funkymonkey

Candy I'm so sorry! If I have caused any heartache for you I'm so so sorry. I really have enjoyed reading all of your posts and think that you really do have a sweet spirit and understand the love of Christ...something we should all strive for! All the posts here sum it up for me too...very nice to read this thread. I find it really hard to avoid reading the threads when they turn heated(even though I know I'm not going to feel in any way uplifted at the end of it). To me, it's kinda like driving by a bad car wreck and trying not to look. When it really comes down to it, none of it really matters...as far as I can tell, most of it is beyond the basic/essential beliefs. So why do people even bother having these discussions? Probably because many people have a passion for what they believe, they want to discuss the details, get into the "deep doctrine"...which is probably why some of the conversations get into some really bazzar stuff. But it really all is just speculation and sharing different interpretations. My father in law told me a story about when he was a child, he remembered his grandfather and three of his grandpa's friends sitting in the living room (what were later to be three general authorities) discussing and debating their interpretations of different scriptures and prophet's ideas, etc. And much like the information here, the disagreements are over trivial information...not the essentials. I personally don't feel the spirit when I delve into the "deep doctrine". I find it interesting, like when I study for a class at school...but I don't really find it uplifting or spiritual. When I read some of the threads I feel confusion and contention, most the information is designed to appeal to the intellect...not the heart. So I try to receive it with a grain of salt, as opinions...because when I don't do this it really gets me confused and draws me further away from the spirit. But I have seen some threads here that are so uplifting, full of inspiring stories and people responding to other's questions in kindness and respect. That's why I personally got hooked to this forum and hope to see more of this type of interaction. :) I really do hope that you continue posting because you really are a ray of sunshine! God bless.

Just curious... Elphie? So what were you thinking???

I'm not sure...I'm hoping I'll be stronger by the time the ward times change again so I can adapt to my own ward schedule. But I guess if I'm not stronger then I would have to...hope that's not the case!

help! :0

This article at Fairlds.org sites three interesting points... "a) there is no contemporary account of a revelation underlying the ban; but b) many early members nevertheless believed that there had been such a revelation; and c) priesthood ordination of African blacks was a rare event, which became even more rare with time. " The last part is the most interesting to me...because Joseph Smith did ordain black men into the priesthood. They made the amazing pioneer trek to Salt Lake city with everyone else. The article also says... "Members have generally taken one of three perspectives: 1 -the ban was based on revelation to Joseph Smith, and was continued by his successors until President Kimball 2 -the ban did not originate with Joseph Smith, but was implemented by Brigham Young by revelation 3 -the ban began as a series of administrative policy decisions, rather than a revealed doctrine, and drew partly upon ideas regarding race common in mid-19th century America. The passage of time gave greater authority to this policy than intended. " Personally, I agree with #3. Joseph Smith was inspired enough to see through the racial confusion of the time and did the Lord's will. After his death this truth had been lost due to the preconceived notions of man. And I think that Kimball was the first guy to truly open enough to ask for the Lord's direction in this. The faith is perfect, man is not.

