Return Narratives Collection

We encourage you to check out this growing collection of inspiring and moving reconversion stories.  Come back regularly to see new stories we are gathering every week.

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will-edgel

Will Edgel

“I felt like I had let God down, but as I prayed to Him I did not feel the guilt or condemnation that I expected to feel.”

Don Bradley

Don Bradley

“In the eyes of the church, it was as if I had never left. I can tell you with certainty: It is a gospel of forgiveness.”

kristi-novac

Kristi Novac

“Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, The Gospel, the Church, and my faith are sources of incredible joy. I am not willing to live without them.”

pam-shorr

Pam Shorr

“When I returned, I was ready for the whole thing, and I have never looked back.”

adam

Adam

“God can take the biggest train wrecks in our lives, and He can make something beautiful out of them.”

robert-bonfield

Robert Bonfield

“It’s been a journey and I’m still a work in progress.”

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Travis Ewell

“I know that through Christ, His Atonement, and the hope it brings, it is possible to return to the path that leads back to Him.”

tom-christofferson

Tom Christofferson

“The most important lesson…is that nothing they can ever do will take them outside the circle of our family’s love.’ That set the tone for everything that happened in our family after that—we were going to love and enjoy each other wherever anybody was in their journey, and we were going to be loyal and united as a family.”

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Elisabeth Reilley

“Be an example of a loving, faithful follower of Christ. Be a safe, non-judgmental person they can turn to with questions.”

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Rosanne Hersee

 “I do have a lot of faith in the ability and desire of Heavenly Father and Jesus to guide the ‘lost sheep’ back to the fold.”

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Tina Phillips

“I don’t have a full understanding of EVERYTHING (no one does) BUT I have enough faith to know that one day we will know the answers and and the reason and purpose behind why certain things happened…that carries me.”

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Bouke “Bob” S. Ecoma Verstege

“I am Heavenly Father’s son, a child of God. That’s the one and only label that matters to me.”

How a Flood Miraculously Brought an Anti-Mormon Back to the Church She Had Hated

Tami Havey

“Your past does not define your here, your now, or your future. I won’t let my past define who I am now. God can heal any heart and make it whole and happy.”

anonymous-narratives-to-return

Anonymous

“I needed Heavenly Father’s help to make my way back.”

Robyn Burkinshaw

Robyn Burkinshaw

“Does Heavenly Father want us to feed just the sheep that look like us and talk like us?…My faith is not by chance but by choice. I choose to believe in the gospel and believe that Heavenly Father will sort it all out, eventually.”

christiane-woerner

Christaine Woerner

“Given my past mistakes, I couldn’t believe he valued my soul that much.”

raquel-cook

Raquel Cook

“[T]here is beauty everywhere, and people are good. Ugly is rare. People are just beautiful and good.”

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Sara Fitzgerald

“I saw the way to come back. It wasn’t easy, but I returned to church activity.”

maxine-hanks

Maxine Hanks

“My searching was complete. I had my answers.”

mc-sutton

Misty Sutton

“I have to let go of my expectations and inhibitions. . . . and trust that the person who is in charge knows what He’s doing.”

kevin-anderson

Kevin Anderson

“Eventually, the repentance process ended, and it worked. I got the spirit back, and I started being guided by it and started to understand what it was about. . . The fact that God speaks to His children become a reality for me.”

allyson-forgiveness-category-faith is not blind

Allyson Lefebvre Hernandez

“Heavenly Father was there when I came back just the way that my parents were always there for me when I came back. So that’s what eventually pulled me back—just knowing I had a path to go back. I wasn’t cut off.”

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Julio Ospina

“That’s been a great thing for me to remember–that I can return to Him.”

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David Bingham

“I have a testimony that love and kindness is the best missionary work, having been a recipient of it first-hand. Being seen and loved is the greatest gift I received.” 

janice

Janice Esplin Oviatt

“[G]oing through the repentance process I came to understand Heavenly Father and Jesus love me. With that knowledge I can do whatever They need me to do.”

