of the Devils church. These so called churches just pop up out of nowhere. Once you are Christian you remain Christian there is no such thing as re-born. You can be re-born or saved on your judgement day." (11/29/21)
dave says... (Reply)
"Kelly, I hesitate to speak for Anita, but based on what she wrote, I think I can answer your questions. After she had her born again experience (see John 3), she became aware that as an LDS member, she wasn't really following Christ and wasn't a Christian. She understood that she was following men's rules, and not not Christ. And I suspect that she also realized that most LDS members she knew weren't either. She
probably doesn't believe that her former church is a Christian church, or if anything, that it is Christian in name only. If you read the New Testament, you will see that there were disputes about what it meant to be a Christian, both in belief and practice. In John's first letter, he mentions some who left the
fellowship, who still called themselves Christians, but weren't really. As far as churches popping up out of nowhere, that could be said of your church, as well as many others that started around the same time as yours did. She wrote her testimony so that others would come to know the truth about the biblical Christ and His ways, and have the born again experience too." (11/30/21)