A Croatia & Slovenia Mormon Excommunication Story w/ Sara and Mitja Lakner Bevc | Ep. 2042

What happens when faith, culture, and conscience collide? In this gripping full-length interview, Sara (American) and Mitja (Slovenian) share their deeply personal Mormon journeys—from conversion, missions, marriage, and cultural clashes to faith crises, public dissent in Utah church meetings, and ultimately, excommunication. With raw honesty, they open up about the emotional toll of leaving the LDS Church, the pressure to conform, navigating belief in a mixed-faith marriage, and the high cost of asking difficult questions. Featuring moments of courage, heartbreak, and awakening, this episode explores what it means to choose integrity over silence. Key Moments Include: -Serving a missions in Croatia -Struggles with identity, marriage, and belief -Mitja’s public opposition in sacrament meeting -Facing church discipline and excommunication -Sara’s emotional departure from the LDS Church A powerful story of love, loss, disruption—and starting over. Show Notes can be found on the Mormon Stories blog here: https://www.mormonstories.org/a-croat... Timecodes: 00:00:00 Introduction 00:02:18 The beginning of Sara’s Mormon Story 00:06:06 Sara on serving a mission in Croatia 00:11:45 History of Croatia and Yugoslavia and Slovenia 00:25:42 Temple trips outside of the country 00:37:15 Mitja’s Mormon story begins 00:42:19 Roman Catholic church is the predominate religion in Slovenia, but he was not interested in religion 00:47:55 Has his first lessons after his brother’s baptism - baptised 4 years later 00:59:33 Missionary told him he was ready to be baptized 01:05:22 Key components to him being baptized LDS 01:21:24 Living in Slovenia as a young married Mormon couple 01:32:29 How was the Mormon lifestyle in Slovenia? 01:45:52 Why are baptism rates so low in Eastern Europe? 01:53:05 Decided to move back to the US during Covid 02:09:44 He was bothered by the church investing in big pharma 02:14:41 What culture shocks did he experience moving to Utah? 02:36:38 How is Sara feeling at this point? 02:54:25 Explaining what it means to sustain or oppose in LDS church - people do not oppose 03:11:57 Would she have handled this differently if they were still living in Europe? 03:14:16 Choosing to vote “opposed” in their home ward 03:18:05 Mitja standing up and opposing 03:27:00 Mitja decides to go bare his testimony at church 03:39:05 Mitja’s fast & testimony talk from June 2023 03:52:17 A mass email was sent to the whole ward 03:57:26 His brother decides to stand up to bare his testimony 04:14:12 Kirton McConkie letter - prohibited from going on church property 04:29:32 Letter about their disciplinary council 04:36:48 Sara’s letter to the Stake President - asking to attend his disciplinary council 04:39:18 Stake President’s response letter 04:43:36 Mitja is excommunicated 05:05:38 What are they hopeful of right now? ___________________ At Mormon Stories we explore, celebrate, and challenge Mormon culture through in-depth stories told by members and former members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as well as scholars, authors, LDS apologists, and other professionals. Our overall mission is to: 1. Facilitate informed consent amongst LDS Church members, investigators, and non-members regarding Mormon history, doctrine, and theology 2. Support Mormons (and members of other high-demand religions) who are experiencing a religious faith crisis 3. Promote healing, growth and community for those who choose to leave the LDS Church or other high demand religions 🤝Help us continue to deliver quality content by becoming a donor today One-time or recurring donations: https://donorbox.org/mormon-stories?d... Patreon: Patreon: mormonstories Venmo: https://account.venmo.com/u/mormonsto... Paypal: https://paypal.me/mormonstories Join this channel to get access to perks: @mormonstories Our Platforms: 🌐Mormon Stories Blog: https://www.mormonstories.org/episodes 🎙️Patreon: Patreon: mormonstories ✳️Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4sDzk7d... 🍎Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... 🖼️Instagram: Instagram: mormstories 📱TikTok: TikTok: mormonstoriespodcast 🎮Discord: Discord: discord Contact us: 📧 [email protected] 📬PO Box 171085, Salt Lake City, UT 84117