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Elaine

“My reconversion has changed everything for me. . . I feel the broken-hearted, and I understand how the rescued people are just as capable of receiving revelation as the ‘ninety and nine.’”

rachel-mary-bodily

Rachel Mary Bodily

“Jesus Christ is what brings about the miraculous transformation which I have felt.”

peka-holmes

Peka Holmes

“The Lord is so merciful and forgiving. I know my family will be okay.”

Dusty Smith

Dusty Smith

“I want people to know that God loves them and that there is hope. Even when people have turned their backs on the Church, there is hope that they will come back.”

janet-eyring

Janet L. Eyring

“Being on the other side of the fence, investigating other faiths, comparing them with my childhood teachings, thinking deeply about principles, meeting lots of people from all walks of life, feeling something amiss, wanting more balance, I decided to reexamine my church roots.”

lee-liston

Lee Liston

“I think if you don’t know where you’re headed, you don’t really go anywhere.”

collin

Collin

“It’s never too late to get back into things.”
letisha

Letisha

“I can’t even tell you the blessings that I’ve received from coming back. . . .When I look at myself four years ago compared  to the person I am now– I’m not that person. I am totally different.”

zac

Zac Marshall

“That life that I used to see as so restrictive is like a world of opportunities now.”
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Susan L. MacDonald

“I know what it feels like to be without the Holy Ghost as well as how it feels to have this precious gift, and I never want to be without it again.”

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Ty Mansfield

“I’ve had to walk to ‘the edge of the light and [stepping] into the darkness to discover that the way is lighted ahead for just a footstep or two’…It’s only been through my learning and living that principle that the Lord has slowly been revealing to me His plan for my life.”

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Sam Brown

“For the first time in memory, my mind was entirely clear of its restless inner voice. In that quiet, I felt the presence of another.”

abby-olson

Abby Olson

“The journey back to peace in the gospel will most likely be a lifelong one for me. . . I have learned that the most important thing to cling to on this journey is my relationship with God.”

kathleen-flake

Kathleen Flake

“[I]t is incumbent upon us to do other and more than what we have been doing. If we will refocus our attention so that it lies upon Christ, the righteous desires of our hearts will be granted.”

olivia-foo-fung-leung-luk

Olivia Foo Fung Leung Luk

“No matter what happens in life, remember not to give up.”

tina-richerson

Tina Richerson

“One of the biggest blessings is saying, ‘I’m a homosexual and I’m a daughter of God. The Lord loves me and there’s a work to be done.'”

joe-tippetts

Joe Tippetts

“What I’m calling ‘God’ instantly filled my whole consciousness. My emotions were heightened with a sensation of bliss. My thoughts were crystal clear. Two messages pressed on my mind: (1) I am God. I am real. And I love you. (2) It’s time to go back to church.”

rachelle-wilson

Rachelle Wilson

“I had stopped going to church but never lost faith in what I believed. When I came back, my ward was there for me.”

christian-forgiveness-category-faith is not blind

Christian Mawlam

“I don’t want to do this stuff anymore. I actually want to be somebody else. What my parents have got and what they had when I was a little boy is just lovely. That’s what I’d like to have.”

thomas-mcconkie

Thomas McConkie

“I think Mormonism–not by what it does, but by what it is—is a profound gift to us and to the human family. I have tremendous hope and confidence in what that gift is and how it continues to grow.”

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Leo Winegar

“I began making a conscious effort to reexamine my assumptions. Over time, through a renewed effort at prayer and faithful study, my heart softened, my mind opened, the Spirit returned, and many good answers arrived.”

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Nicole Pinnel

 “My heart started to blossom inside my chest…I started to laugh. I started to dance. I, in fact, started running around the house (thankfully, I was alone), yelling, ‘I can’t believe it! I can’t believe it!’”

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Chris Chadburn

“It is your place to figure out how to understand God. He gives you instruments and sometimes those instruments depend on us to work them.”

Share Your reconversion Story

Do you or someone you know have a story of returning to faith after a period of estrangement? Have you had a personal experience in which you grappled with spiritual questions and found greater peace or understanding?

We’d love to hear your story.

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