lost87

i haven't been to church in a while now, and honestly, when I really think about it, I don't really want to talk to him anymore anyways. At this point I just feel like I'm a burden and someone he has to try to avoid and I hate that. I think i'll just handle things on my own and wait for however much longer until we get a new bishop.

I have been leaving messages on his answering machine. My dad is the EQ president and calls the bishop often on the same number...and when he leaves a message our bishop always calls him back within the day. So I am certain that I am calling the correct number and that his answering machine is working.

What do you do when neither your executive secretary nor bishop will return calls/emails? I have called and left messages about once every other week (so as not to be annoying) to both and sent emails at about the same rate...i don't want to be obsessive or difficult but I really do need to talk to him. It has been almost 7 months and I've not heard back from either of them. My plan of action over the past few months has just been to stop going to church because I'm obviously not getting anywhere anyways...but obviously that isn't the right approach. I just got so frustrated because I had gone 6 months of staying morally clean and wanted to talk to my bishop and see what else I needed to do to be worthy to take the sacrament (its been over 2 years now since I have) I've been on probation for about 9 months and haven't been able to talk to him since june of 09, I just feel like I'm in limbo and making absolutely no progress regardless of how hard I was trying. I don't know what to do and I can't get anything scheduled with him to find out....this is so frustrating and it just got too hard to keep going to church and get no where. So...when your bishop stops caring/responding what are you supposed to do?

I am with Beefche, definately NOT a tiny accomplishment....HUGE! You are awesome and I am soooooooooooo proud of you! we both know what a struggle that is and you've done it! that is so fantastic!

22 years old as of a month ago....sad day. getting old isn't very fun.

I am sorry btw if you felt as though you were being attacked. I was VERY put off by the comment of the church "aiding and abetting criminals" and it really got my blood boiling. Too many people assume that if someone is a different color or speak a different language then they are here illegally and as a result there are way too many good and honest people being treated like scum. It just breaks my heart...and really kinda infuriates me that these people who are probably already having a very difficult time adjusting to the new ward are seen by others within the ward as "criminals".

Going to your bishop with suggestions like Pam talked about is a great idea! He has a lot on his plate and probably isn't even remotely aware of the situation. Here is one idea that i saw in a ward I visited in Russia.. - headsets....it may be a little expensive to get started, but one ward I was in had a headsets for the non-english speaking individuals to use...one bilingual person would sit in the back of the meeting and whisper the translation of all that was being said into the mic, which would then be transmitted to everyone wearing a headset....it worked great! Also, you couldn't even hear the whispering of the translator so it wasn't at all distracting. This would be a piece of cake to implement in sacrament meeting if your ward or stake could fit it in the budget, however it would be a little more difficult once everyone separated into classes. -another idea is to change the teaching style of classroom lessons. A lot of times relief society/sunday school classes consist of one person standing infront of all others and teaching, thats great if everyone can understand, but causes issues if such isn't the case. What if on occasion lessons became more of a group discussion (i've found that these often provide the most learning anyway!) divide the class so that those who spoke spanish could work together and discuss a topic and similarly with those who spoke english, then have a spokesperson in each group (bilingual) for the spanish group who could then relay the information gleened in group conversation. granted this isn't something that would work for every lesson, but maybe 10 or so minutes could be divided this way to make everyone feel like they were contributing? - Finally, a more long term solution would be finding people willing to conduct a weekly english class teaching gospel terms...it would take a while to see results, but church words aren't often used in everyday language so they are often the last to be learned by a new english speaker, specifically addressing them for an hour each week could significantly speed that process up and eventually break down the language barrier and difficulties your ward is experiencing. Those are just a few ideas, and its possible that none would work in your ward, but if you take it to the bishop and the Lord and sincerely look for the best solution to help everyone out then i am sure you'll be able to work it all out.

FYI...that was MY post not Pam's....and if you are going to post a request for advice on a forum you ought to be prepared to hear some advice that isn't exactly tailored to what you want to hear...I am not in the catering business.

you'd be surprised at how well your real feelings shine through....especially when you are viewing the members as "criminals"....i don't think its a "nasty conclusion" at all to think that the new spanish speaking members of the ward are feeling some of your angst. In fact, I'd say its a pretty naive conclusion to say that they have no idea that you dislike the situation so much.

and btw...if you decide to stop going to church don't think that the "i couldn't focus" excuse will work at the pearly gates. You can't blame it on someone else. As another perspective...i've been to LDS congregations in Russia, Bulgaria, Germany, France, Holland, and Italy and in EVERY single meeting whether it was a ward or branch of 8 people, I was greeted with open arms and provided very in depth translations of everything that was said in all meetings...Christ like love and compassion requires us to step a little out of our comfort zone and share the gospel of Christ with ALL, not just those who wouldn't be a distraction during sacrament meeting.

