My mother had left my father as he was an abusive alcoholic. Through the support of my mum’s parents we were raised in a single parent home. While this was hard for my mum and for us kids, I believe my mum made the right decision for her kids. My brother was born with several mild disabilities and as a result spent a childhood in and out of hospital. He was never expected to live so on every occasion he fell ill my mum stayed at hospital with him. My sister and I were left in the care of family, friends, church members, and children’s homes and on one occasion with a school teacher. We were always placed together and relied a lot on each other. My father made many attempts to see us but the result was always the same. He was still drinking and in time we moved house to escape him.
My Mother was baptised into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when I was 1yr old. We were very inactive as we had to rely on public transport and I guess at times it was all just too hard for my mum. So I grew up around the church and aware of the church. I was taught the principles of church and told that I was a Mormon. My sister and I did however spend a bit of time with the Salvation Army church. We started attending a kids club with friends which developed into Sunday services. We enjoyed our time here and stopped going when we moved.
In 1990 I was 14 and we had some missionaries knock on our door and invite us to church. We reluctantly went along to the Sutherland Ward in the southern area of Sydney in New South Wales Australia and it was here that we found a better life. We made lifelong friends.