Leaderboard

I have committed a significant portion of my adult life to volunteering in community scout programs. One of my few frustrations with being in community troops was that I was ineligible for the LDS adult religious emblem, as it required participation in a Church (capital C) sponsored scouting unit. With the Church having disbanded scout units, a new religious award program has been introduced by the Vanguard International Scouting Association, which is an organization promoting faith-based scouting for members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It's taken me a couple of months to get started on this, but I'm starting now. There's a significant portion of journal writing associated with this award, and I have a tendency to lose journals. So I'm going to do my journaling here. Anyone who would like to come along for the journey, I'd be interested in knowing what you discover in the process. The award requirements can be read at: https://www.vanguardscouting.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Vanguard-Awards-Booklet-5-13.pdf Building Faith and Testimony - Requirement 2 For various reasons, my mind has been preoccupied with thoughts of how to server everyone in my ward, not just those that are easy to serve. Because my mind is primed to think about these things, there were two phrases in The Living Christ that stood out to me Jesus taught "the potential for the sons and daughters of God in the life to come" "I am your advocate with the Father." It struck me that in order to be an effective leader, I must see the potential of each individual, not just for what they are now, and not what they could offer to the ward in the future, but what they can become in the eternities. And I need to give them opportunities to develop and grow in accordance with that potential. When I have recognized that potential. I need to follow the example set by Jesus and be their advocate. I must look for ways to promote the best in them so that I can recommend them to God. And I must be careful not to put unnecessary obstacles in their way to achieving that potential. When I act as a servant of God, I must make Christ's priorities my own priorities. So my goal for the coming week is to pray daily to see the potential of certain members in my ward that I struggle to serve effectively. I will ask for God to help me see them as He sees them, and to guide me to be a better advocate for them.

Sounds to me like both of you are being jerks. It's very rare that the tensions in a relationship are the fault of one person (and when it is, it's usually an abusive situation). Every relationship deals with these conflicts. Successful relationships talk about them, negotiate priorities, and come to compromises that minimize the tension for both parties. From the sound of it, the two of you prefer to ratchet tensions higher in the face of conflict. Start talking to each other more, and learn to say difficult things calmly and with compassion. Get hired help if struggle to do so (ie, marital therapy).

Saw this new This Old Tony, and for some reason I thought others might enjoy it. You laugh as you watch it, and come away feeling maybe a little bit smarter than when you went in. It's one thing to understand how something works; it's another to actually realize it in metal. This way, you get to take the middle path and watch TOT realize it in metal. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_wPH904a_8

Not being at our dedicated places of congregational worship on the Sabbath - for those that may not already be aware may I suggest a Google search of "taylor and tyler come follow me" as a supplement to your Sabbath worship at home. As a side note - I have appreciated the sermons that @prisonchaplain has shared - If he has the time to listen to an episode of "taylor and tyler come follow me" - I would be most interested in his response. The Traveler

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At church today, only 2 adults did not wear masks. An older sister and a visiting 20 something brother. I was pretty surprised by the older sister not masking up. Almost every kid who could walk, wore a mask of some kind. In previous meetings according to reports from other members, at best maybe 10% of the congregation wore a mask as the high number and less than 1% as the low. The deacons did a great job passing the sacrament, leaning over the empty row in front of the member occupied rows to offer the bread and water so nobody else had to touch the tray handles. With the water, they had a second tray without the cup holder top on it so people could drop their used cups into it easily, without having to reach across or possibly touch the unused remaining water cups. I don't know where the plan for the passing method originated, but I was impressed regardless. It was my first time back to church since mid March. It lasted about 40 minutes and included 1/3 of the ward membership, segregated alphabetically into three separate rotating meeting blocks. Three hymns including the sacrament song and one talk. It was one of the most memorable I have been a part of. After the meeting, we were asked to wipe down the wooden bench surfaces with provided sanitizer cloths in the pew where we sat.

I can understand this. My wife struggles with anxiety, and the thought of being the center of attention can be a real trial. I have just a couple of thoughts. 1. Right now large gatherings are not allowed. I don't know how they are doing things in your neck of the woods, but we are not allowed to have more than a few people at any baptism. Right now, it's likely your baptism, if you choose to go through with it, will be a very small affair with just the people you want to be there. 2. It's not a long ceremony. In normal times when there is no pandemic the entire thing is usually around an hour, but the baptism itself is quick, 5 minutes tops outside of changing times. Also, I don't know if you've received a blessing or seen one given, but receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost also doesn't take very long. It's almost certainly going to also be around 5 minutes or less as well perhaps shorter depending on who is performing the ordinance. 3. It's worth it sister! That feeling of knowing, as you come out of the water, that your sins are washed away and the feeling of peace and comfort that come from receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost are beyond compare. Talk with your bishop or branch president and your missionaries and I am sure they will work with your concerns to help you feel comfortable at this ceremony. Also as far as resources for new members, there are a ton of talks and stories from converts online. Also this website https://www.comeuntochrist.org/ is designed for investigators and new members and is a great place to start looking for resources, comfort, guidelines etc. I'm sure there are other things too. Reach out to your Bishop/Branch President or Relief Society President for more local resources. God bless you sister. I'm a convert too (I joined when I was 8 ) and this is Christ's church. The Lord will help you with your concerns, I know he will.

It sounds like you're focusing on behavior rather than causes. Take a look at what the causes are. I believe you will find that even though you're "interested in the same things" you'll realize that you don't care about the same things. You don't value the same things. When you have a different set of values (i.e. what bothers you and what doesn't, what you are willing to sacrifice for and what you aren't) then you aren't all that compatible after all. If you can start talking about those values and 1. Emphasize those things you commonly value. 2. Make compromises on those things you don't commonly value. Then you have the potential to reach agreements on what your expectations should be. If you can do that and be ok with those agreements, then you can make it work. If not, you won't.

We had a great backyard Sacrament Meeting last Sunday. We had a Joseph Smith Restoration theme to reflect on Joseph Smith for his death anniversary. We had a recording of my Missionary son playing the Joseph Smith Medley (First Prayer, Poor Wayfaring, Praise to the Man) and a talk reflecting on the life of Joseph Smith and the Restoration Proclamation. We had 3 other ward families join us plus my in-laws and 5 ward missionaries so we were a bigger than usual group. The cool thing is the missionaries can now enter our home! So, even as we continued to hold sacrament in the hot and humid backyard with birds flying and dogs running all over the place because it's harder to set up in one place indoors, we were able to hold dinner inside the house so we can fellowship in relative comfort. I enjoy Taylor and Tyler and I've watched some of their videos. I also enjoy @prisonchaplain's sermons although I haven't yet got to the last one he sent. I'll for sure go through it this week. Thanks, PC!