MaMeeshkaMow

So my wife and I are renewing our temple recommends. Well, we did the "bishop" part of it in December of 2011. We were of course planning to get our stake president interviews done, but then stake boundaries changed, building changed and we had tons of things going on. Fast forward to now. We want to renew them. Do we have to start all over again or can we just get the stake president one done? The time frame is 2 years now, instead of one, right? Worthiness is the same too....(except for temple attendance)

Prog Music mostly! Porcupine Tree, Discipline, Neal Morse... I'm currently listening to Ginger Wildheart's 555% triple album. The best album this year!!!

I'm a video game fanatic, but when my wife comes home from work, I turn it off right away. Then we try to find activities that we like in common (tennis, watching tv shows we both like)....what's kind of interesting is she comes from a country where there are lots of maids who do the housework, so I end up doing a lot of it. Even when I'm engaged in cleaning, she wants more time with me (and complains which at first I thought at least it was a good thing I was doing, haha). So I learned that I need to spend more time with her even when I think my activity is "worthy"..... Advice: Find activities you both like doing. But on a side note, you should let him pursue a hobby and suggest a time frame. There's always going to be something that both parties don't share in interest....

Don't use Bittorrent sites and those Russian mp3 sites. But there is a legal site called Iomoio where you pay 1-3 dollars per album instead of the 9.99 on Itunes. It has a good selection too.

I credit "The Hobbit" with helping me get better grades. In 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade, I was getting horrible grades/scores on everything. My reading teacher suggested I read "The Hobbit" in 6th grade. I could not put it down. It was the first time I found the magic of reading. It was so cool to see images in my head as I read. It was like a movie in my head. All my grades went up to straight A's because you can see everything in reading (spelling, grammar, sequences, etc). Now it will be a movie from Jackson!!! So excited!!

I didn't know that Traveler. That's cool to know. I know that the sacrament is important and I agree it shouldn't be replaced (I was just contemplating a hierarchy of covenants).... I almost got to the opinion that temple covenants were more sacred/important than baptismal/sacrament ones but I thought of something. Let me back up a little. I was almost leaning towards that thought when I thought of how helping others (like doing baptisms for the dead) in the acts of charity outweigh acts for oneself (renewing one's baptismal covenants)...but then I thought you need to always take care of yourself before you are able to help others. In other words, working on one's spiritual health is a good stepping stone to helping others (like for the dead)...I really like the sequential concept of covenants....

The purpose of this whole question is to see how one could get out of giving talks on Sundays. haha, just kidding.... I know that making a covenant, in of itself, can be a very spiritual experience. Do you think there is a "hierarchal" of covenants? In other words, could one say that temple covenants are deeper than the sacrament ones? Go even further. Have you had more spiritual experiences in the temple than in the sacrament meeting room? If the answer is yes, why couldn't Sunday temple service be considered?

Dang, now it was quoted. My bad. I was just contemplating ways maybe temple work could increase....of course there is the Millennium. I wonder how many days of the week will temple work be done then....will there be 7 days of destruction, so one day will be a day of rest (just after the last destruction before Millennium)...

Sorry, that was maybe too specific....just trying to answer the manpower question.

Cards to help?

I have a question. I always hear about how temple attendance can always be higher (don't know stats). It might not just be because of "unworthiness", but about how people have a hard time making time during the week. What if temples were open on Sundays? I know we call it temple work, but the concept of helping the dead is different than let's say, selling retail on Sundays... I know there needs to be a day of rest but the motion of going to church for 3 hours...how would that be so different than participating a couple hours at a temple? Which brings me to another question. I know a couple who go to the temple more than church which is ironic because one of the questions of the temple recommend is if they attend church regularly....anyway, both places can help you remember Christ, both places help you make important covenants....what if you could have a choice to go to either one on Sunday...what would you choose? Discuss maybe the pros and cons of the idea of temple work on Sundays....

