sister_in_faith

I have been pondering becoming a temple worker for a few years now... I am disabled and have some memory issues. I have prayed about it in the temple and the spirit told me not to worry about that being a stumbling block. My bishop thinks it's a great idea, I just have to 'formally' ask, and I haven't yet. I don't know why I am having a hard time deciding when to do this. I really just want to be useful and help people, and I think that this is the perfect opportunity hummm... Anyone have any experiences they would like to share about serving in the temple as a worker that would help me take the plunge???

thank you pam!

All dumbs ain't blond okay, I'm not even blond, but I thought it was funny. Where are we going, and why am I in this handbasket? This body is a temple and you ain't got no recommend. Jesus is coming. Look busy. I can't. I'm mormon. I'm an 8 cow wife. Utah, but I'm taller. I'm on a mission from God. Yep. I'm a saint! okay seriously. My warning label would be: I'm only human.

My patriarchal blessing says that I have the "gift of testimony". I can say that I have an absolute testimony of the power of testimony... wait. yeah, that is what I was trying to say... Does that help? A couple others that I thought about (I may have doubled up on some other posts, I didn't read everything): - the gift of understanding (like how we see our fellow brothers and sisters and we can understand their trials and help because we understand) - the gift of personal revelation (sometimes Heavenly Father has to bomp me on the head to get what I am trying to understand...) - the gift of glimpsing beyond the veil (the temple is the closest I can figure for the veil to be the thinnest, I think that tho we don't fully understand, sometimes we get a glimpse!) - the gift of reverence (at times we all struggle with being still, quiet, and prayerful. He can settle that peace/reverence on us when we need it) - the gift of listening (not hearing, but listening. Sometimes we need someone to not only understand us, or have compassion towards us, but we need someone who can just listen. And on the other side of the coin there are times that we all need to put our ideas on hold and just listen to what is being said.) - the gift of seeing the adversary's tricks - the gift of knowing the truth - the gift obidence (even tho we don't feel like it, still do God's will) - the gift of love (even if someone is unkind... to still love them) That's all I got for now!

Did anyone else catch what happened on Miss USA the other day? I didn't hear about it until this morning, but I really thought it needed to be commented on... I just saw what was on the Today show this morning, but this is what I understand the issue was. Perez Hilton (sp?), someone who I am not a fan of anyway, was one of the judges and he asked Carrie Prejean (?) who was Miss California what she thought about same sex marriage. She was true to herself and to her faith and answered honestly that she belives that marriage is an institution between a man and a woman. This answer royally ticked of Perez who then probably caused her to loose the crown. Later on his website he called her at least one nasty name and said that if she had won he would have run on stage and taken the crown off her head. He said that he would have appreciated it if she had left her religion and her politics out of it. (If that was true, why did he ask a politically charged question to begin with?) Okay, I won't rant about how illogical his statements are, but I do want to point out that it seems to me (having seen footage of the prop 8 backlash) that this anti family movement does not 'fight fair' and while they demand respect from everyone else (which of course I respect and love all people, including homosexuals) and run around waiving signs saying that we are anti-love, as soon as they realize they aren't going to get the answer they want they feel like they can start making personal attacks and destroying people's dreams. I just think it is very hypocritical and sad. Any sympathy I may have felt (in my pre LDS life) for their movement has been quickly erased because of their own actions! I also think that Miss California deserves a huge round of applause for how she handled herself, and not backing down from what she believes. We can all learn something from that example! She's the real winner to me!

Oh! Oh! Oh! I cannot live without my ipod touch. Yep, got all my scriptures (very searchable!) and on certain apps you can highlight as you go! I take notes on the notepad, and have the hymn book on there too. It is very very cool. You do have to be careful tho, cuz people give you really nasty looks when you are using one. My favorite part of the using the scriptures is that it is very quick and easy to go directly to passages, so in meetings or sacrament you can quickly go to a passage that they reference, when if I am trying to find it in my paper scriptures it takes me forever to find them, and by the time I do find it, the speaker has usually moved on to something else. It has really helped me. I would recommend it 100% to anyone!

I have often tried to figure things like this out 'logically'. I came to a peace about it when I was told that during the last millenium everything would be finished and done correctly. No matter how good we are at searching our family history, we will have to stop at some point because there aren't records. Do we worry about our ancient ancestors not having their temple work done? I don't! Because I know that everything will be done (and any mistakes that we make now will be corrected). Heavenly Father knows us, and he knows our wishes. If our family members are worthy and accept the gospel they will have the same opportunities insofar as temple work as we do. Fear not! He is going to take care of it. Far better than any of us could!

Just_A_Guy... I agree! I just think it is an option that may be worth exploring. One might find a gold mine of explanations and opportunities to heal, but it is not, by any means, always the case. I wish the answers were always easy to find!!

