My dearest sweetheart,
I love you with all my heart. I want you to know that you are the most important thing in the world to me and your love and support mean everything. I know that the love we share in our family is stronger than anything else. I had to write you this letter to explain how I concluded that the Church is not all it claims to be. Growing up in the Church, I believed in the doctrine, history, organization, and culture, and was taught to disregard any information to the contrary.
Shortly after reading the journals of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, I began to come across original versions of events that were very different than the lessons I had been taught. Truthful information quickly became my obsession; the real truth, accurate historical facts, not what appears nicely summarized or left out of Sunday School lessons. I know learning about these issues can be difficult; it was hard for me too. Finding out that there was so much that had been kept from us made me feel confused and betrayed.
While I understand there are some good aspects about the Church, I could no longer see how the Church could be true if it had not been truthful. The weight of the whole situation was intense. During this difficult and lonely time, I had to ask myself some hard questions.
If the Church weren’t true, would I want to know?
What is more important, the truth or staying in my comfort zone?
With what I now know, would I still believe in the Church if I hadn’t been born into it?
After answering these questions honestly, I became at peace with what I felt was the truth. The outcome is certainly not one I expected from the outset. It is not an easy thing for a person to decide to re-examine their own beliefs or accept that they’ve been wrong. Even though my beliefs have changed, you and I still share the same values such as the importance of family, honesty, and integrity. My decision to leave the Church was the product of years of research, study, and prayer, but that was my personal journey, and I support your own journey even if it might be different than mine.
I LOVE YOU