An Ex-Mormon in Salt Lake City: Oak Park Man Pens New Book About Life Experience

Oak Park resident Matt Timion didn’t just want to leave Salt Lake City after eight years; he felt he needed to.

In his new book, Leaving Salt Lake City, Timion explains why, in a tale about faith, sex, drugs and, most importantly, how to escape and move on from a bad situation.

“It’s a personal trainwreck story and it’s about overcoming that, and the psychological growth that it takes,” he said. “If you’re stuck in a place that’s bad, you can leave. You can get out. You can find the strength to make a change.”

When Timion was 17, he lived in California and became a Mormon. His father had recently died, he moved across the country and he didn’t like his step-father.

“I felt alone and like I didn’t have any community,” Timion said. But he quickly began to question his faith, including the church’s views on issues like women’s rights, gay rights and evolution.

So he left the church and felt shunned. He met a woman, another ex-Mormon, and eventually moved to Salt Lake City to be with her and join a group of fellow ex-Mormons he met online. When he got there, he experienced odd situations that he quickly outgrew.

“What I didn’t realize is that they really had no idea what normal was, because in their mind being normal meant doing the opposite of what the church wanted,” he said. “It was 20 adults playing spin the bottle. Straight guys kissing guys, doing anything the church wouldn’t want.”

He eventually married the woman and they fostered a 3-year-old child. When the child turned 4, the adoption went through and she accused him of cheating on her. That’s when everything began to fall apart. She moved to North Carolina with a mutual friend of theirs.

“I talked to her family and found out that pretty much every story she had told me about her past was a lie,” Timion said.

He was left in Salt Lake as a single, broke father, trying to raise his kid and make ends meet. He lost his job, his ex refused to pay child support and he was left to often garden for his own food and try to keep the utilities from being shut off. He used scraps of wood to build a playhouse for his son. His car was always breaking down.

“I had become the epitome of the ex-Mormon in Salt Lake City,” he said. “I knew I had to leave.” So he returned to Illinois, where he grew up in the Quad Cities, and eventually found a home in Oak Park.

Leaving Salt Lake City shows what it’s like being in the ex-Mormon community, but the greatest takeaway from the book is that no matter how chaotic and unforgiving your surroundings can become, there is a way to make a change. Timion is now employed in Chicago and his son is flourishing in school.

“You can go through hell and still come out,” he said.

BUY THE BOOK: Order a book or download the Kindle version at Amazon.com.