just to let you know...we had a Mhong family move into our ward in middle tennessee...don't know what Mhong is? yeah I didn't either, thats because there aren't all that many of them....but guess what, you sure as heck better believe we got them a translator! why? because our ward is our family and the Lord's children speak all different kinds of languages, but they are still His children and all deserve the same....He isn't ethnocentric...He isn't an "english" only kind of guy. Our sacrament meetings are full of the translators voice and it really doesn't bother anyone at all....in fact, for me personally it just further testifies of the truth of Gospel and the goodness of the Lord and ADDS a tremendous amount to each meeting. It kinda sounds like you have a bit of a vendetta against the hispanic/latino population that you really need to get over quick.

I posted a car on ebay motors in the classifieds section and it sold for my asking price in less than 48 hours...i'd try that out...just include as many pictures as you possibly can, undercarriage, engine, EVERYTHING you can think of, makes people more confidant that they aren't getting ripped off, and have carfax in hand to show people who come to look at it.

ok....i would think that "basic" would be what I would learn in a lvl one foreign language class...i.e colors, numbers, cat, dog, where is the bathroom etc...Im pretty sure that words like atonement, redemption, salvation, eternity, covenant, etc wouldn't be included in a "basic" understanding of english. Therefore, it is entirely understandable that an individual who qualified for citizenship with their basic english abilities may still struggle in the church setting don't you think? Not to mention all those who are LEGALLY here but are not citizens..they are not required to speak english. Here is my struggle with the OP....you are sitting at church and thinking that the spanish speaking person next to you (a fellow ward member who you ought to be fellowshipping and treating like family) is a criminal simply because they need a translator....there are SOOOO many things wrong with that picture that all stem back to the most BASIC of gospel doctrines.

Even if this is all fake, which I don't know that I agree with....what the heck does it hurt to provide hope just in case? Reading the uplifting responses from everyone here has helped me, and I'm sure that I am not the only one....so why limit your testimony to situations that only you deem worthy? Maybe its not real, but im sure that you won't lose points for trying to help anyway...so maybe we can stop searching for the lies and just start testifying of truth?

this is what came to my mind when I read the OP.... When you are married legally within the US you not only make a commitment to your spouse, but you make a legal contract with the government regarding that union. Thats why we sign a marriage license. Any other time you break a legal contract with the government...i.e. taxes, identification records, voter registration...all of those little things...any infringement of the contract is a punishable crime...you can spend serious time for fraud or purgory, or any number of crimes related to breaking a contract with the government....in that case, why should breaking your marriage contract which is a legal and government upheld commitment be any different? I think it would be feasible to say that adultry was a crime if you looked at it in this light

is there a reference for that? Thanks!

immunoglobin

carbs!

when my little brother (6 yrs now) was 2 he started saying "oh my goodness!" except for that he couldn't pronounce it right so it came out "oh my nooness!" and he always said it when something sad happened...it was the most heart meltinly adorable thing i have heard out of a childs mouth!

stuck (when i was 4 I got stuck in an elevator and my mom left without me )

yo-yo

strawberry shortcake

i don't know if they did or not...but if not, can you imagine the stress on eve when she had her first baby and there was an apparent whole in its stomach! imagine a brand new mother that has never seen a child before and doesn't have a belly button trying to process it!

F-16 but thats not really a word, so just in case....Thunderbird

Perhaps there is no account of God asking someone to strap a bomb to themselves to kill people in the scriptures...then again, that COULD be because there weren't really bombs back then, IDK, just a thought. On the flip side though, there are countless points in the scriptures where God does indeed ask someone to kill another...so perhaps Moksha's comparison isn't as ridiculous stretch as you paint it to be? in Dan's defense though, it does just kinda seem like a poll brought up to argue a point endlessly, no matter what a person posts it seems there are a series of broken down responses point by point in an attempt to prove wrong or convince of alternate beliefs...people are giving their honest beliefs, it seems that one of the common differences is the belief that A) a bishop has the authority to make a request of that magnitude on his own, or B) a request such as the one you pose would need to come from higher up, because it is outside of the bishops responsibilities. I tend to agree with the latter of the two options. A bishop has stewardship of his ward only, and I can think of no circumstance where it would even be conceivable for this "what if" to occur...that perhaps is part of the danger of "'what if's" we get so wrapped up in the diferences of opinion and thinking that one way must be better than another, or there is only one "right" answer, and we forget that the entire situation to begin with is a hypothetical and impossible circumstance...whats the point in going on and on to prove that one side or the other is right when the question is fake anyways? I think this thread is taking the whole "what if" a little far...