I am going to make a stretch of an assumption here, but I think that any child who is interested in sexual matters at such a young age had to be introduced to it somehow. From personal experience I was molested from age 14-16. I would not have been 'sexualized' had it not been for that, and I may have been blissfully innocent for many more years to come. I really feel like a chunk of my life was tainted because of this. I say this to suggest that taisama maybe you would find relief speaking to a counselor and exploring what caused this to start. You may even be repressing some kind of abuse that you suffered, and dealing effectively with those wounds may help you find comfort.

For anyone who is having medical problems (including suicidiality) and they have not been able to find a reason or a cure. Stay in there. Keep going to the doctor for ALL your symptoms. It took years for them to find my brain tumor (centered in the area of memory and emotion), and then recently it was a fluke discussion with my pharmacist that found out that drinking grapefruit juice (which was all I drank) will wack your medications out. On being suicidal... you are not alone. It is not because we are bad (my stake president and bishop told me that they do not feel the need for me to necessarily repent for things that happen when I am having an episode, and they directly forbade me to ever not take sacrament because of it!) or lack faith. I like to think that in the premortal I was so strong with who I was, and confident in myself, and sure in my strength and faith, that in order for this life to be a true challenge they had to strip that away from me. I realize that may not be true, but it makes me thankful for all my trials. You are not alone. Sick with it! Rember God is with you through all the good times, and he walks with you through the valleys too. You are NEVER alone.

Tithing is a very touchy subject for me. I understand it and want to be obiedient to God. I want blessings, but I actually went inactive for several months over a talk that was given in church. For about 7 years I had been caring for my mom and ALL of my money went directly to her account (direct deposit) so if I wanted some money to tithe I had to ask her to write me a check which took food out of her mouth. I had felt okay because I gave all of my money to charity (so to speak), so surely God saw that as a good use of my money. In the talk the woman was very firm on her position of tithing and made it clear that I was literally 'robbing' God. I remember getting home and sobbing, asking God what more I could do, and why, when I was going above and beyond the call for self sacrafice, and doing what I saw as the right thing, he could be so unforgiving. They finally found my brain tumor and with the time off work for the surgeries and stuff my mom was forced to find her own income, but then I have been laid off, so I still haven't recovered enough to tithe regularly. Is it something I want to work on? Of course, but I am so sick of people being on a high horse about it, and to be completely honest about it, I am so sick of hearing the "If you tithe, money will just appear out of no where and you will be able to take a vacation to Mexico every other week!" explanation. I understand that this has happened so some people, but in a way I think it takes advantage of people who choose not to pay for prescription medication for a month and tithe hoping that money will fall out of the sky to cover the difference often ends up hurting people. Sorry, this is the one topic I really still have a hard time on!

Just to jump back to judging others by what they wear... I have a really tough time getting up in the AM and my attention span and concentration isn't the best. One morning I was standing in front of my clothes and I couldn't figure out what I was going to wear. I must have 'zoned out' for about 30 minutes, not able to figure out what I was going to wear. I looked at my clock and saw that I had 20 minutes until sacrament meeting, and I realized that if I didn't get dressed RIGHT NOW I wouldn't be able to go at all. I prayed for guidance and felt prompted to just grab the nicest thing I could and go. It was more important that I attend sacrament than what I wore. I grabbed my very nice dress jeans (you know the very dark colored ones with a crease) and hurred to sacrament. About 10 minutes into the meeting I notice that I have a new txt msg. My friend, sitting a couple people down txted me and asked me why I was mad at God and what I was trying to prove to God by disrespecting him. I was just in shock. It was awful. It was totally inappropriate (not to mention irreverant to txt in the middle of sacrament, I wonder what SHE was trying to prove... haa!) and put me in a really bad situation. Remeber, judge not lest ye be judged! You don't know the whole story. Let others make their peace with God. It's not your place to question (unless ur the bishop=))!

take one or both of them to the vet to make sure there isnt an underlying medical problem! then get rid of the cat. =) yeah, im a dog person. <pets my service dog sophie on the head, "I would never make you live with one of those stinky things girl." dog sighs with content> just kidding! seriously take them to the vet to make sure there isn't a major problem you can't diagnose!

I would be willing to bet that she is more worthy of a temple recommend than I am! She has a heart of pure G-O-L-D!!!

Okay, new delima for everyone. I have a service dog that goes with me everywhere, to work, to church, everywhere. I haven't taken her to the temple, because I didn't want to cause a stir, but I am possibly going out of town to a larger city that also has a temple. It will be a trip for work. I will, of course, bring my service dog. I wouldn't feel comfortable leaving her crated at the hotel, or leaving her with anyone, plus being in an unfamiliar place, I need her with me. I would like to go to this temple and attend a couple of sessions. I would, of course, obtain permission first, but I wonder how you guys would feel about seeing a service dog in the temple. I want to be sensitive to others attending temple that day. I have a dark green vest with gold embridery on it that says service dog with a medical staff on it, but I am thinking, since she would be in the temple, maybe I should sew her a pure white vest to wear. Am I taking it too far? She is a black lab, and I'm not spray painting her. so don't even ask!

