Every week bishops and their counselors, stake presidents and their counselors  continue to to harm children around the world in one-on-one interviews, behind closed doors with sexually explicit questions.  Most of the harm is unintentional.  Never-the-less, it’s still dreadful harm that we are working hard to bring to an end.

Here’s a 17 year old young woman, clearly laying out the healing effects of our movement.  Plus, it’s a nicely composed note of thanks.

Hey Sam! I know you’ve gotten a ton of thank you notes already, but I feel the need to thank you myself.

I’m 17 and I live in Utah. I experienced the harmful effects of explicit bishop interviews first when I was 13 and for a few years after that. I submitted my story on your site, but in short, they seriously hurt my self esteem, self worth, and will to live.

I always thought I was the only one to experience what happened to me, but your movement has made me realize that I’m not the only one and my hurt is valid and is a real problem. Realizing this has helped me to start the healing process instead of continuing to bottle it up.

Before this movement, I hadn’t told a single soul about what had happened because I was so ashamed of what took place. It lifted such a big weight off my shoulders to share my story anonymously, since I would still never share it with anyone in person.

And let me tell you, Sam, nothing feels better than knowing that a printed hard copy of my story is in the hands of the apostles, the people who allowed this to happen and the people who can prevent it from happening again.

It’ll take time, but sharing my experience has helped start me on the path of finding closure from what happened. Your determination and love for the people around you inspires me so much. I think it’s amazing that you saw a huge problem, and took action instead of just standing back and watching. Now I know that 1 person really can make a difference. From the bottom of my heart, thank you so much. You are an angel, never forget how much difference you can make.

Thank you my friend for your note of encouragement.  You have helped clarify what our movement is all about….I’m still learning.  So happy to hear of your progress and glad that it is happening while you are still young.

My stake president is urging me to walk away from my efforts.  Your words are very encouraging to continue on, especially as I face the difficult & daunting action on July 28th & 29th.

Reminders

If you want to share your story of inappropriate bishops interviews, tomorrow, July 21st is the deadline, if you want it included in the book that will be used in next week’s action.  HERE is the link to share.

If you haven’t signed the petition, please consider adding your name and comment.  HERE is the link to sign.

Correction

Sheesh. I made a whopper of an error on this post.  I initially titled it as a young man.  This note came from on wonderful young WOMAN.  Sorry about that, my friend.