Skip to content
Main Street Plaza

A Community for Anyone Interested in Mormonism.

Main Street Plaza

A Community for Anyone Interested in Mormonism.

A great missionary memoir in the New York Times Modern Love Column!

chanson, October 30, 2009January 15, 2011

All I Wanted Was a Hug.

The story explores the crazy rules of homo-vs-hetero public displays of affection among missionaries — and it was written by one of the stars of the last Sunstone Symposium! check it out!

Testimony

Post navigation

Previous post
Next post

Related Posts

Testimony Seeing the back of Angel Moroni

Should I stay or should I go – and why?

December 15, 2021December 15, 2021

Research project on why people leave the Church should also explore reconciliation My mind began whirling when Jana Reiss announced she and her research partner Benjamin Knoll were launching an in-depth project to see why Mormons leave and have left the Church. (See here for the Kickstarter announcement). It’s an…

Read More

Who’s Gonna Be at the Exmo Conference?

August 12, 2007

Hi kids: I’m just wondering who’s gonna be at the exmo conference in October?  For one, I will be.  And I’m traveling a couple thousand miles to be there.  I’m really hoping to meet some of you fine folks!

Read More

God the Monster

October 12, 2024October 12, 2024

This summer, when I posted on X about my lifelong conviction that the god of Mormonism is a moral monster, someone told me, very helpfully and completely accurately, that I would love God’s Monsters by Esther Hamori. God’s Monsters is the first work of religious scholarship that has made me…

Read More

Comments (5)

  1. LdChino says:
    October 31, 2009 at 4:37 am

    My guess is that this good sister’s plight was probably exacerbated by the realities of serving (i.e., living) in Asia.

    I’m a fairly standard-issue American male and can count the number of times I’ve shed tears on one hand. One was when I returned home from Brazil and realized how cold and uncommunicative the people of my country of birth suddenly seemed to me. The other was after about six months into my first stay in Taiwan. I love my life here, but it is a much less expressive culture than even that of the US. Adapting takes time and, unlike the easy adaptation to the greater warmth of a Latin culture, finding one’s place in a colder society like Taiwan’s can often feel like compromising one’s humanity.

    Thank God for my Taiwanese wife, her intellectual curiosity, and her dedication to living a polyglot lifestyle.

    Reply
  2. profxm says:
    October 31, 2009 at 5:29 am

    Looks like a good book!

    Reply
  3. visitor says:
    October 31, 2009 at 10:46 am

    The coldness of that relationship where someone who “loved her best” would only allow her to touch his sleeve when he clearly knew she was in real distress is stunning!

    Reply
  4. chanson says:
    November 1, 2009 at 5:17 pm

    Visitor — right, but you have to understand that in that culture, he would see his refusal to comfort her as being a noble sacrifice.

    Reply
  5. aerin says:
    November 3, 2009 at 10:05 am

    Loved this article, well-written (congrats holly). Thanks for the tip chanson.

    Reply

Leave a Reply to aerin Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Mormon Alumni Association Books

Brodie Awards!!!


X-Mormon of the Year!!

  • 2025: Rebecca Bibliotheca!!
  • 2024: Nemo the Mormon!!
  • 2023: Adam Steed!!
  • 2022: David Archuleta!!
  • 2021: Jeff T. Green!!
  • 2020: Jacinda Ardern!!
  • 2019: David Nielsen!!
  • 2018: Sam Young!!
  • 2017: Savannah!!
  • 2016: Jeremy Runnells!!
  • 2015: John Dehlin!!
  • 2014: Kate Kelly!!
  • 2013: J. S. Anderson & M. Ferguson!!
  • 2012: David Twede!!
  • 2011: Joanna Brooks!!
  • 2010: Monica Bielanko!!
  • 2009: Walter Kirn!!

  1. Donna Banta on Devout by David ArchuletaMarch 25, 2026

    Thanks for the link, Monya! I just listened to it. What a beautiful song. I think you'll enjoy the book.…

  2. Monya Baker on Devout by David ArchuletaMarch 25, 2026

    Thanks for this, can't wait to read! There's been something so joyful in watching Archuleta come to his self, especially…

  3. Pam on Time to Vote for X-MoOTY and the Brodie Awards 2025!!January 10, 2026

    I have not watched even half of the content providers out there. I will be expanding my viewing now that…

  4. Juanita Hartill on Time to Vote for X-MoOTY and the Brodie Awards 2025!!January 8, 2026

    Was not aware of a lot of these different forums and things. Will be checking them out.

  5. Jeanny Nakaya on 2025 Awards Season ScheduleJanuary 8, 2026

    Awesome work!!!!

8: The Mormon Proposition Acceptance of Gays Add new tag Affirmation angry exmormon awards Book Reviews BYU comments Dallin H. Oaks DAMU disaffected mormon underground Dustin Lance Black Ex-Mormon Exclusion policy Excommunicated exmormon faith Family feminism Gay Gay Love Gay Marriage Gay Relationships General Conference Happiness Homosexual Homosexuality LDS LGBT LGBTQ Link Bomb missionaries Modesty Mormon Mormon Alumni Association Mormonism motherhood peace politics Polygamy priesthood ban Secularism Sunstone temple

Subscribe


 

©2026 Main Street Plaza | WordPress Theme by SuperbThemes