Howdy All! So I think I need a little input on a pretty simple problem, but I think I'm making it more complicated than it needs to be... I've been sick with a really rare and wierd disease for over a year now. It's something doctors don't know anything about or how long I will be sick (could be months or could be years or could be life). It's totally unpredicable, one day I'll be able to think straight and feed myself and the next day I can't even walk straight let alone talk well. My husband just recently landed his first job (yay!) and we moved to Utah. Our ward is different, our neighbors are different...people here very much just want to keep to themselves. We did our best to let our situation known in our new ward and my husband even requested that the releif society have someone stop by once a week to just talk or bring lunch by. But it's been two months and nobody has come by. I know that with a new place it takes time to make friends and get to know people but that's an extra challenge when you can't make regular attendance to church. It just kinda confuses me because we're surrounded by LDS people (our ward is only three blocks) but there really isn't an outreach at all. With that little change in environment asside, going to church regularly for me is not really an option right now. On my good days, I can go and sit through sacrament meeting and then come home and take big nap, but on my bad days I can't really even get out of bed. Our ward used to meet at 1:00, which worked well because afternoons are usually better for me so I was able to go probably every other week (which was a HUGE improvement since before we moved) and just a month ago they changed to meet at 9:00. I tried getting up early to go to our own ward's meeting time (even though my body was screaming for me to rest). I even prayed and the spirit told me to not push it and listen to my body. But I wanted to go and take the sacrament...I made it through about 15 minutes before I totally crashed and then went home and was realy sick for DAYS. So I spent a month not being able to go and my husband would go by himself. So I decided (and prayed about it too) that it was better for me to not deprive my body of the rest it needs right now and try going to a ward that met at 1:00. We went to an afternoon ward and it was great. My body was better rested and I made it through the entire hour and could even focus on what the speakers were talking about instead of "don't pass out, stay sitting up, don't pass out". It was wonderful to be able to start getting that spiritual cup filled once again after that time without going at all. It was also really nice for my husband to have someone to go with again. So to me it makes sense to go to the ward that meets later in the day, for now. Taking the sacrament should be my sole priority right now. I guess my question is, do I request that I move my records to the ward that I will be trying to attend? Or do I just keep my records where they are and just go to the other ward in the meantime? Has anyone had any experience with this kind of thing? anyone know what the process of this would be? what I might expect?

SLCsweety, his recommendation might lead you to believe that there is something seriously wrong (like he's cheating on you or something), but please don't read into it that way -k-. The last three years we were in college we really rough. I was working fulltime and he was spending the money as fast as I was bringing it in, so to me it put on more pressure to make more money. Then the last year we were in college things got really really tough and pretty much came to a boiling point (I got really sick and couldn't work anymore and my husband was having a hard time finishing up school, and we were on the verge of being homeless because of it). The more the pressure and responsibility piled onto my husbands shoulders, the more distant he became. He still did his best to get through everything but he lost his sense of humor, the flirting stopped, any shred of conversation we used to have... it all dissapeared. (and I started thinking, oh great this is what I have to look forward to for the rest of my life?) Then his friends started calling asking what was wrong with him and wondering if he was mad at them...so I guess I wasn't the only one taking it personally. I started overanalyzing the marriage and wondering what was going wrong. I even tried the "tough love" thing and told him that it was not OK to react to the pressure how he was...as you can imagine that didn't really help. But then he finally got a job, and within a couple of months he went back to normal and our relationship got better. And as a nice side benefit, now that he is working he is seeing just how hard it is to make a buck and has really cut back on his spending. So some of how your husband is acting very well could be to your situation and his attempts to adjust to this new world he is in...but he might just feel like he's backed up against a wall...and not really know how to make anything better. Have hope, girl. Use the resources you have, put in the work, and in time things will work out. :)

