Darth Ender deserves to know.

I am a lapsed Mormon.

In 2004, I ran across a "Free Book of Mormon" ad somewhere. It was free. And it was the infamous 'Book of Mormon' which I'd heard about but never read. I gave my address, phone number, name.

Next thing I knew, these two beautiful missionary women knocked on my door. My parents invited them in. I was a smitten teenager that also happened to have a passing interest in religion and spirituality.

I was baptized in Kansas City, Missouri later that year. My teenage years were traumatic. The church helped remind me to be generous and compassionate toward others. Without them, I would have turned out far, far worse of a person.

There were dances and gatherings that diverted me away from the less wholesome parties of my school peers. I met a girl and briefly dated her before my family and I moved away.

One lesson in particular I remember is that gratitude cancels out anger. It's an exercise I use to this very day, almost every day.

If there's one church I want to see survive the secular wave in the western world, it is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.