Any of you guys get "stuck" in Nursery because your kids will have major fits if you leave? I try to at least make it to Priesthood class but I'm late oftentimes. Do you think I can renew my Temple Recommend? I'm at church for all three hours but I'm stuck in Nursery a lot. I help the workers there.

So a bishop and some members responsible for the attack represent the whole church? Now, if it was the prophet Brigham Young who did it, that would represent the whole church. I think the Prophet represents the whole, and a bishop represents a tiny part of the church. Remember that missionary in the Book of Mormon who was messing with a prostitute? His actions were horrible but it did not represent the whole church.

Start Heaps and have Riley in when they are in the red zone=BYU becomes better. Heaps the DRIVER and Nelson the FINISHER! Plus you will confuse the opposing team's defense. They are not a bad team, a bit confused at times and Doman needs more confidence. I think when Doman loses confidence, it rubs off on Heaps. Nelson doesn't let that get in his head.

I narrow it down to 3 phases of existence: 1) physical 2) spiritual 3) mental/mind. Exercise and good diet helps number 1. Scriptures/prayer/church, etc help number 2. If these activities are not helping number 3, meds can help along with the support of family/friends. Nothing should be done in isolation. The balance of the mind comes from the balance of your daily experience...

So you know how when life is hard, sometimes you slip into bad habits, prideful cycles, etc? What about bishops? What if they mess up with something, a sin.....do they have to go to the stake president? What is their support system like? Just curious...

My Mom told me a story of when one night when my parents lived in Arizona, along with my older brother, she had a visit from evil spirits. She was putting my older brother to bed and he started to cry like crazy, but differently than hunger needs, change diapers needs....She then felt that horrible cold chill down the spine and soon after, the walls were banging with knocking sounds. All around the walls. It got even freakier when the roof started to have knocking sounds on it and then underneath from below. All around knocking. After about 5 minutes of this constant evil presence, my Dad came home from work and came in (has priesthood) and it all went away. The house was blessed and nothing happened after but it was a chill reminder that evil spirits can haunt in this realm of reality. If you think about the third of heaven being cast down to be demons, the possibilities of evil haunting is high. Now it's interesting we don't talk a lot about guardian angels in the church but we know they are there. Perhaps we don't have many of these evil experiences because these guardians might be hard at work fending them off. I'm guessing one guardian angel can handle many demons at once because of how much stronger the power of God is compared to the influence of the Devil. It's power versus influence I think. I'm guessing we were guardian angels to people before we were born. Perhaps that is an assignment to see what earthly life would be like. Perhaps because of these guardian angel experiences, we are foreordained to be able to battle evil in mortality....

I just listened to a song this morning that is pretty spiritual. He's a progressive Christian music artist named Neal Morse. He has a song called "I am willing" that is touching...I'll tell you my favorite part at the end: I AM WILLING : Jesus, is it true what they are saying? You know in my heart I've always been praying. 'Cause I feel something. Is it You that I feel? Hold me and show me You're real. For I am willing, and I am broken, All I want is the life You have spoken. Oh Father, if I give you my life You come turn my night to day For I am willing, You don't have to break me I don't know why You would die just to save me Oh Father come and take me now. Jesus, spirit deep as an ocean, I need You and not just emotion. If You can truly live here within me, Let this be our great beginning. For I am willing, and I am broken, All I want is the life You have spoken. Oh Father, if I give you my life You come turn my night to day For I am willing, You don't have to break me Take all that I have don't forsake me For I am willing, I am broken All I want is the life You have spoken Let the sleeper be awoken Now. All I want is You, All I want is You Father come and take me now. It sounds like you are going through a "night" phase but remember the night is a natural part of life's cycle. Give everything to God, your whole soul and he will cause the "the sleeper to be awoken", the "stranger" in your soul. Here's a positive aspect to your suffering: The fact you know you're in a bad place says that the "stranger" in your soul is calling out for a change. Knowing you need to change something is inspiration from God. Keep the faith and be willing to change.

