My Story

When I listened to that voice mail for the first time, my stomach sunk. I felt as though I was going to throw up. The Stake President said "If this is Sadie's phone I need to talk to you about Stephen Stuart, I know you know who he is. Call me." It was short and poignant for me. When he got me on the phone he said Steve was wanting to be reinstated in the church, but because of my age at the time I was considered a victim and I had to write a letter so they could get him reinstated. Those sentences might read nice, but to me they were daggers. He sounded annoyed and short and he was implying it was all consensual, or that it was me who seduced him into betraying his covenants. I contacted my bishop who got me some counseling and then he told me he would take care of it. I later learned that Steve didn't even go to the bishop to confess himself, that his wife went and then he was called in. I also learned that he lied to the church leaders about raping me, and he didn&

One night before that summer with Steve, my cousin DaNae invited me over to her house to hang out. We were watching Meet The Robison's in her basement when we heard the doorbell ring. I had no idea who was at the door, but shortly later I heard footsteps coming down the stairs and I looked around and saw the handsomest boy walking with DaNae. He had sandy brown hair, hazel eyes, and dimples in his cheeks when he smiled. Other than the obvious good looks, I knew there was something special about him the minute I met him. His name was Devin, and I was interested for sure. I didn't know if he was dating DaNae or not though, so I kind of backed off a bit. I had no clue this boy would some day be my husband, honestly at the time I didn't expect to live much longer. I had a plan to commit suicide, I didn't know exactly when, but I knew it would happen. I kind of wanted to graduate High School first, but I kind of doubted I could make it that long. I had made plans to gradua