Mahone

I attended a ward in France a couple of times too. Though we had no such luck as the two different branches, we just had an American missionary translate the more important stuff - one of the newer missionaries actually appeared to be very relieved to see some English speaking people again. It turned out he was having great difficultly picking up the language and it was becoming a barrier for him.

Does your dad know the stake president/bishop well, or hold a prominent position by any chance? Here, I'd assume the person conducting the interview felt he already knew the answers to the questions or felt embarassed asking them. Either way, he has to ask them regardless of who it is he is interviewing.

The person conducting the interview may be a little forgetful. The question regarding garments is only asked if the person has previously been endowed (for obvious reasons) so they may forget they have to add this in on some interviews. It's easily done.

There are more inconspicuous dangers to facebook as well. People seem to treat it as they would with e-mails to friends, without considering the fact that facebook is a public website. Even if you set your page to private, there are ways of seeing at least the basic content of it, and sometimes all of it. Do not say anything on any public website that you would not want your wife, children, bishop or employer to see. Because the chances are, they probably will. There has been a massive increase over the last couple of years of people being fired at work for something they have said online, on a public website.

Had the same thing happen to me. I was given one alternative. As you live in the USA, your options may be considerably more varied. But wherever you are, there is generally something that you can do as viable alternative to a proselytizing mission. Ask your bishop.

At least that suggests you are both optimists. You could have said "the lawn is half unmowed". It's pretty hot here actually. I went out and bought a coat and scarf, thinking it'd be freezing cold at this time of year, but if the temperature was the sole factor being taken into account, anyone would have thought it was still summer.

Well this article I read today has shocked me a bit. Basically, the Church of England has invoked a British law that was written over 800 years ago in order to squeeze over £200,000 ($326,624) from a couple of who own a nearby farmhouse. Couple forced to sell farm for £500,000 to pay for repair bill at church where Shakespeare's parents married | Mail Online I only live about 15 miles from where this whole fiasco has taken place.

That isn't really what they are supposed to have said, but yes your point is valid.

Missionaries are still human while on their mission. It's not against the rules to have attraction to others while serving your mission because this is just human nature. It is however against the rules to act upon that while serving your mission. Once the mission is over, the restrictions that were on you are lifted and if you want to date/marry the person you liked while on a mission, there is no issue with that, regardless of where you originally met. I've never heard a mission president suggest what you said, but if he did then it's his personal opinion and I'm sure most of us known someone who married a person they met on their mission.

I think this must be something that happens in the USA only because I've never, ever known something like this happen in the UK and we owned several (mostly black) cats over a period of years. That could well be because halloween is something completely different over here. We don't get streets crowded with kids knocking on doors asking for sweets. Most people are lucky if they even get one group of kids knocking on their door. About the most people do here is attend a halloween party with the kids.

I asked my mum once some years ago why she signed them from herself, when it was such a dead give away. She responded that she didn't want to give him all the credit for doing something he didn't do

Lol does heather even read the forums, or just what her attention is directed to by the moderators?

Absolutely not true. Do junkies get bored of drugs eventually? I think you are getting the words "hobby" and "addiction" confused. You might get bored of a hobby and not do it again, but clearly lostsheep is beyond bored of porn, and is absolutely sick of it, but still can't stop looking at it. That is what an addiction is. This however quite possibly has some degree of truth to it. What is forbidden suddenly becomes more tempting :)

When the boiler breaks... don't fix it But seriously, I don't use any kind of central heating in my flat and it gets pretty cold in the UK in winter. I purposely chose a top floor flat, so I could steal the heat from those below me It's worked like a charm so far.

I believe they send them out to LDS families in the local area as well, in the nearest MTC to myself. One thing I'll personally never forget about the MTC - the food! Absolutely second to none, they have a very high budget in this department

You're welcome. I aim to please

We tend to have a mixture of all four. On christmas morning, it's mainly focused on the children in the family; so largely based around presents and father christmas. Throughout the day we spent time together as a family, doing things we rarely get to do throughout the rest of the year. And the evening is spent taking the children through the reasons why we really celebrate christmas and then watching a film as a family. I personally don't think it'd be necessary to remove father christmas from the equation. There is also the issue of not everyone in my family being a believing christian. On a lighter note, as kids did any of you wonder why presents from father christmas were signed "with love from mum and dad"? I remember asking that question a couple of times, only to be met with blank stares

Not everyone... These screenshots were taken from a forum called the flat earth society. Now I can emphasize with most skeptics but...

Some very interesting information in this thread, particularly regarding ADHD.

You mean this happened at some point?

Am I the only one who actually enjoys the commercialism? I like seeing shops displaying christmas decorations and enjoy walking around listening to the more conventional christmas music. As for when I actually "start" christmas personally, well, I do all my christmas shopping on christmas eve - there is a method in my madness as well, I find that shopping under pressure helps me to think of things to purchase for people. If I do it any earlier, I end up wondering around aimlessly for hours thinking "but they already have everything".

If by "drying out", you mean to the extent that they become painful, the only time I've ever known this happen to me was when I was suffering from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, which caused me to panic about disease and illness, and as a result of this caused me to wash my hands rather excessively. I would suggest you are going to extremes if this is happening.

You'll spend your first christmas in the MTC. That is a great experience, seriously - not something all missionaries get to do. The advantage of leaving just before christmas is obviously you'll be home just before christmas in two years as well, which is also nice :)

Good point, I didn't even read them so didn't notice that.

They are breaking the rules. If I remember correctly, the missionary handbook (which applies to all missions worldwide) states clearly that the only websites the missionary is authorised to visit throughout the duration of their mission are ldsmail.net (for their e-mail) and any other website offically owned by the church. They are not even allowed to have their own third party e-mail account. They have to use church run e-mail accounts. However, while they may be breaking the rules, Dravin is right in saying they do have time to do stuff like this on p-day. Providing they do the other stuff they are supposed to do on p-day, they can pretty much spend the day doing what they want, within reason. They are only human like the rest of us, they need a little time off too.