Hey SLCsweety! Welcome to the forum! I'm not really that good of an advice giver but as I read your message I could totally relate! (I just barely finished putting my hubby through college...and sooo glad it's over) College life and family life is really hard but it really is a great training opportunity for how the two of you will work together through the rest of your lives. With the little time you two have alone, be sure to work to develop those problem solving skills and negotiation skills... and learn to work as a team. Bad habits made now in your relationship will be that much harder to break when things get really tough down the road...I am a firm believer that the older people get, the more they get "set in their ways". It's so hard to see past the day to day struggle when there's so much crap going on. Try your best to always keep in mind that marriage isn't just day-to-day, it's a lifelong project. When issues come up and when you think of how you're going to react or handle the situation, remember that your immediate reactions will affect that lifetime project...try to always "minimize the damage". In college, the traditional roles probably won't apply...and that's ok, because you are a team; as a team you each do whatever it takes to make the team a success. Developing the skills to work through these issues together, as equals, will really help you in your "life project" or your "marriage project" (with the help of a bishop and counselor). At this point, both of you will need to swallow your pride and put in a little extra work...make the call to the bishop, be willing to work with a counselor. Don't leave it up to him to make that call or initiate the conversation with a counselor...don't allow yourself to make excuses as to why not to do it. Just do it and get it over with, the sooner you do it the sooner you'll be able to initiate working on your marriage. Don't be embarassed either, people go through this kind of stuff in their marriages all the time. Throw away all your expectations for what the "ideal family" is supposed to be. Expecting the man be the breadwinner, expecting the woman do the house stuff. Expecting that the relationship shouldn't ever have this many problems...whenever there is a problem that "maybe this relationship just wasn't meant to be" or "is he really the man for me?" It sounds like right now that you are learning that life doesn't really work out the way it "should" (I've been there :) ); the sooner you can throw away those expectations, the easier it will be to clean the slate and make some of the adjustments needed for your "team", your family. Best of luck! God bless.

Um, this isn't always the best idea but... Can you find a friend that can act like your boyfriend for a while? Do nothing but gush about this wonderful new man in your life...next time you know he'll be somewhere have your friend come and flirt with him and smile real big. Every time he asks what you're doing...I'm out with my man. It might break the poor guy's heart but atleast he might move on to someone else.

Have you even been to America? Why do you feel like you have a right to judge Americans like this? My mom's from Sweden...been over to Sweden several times. She'd be very embarassed if she read what you were saying. I gotta say, you're not doing the Sweeds any favors right now. It doesn't take a genius to pick out a foreigner in Sweden...they're the only people in a crowd that aren't white, tall, blonde, and thin. Not scoring any points with this one.

I gotta agree that the new manual format is a little difficult for the teaching. It would be nice if they added some stuff for the teachers like The formats that are used for YW, for example...has bullet points of discussion, questions, little teaching aids, beginning attention getters, etc. For some of us non-teaching people, we need all the teachiing tips we can get!

Howide Elphie! I haven't read any of the books on the Mt. Meadows Massacre, but my great great great (somthing like that) grandfather lived in Cedar City at that time and I actually have his journal. (we just moved so I don't know where it is, but as I unpack I'll try to find it and maybe share some excerpts with ya!) He wrote about the massacre in his journal. From what I remember reading...the letter came from BY the day after the massacre happened...the people waited and waited and didn't hear word so they acted prematurely. His journal said that the letter said to let them pass. He also said that the people in the town recognized some of the men in this company from the mobs in Missouri...he writes of an account where a guy walks into a store and was mocking the Mormons and they said they were going to go to California and come back with an army to clear them out. There was one paragraph that stuck with me where he wrote that there was one guy was making light about coming back to "have" their women. But the most interesting part to me was the fact that he wrote that he thought the town was then cursed and the families who participated in the massacre were be cursed as well. This is all stuff I remember reading so it's not word for word or anything.

This sounds like it might be water from the dams in the rockies...if a significant earthquake happened all that water would have to go somewhere.

...

Elphaba, that was hilarious! LOL! :)

I grew up in a convent! (odd enough, that's the truth too.)

Yeah, anymore arguing is not worth my time. Have a nice day.

Haha!

Wow... love how this has to turn from a discussion into an argument... Vort, Nate's post was totally correct. (which is why I extended that challenge to you before)

I dunno... if that was the case, all the threads would be about "my dad's bigger than your dad"

My husband buys a bunch of this stuff and I totally hate guns. I'd better not let him read this thread because he'll have yet another idea/excuse to buy more of it.

sorry Nate you're right.

I've been looking for that unicorn everywhere!

Go Mike! Way cool stories. You know, your story fits perfectly as a spiritual experience on your own thread "when you prayed...". You have had your own spiritual experiences ... if there are ghosts there has to be a God right?

cult = anyone who drinks tang with a dixie cup