Living accommodations for my possibly deconverted Mormon friend
Hello. I need a bit of advice, and I’m not quite sure where to put this.
Ummm, well, here’s the deal. I have a friend, my age, who recently prematurely ended his Mormon missionary trip (from Knoxville, TN to… uh… Eastern California?) for his own reasons, and has asked for my help. Seeing as this person is like a brother to me (the two of us have known each other for all of our twenty years), he has asked me for advice on living accommodations, as he does not want to return to his parent’s home. I’m not even sure they would let him, as they were very serious about his mission.
He’s perfectly welcome to stay with me, but getting him back on his feet is a must. And I don’t think either of us know how to go about figuring this out.
His reasons are currently known only to himself, so I don’t know if it is based on misgivings about his church, or personal problems. Er, assuming the two are even different. Apparently I’m going to be the recipient of some venting from him.
It might not have been a good idea to ask Less Wrong this (I guess), but if anyone could direct me to a more… appropriate… website or service for these matters, I would appreciate it.
You might try here:
http://www.reddit.com/r/atheisthavens
That is absolutely amazing, wonderful and heartwarming.
http://lesswrong.com/lw/dx0/roommate_interest_and_coordination_thread/
I recommend rooming together. Failing that, I have no advice.
His parents seem rather judgmental, and typically returning early isn’t well received in the Mormon community in general either. Is he in need of people to bounce ideas off of, who understand where he’s coming from?
I would be happy to talk to him, or meet him in person if he’s still in CA (I’m in the Bay Area). I’m Mormon but have had lots of struggles with my own faith and am quite comfortable talking with (listening to) doubters on their own terms—or atheists, see any of my LW posts.
If he’d like to talk to me, I don’t come here often, but my e-mail is my username @gmail.com.
The most extensively I’ve written on my struggles with faith is here: http://free-samwise.blogspot.com/2008/12/year-of-dialogue.html..