I agree with a lot of the things said here, but I will add my touch to it too... I would advise you to invite missionaries to teach you. If you can't have them at your home, meet them at church. They will answer a lot of questions for you. When I was being taught, I already knew I wanted to be a member of the Church, and I didn't realize how much I would learn in the months and years after being baptised. I think one of the best parts of being mormon, for me, is knowing. Having the answers to so many questions that didn't seem right before to me, such as the trinity. I couldn't grasp how the father and the son and the holy spirit were all one and the same. I didn't feel in my heart it was right. I couldn't understand how a priest had to be a part of the process of forgiveness. What if I wanted to speak with Heavenly Father on my own? I found my answers at Church meetings and in prayer and in scriptures. It is a wonderful thing. I wish you well, and I hope that your journey is a good one!

I'm assuming we are talking about same sex marrages here, but the way you put it alarmed me a little bit. I'm 28 years old (some would say young) and I have brain cancer. Because of my health problems I do not think I will ever have children. There are other people who have other health issues which causes them (due to no fault of their own) to not be able to reproduce. If we are going to say that, "There is only one kind of “living” or alive marriage by definition. That is the marriage (one whole or complete flesh) that defines the core elements of reproduction of life. Without that core a, marriage cannot be whole and the two are not “one”." Then I think we are taking away something from innocent people for no reason. I see no reason that I cannot be married and love my husband with the same love as another woman, who is healthy, has for her husband. Even more, does this mean that I cannot enjoy temple marrage, sealing, the joys of being a wife, exhaltation etc? I'm sure you did not mean any offense, and none is taken, I am just trying to illustrate that we cannot break this down into being so elimintal as reproduction vs sterile. =)

This brings to mind something I have always wondered... Why were some of us born earlier, and some of us born thousands of years later? I feel very blessed to have been born at a time when the restored gospel was available for me to accept! I was led to believe that just like this life is a step we must progress through in order to be ready for what is next, we had to be ready for this step, so yes, before we were born we were learning and progressing. That is the truth I feel in my heart as well.

movies: Schindler's (sp?) list (that was my pre-LDS life, might be rated R) Braveheart Dances with Wolves (I was a kid, but when Cisco (the horse) and Two Socks (the wolf) get shot I bawled my little eyes out, still would if I watched it again today) and just the other day (my boyfriend laughed at me, but...) I cried at the end of WallE And as for songs: I need thee every hour me and Emily (because I AM Emily)

First rule of trauma: All bleeding stops. Eventually.

My workplace is supposed to be haunted, and stuff comes up missing off my desk or gets broken. I'm not sure if is a coworker or janitor or what, but we always joke that the ghost just doesn't like me.

I think that sometimes we get caught up in the culture of being christians and forget that there are a lot of people in the world who are not christians, and yet they often times are more 'christian' than your average christian. I do think that a person's actions, regardless of their chosen faith, have a lot to do with how they manage after they pass away and while in this life. While I DO believe this is the one and only true church, I am sure there are people out there who are not LDS and who live more according to the wishes of Heavenly Father than I do on any given day. I don't think that their not being LDS makes them evil in the eyes of Heavenly Father. That said, I respect anyone living according to the wishes of Heavenly Father (being humble, kind, loving, charitable, etc), LDS, Buddist, or whatever. :)

very cool.

I firmly believe that everyone has the right to choose what is right for them and their family. That being said I want to share an experience. Before I became a member I distincly remember being in a restaurant and seeing a large family make a big deal out of saying a prayer. They joined hands and bowed their heads and it seemed like they went on forever. It actually kind of upset me, because when they were done, they all looked around to see who had seen them, and I got the feeling that they felt they were better than the rest of us because of what they had just done. Now, of course, I have a slightly different perspective, but whenever I am in a restaurant I am confronted with this question. I don't want to be like that family, but I do want to give thanks and bless my food. My second problem is that my boyfriend is a non member, so I don't really feel like he want's to be included in it, so what I have become accustomed to doing is as soon as the server puts the food on the table, I bow my head close my eyes, and as I get the napkin out and on my lap I say a quick, silent prayer, and bless both my and my boyfriend's food (and he never even knows!!! hee hee hee!). It works for me. =)

Okay, I have an idea. If we are worried about getting too much enjoyment out of the flavor of chewing gum during the fast, then chew a piece of gum all day the day before the fast. The flavor should be totally gone, and then you can save it for the next day!!! =) All joking aside, I really think that each and every person has to decide for themselves what is appropriate for them. I know that with all my medical problems there are things that I just can't do, and I have to draw lines and stick to them for my health, even tho fellow (good intentioned) church members try to get me to go above and beyond my limits. It is between me and Heavenly Father. I know that some of my sisters have given me funny looks because they don't understand that my blood sugar is dropping and I need to leave relief society NOW. I know that some people think my faith is not as strong because of little things like this, so I hope that everyone will realize that you cannot judge your neighbor because they are not fasting, or they bring a bottle of water to sacrament meeting or they are chewing gum, there may be a very good reason for it, and what they really need is more support to get them through what they are going through. just my 2 cents!