That is so awesome of BYU to do that. They could have just put him on "probation" and wait until the season is over. But they did the right thing. I think it shows how much integrity BYU has. Now wouldn't it be great if BYU wins the whole thing? The critics say no now but that would be sweet. Even if they lost in the first round, BYU would be considered (in my book) #1 in honesty, integrity and courage. That is better than any trophy!!

If you're planning to go to the temple, don't watch "The Exorcist" the day before. Made that mistake by accident (was on cable tv). Some images take a long time to get out of your head and this is one of those movies that stick with you for the wrong reasons.

Thanks guys. We've been more diligent in attending everything since the interview with the bishop. There are times when I think I might faint because of being so tired (our 1 month baby does the usual 3 hour gapper for feeding at night) but God seems to lift me up and gets me going. I think of the story of Joseph Smith getting tarred and feather but he still did his duty the next day. I love stories of tough commitment because it helps me put things in perspective. THen I think of my own bishop. He is my age, has 3 little kids and probably starts his Sundays at 7:00 or so and stays much past 4:00. Another example of how the natural man (I need sleep!!!) can delay spiritual progression. Thanks guys!

Ok, so here is the situation. My wife and I have been semi-active in the church. What I mean is we probably average 2-3 times a month going to all 3 meetings. The times we don't go is sometimes we feel so dang tired (both of us work with 2 kids under 2 years old so we sleep...bad excuse I know). Anyway, our temple recommends expired a year ago so we wanted to renew them. So we go to the bishop and ask what we need to do before we go back. He wants full attendance (which is understandable) but the kicker was he set a temple goal of going back in May/June of 2011. MY immediate reaction was it sounded harsh and a long way...I mean I heard of people not going back for a year because of fornication sins but 6 months for not being totally active... Now, I don't want to complain about leaders. I'm not that person. He's a great guy. Is this a normal thing? IT made my wife cry a lot because she was looking forward to going back soon. IS this normal policy? Thanks!

Thanks everyone. The baby blessing went great. I was nervous for the first couple sentences but then it rolled quite nice. If anyone was going to say I sounded nervous, I was ready to say it was a spiritual and emotional experience (which is true!!).

I'm blessing my second child this Sunday and I'm feeling really nervous. Those that have lots of experience with baby blessings, can you give me tips? Also, is it true I shouldn't say the following things: "by the power of the Melchizedek priesthood" should I say in the name of Jesus Christ and by the authority of the Melchizedek priesthood or JUST by the authority of the Melchizedek priesthood... "the name he shall be known by throughout his life and on the church records is...."or should it be the name he will be known by is..... Any other advice is appreciated on right words and tips to deal with being nervous. Thanks!!!!

Hello there, I've been hearing a lot about the book series called "Standing in Holy Places", which is about families living in the last days/Second Coming. My question for you is do you think the Second Coming is going to be in our lifetimes? What do you feel about that? Also, is it true the Church is buying lands all over to set up "safe havens" where people would gather to for the Second Coming? What is your belief on how the righteous will be saved and the evil destroyed at the Second Coming? If these safe zones are going to be set up, are these the designated places where the Earth won't be destroyed? Even though God is all powerful, it doesn't seem likely he would go "house by house" to save the righteous and destroy the wicked? Could it be that the Lord is revealing to the prophet where to buy land because He knows those are the places that will be safe? I've always wondered why the boy scouts/girl scout programs are encouraged so much in the Church. Besides individual progression, could it serve a purpose in that, maybe in these future safe zones, knowing how to live in the"wilderness" will be beneficial? If the prophet announced it was time to gather in safezones, could you leave everything behind? Could you live the law of consecration? If you knew there were people in the safezones that didn't contribute food storage and you did, would you have a grudge against them? What are your thoughts and feelings about the end?