Melissa569

I think when the end comes, there is no way to survive it. And even if you could survive it, you probably wouldn't want to! Life in the aftermath would be just awful! You would constantly be fighting off all the other people who survived by chance, and were animal-like desperate, willing to kill for any survival supplies YOU had. Or any little gangs that formed, and decided they wanted to be the new rulers... The new weather patterns would be different, and unlivable. I would actually prefer to be the first to die, so I wouldn't have to witness all the horror, lol. I would just want to get it over with. We all have to die, weather we are worthy or not. We can't stay in these imperfect bodies for eternity. Some kind of "leaving this body" or at the very least "transforming" is going to have to happen. Even if its just transforming, still, in that case you would no longer be mortal, and your body would be totally different. So in that sense, I still consider it mortally dying. I think gathering in the home would be more logical (if you wanted to). The only reason I would gather together ANYWHERE, is to gather with my family, so we could die hugging each other, and saying everything we ever wanted to say, before it hits us. We can't all fit in and around the temples, there are too many of us. And then there's the fact that my uncle John and his wife (and only 2 of their 5 sons) are the ONLY members of my family who have ever set foot inside an LDS temple. And we have a HUGE family, like more than 200 people, because everyone from my grandparents to my cousins and siblings all have 4 to 8 kids (except me, haven't had any)! lol. So it wouldn't make much sense for the rest of us to travel anywhere, lol.

Um..... Gathering everyone together in a safe haven in anticipation of the second comming????? I don't think we should get carried away with such ideas. When I hear that, 2 ideas come to mind: "Jonestown" and "Heaven's Gate". No offense, but that idea really, REALLY creeps me out. I would never let anybody talk me into doing something like that.

VERY much agreed. I don't mind if a missionary wants to tell a joke. Weather you're a sales person, a missionary, or what--- If you can't lighten up and talk about normal things with people around you-- you're going to drive people away. Even Jesus lightened up here and there. In real life, sure, I've had missionaries who just sit there all stiff, with blank expressions, and do absolutley nothing but recite gospel quotes like one of those automated telephone response systems, with no personal touch going into their teaching visits. But I've also had missionaries who help me cook, help me do work, laugh and joke with us, look us in the eyes like we are actual people, and share their personal experiences... If I can't connect with someone (even if only for a short while), then I can't have a truly meaningful discussion with them about something as personal as religion... Lightening up puts people at ease! Acting like an automated machine scares people. Only when people are at ease do their defensive walls come down, and they open up to what you have to say. The smart missionaries learn that very quickly, and they seem to reach into people's (religious) hearts more effectively. You feel amazing and happy after they leave your home, and you look forward to their next visit. They make you feel like they are representing something that you DO want to be part of.

Most of the Christians I know believe that they will be with their family. Regardless of what the "official" belief is (which is usually just some old, fundamental thing floating around like a rumor, to make a certain religion look bad). As for LDS, I was always given the impression that if you weren't sealed in the temple, you would never see your family members again in heaven, or at the very least, you would no longer consider them your family in your heart, and they would no longer be labeled as your family by the rest of heaven. But I don't agree with that. If that impression is incorrect, then its incorrect. But the comment about "not loving certain people anymore in heaven" was based on the idea that in order to no longer be family (like say, if you weren't sealed), you would have to no longer love them. Which I don't think a heavenly being would do. We also have to remember that eveyone has their own idea of what a "hevenly eternity" is. As for not being able to have more children in lower kingdoms, well that's only a scary thought if you're with someone that you want to have children with. But understand, not everyone is. Earthly marriages are one thing. But I personally won't even CONSIDER getting sealed to a man, or having children with him, unless he makes me feel so loved and cherished, that I wanna crumble at his feet whenever I'm near him. And I mean makes me feel like I could burst right out of this body, and rearrange the heavens! Like there is nothing I couldn't (or wouldn't) do, lol. But the only man I've ever felt that way about is the mythical one who haunts my dreams, lol. Real relationships have just started out bland, and ended up painfully void. Thus for me, I doubt that children are going to be a big subject in this life, or the next. I don't think any of that is a bad thing. It just means I'm not a factory duplicate of someone else (niether are people who like having kids, I'm just saying).

You have my support, Elder. I think its just as easy to ignore bad influences online as it is in real life. And as for the new changes the church is making-- its like the Golden Gate Bridge: They made it flexible so it could move with the quakes.

skippy-- Hey, never trust a spiritual teacher who doesn't have a sense of humor :)

Mormons are not unique in the belief that families can be together in the heaven... If anything, Mormons are unique in the belief that families can still be broken apart in heaven, despite all of them believing in Christ and being decent people. As in anybody who wasn't sealed in a temple won't be family. Most other religions do not believe in this dividing of family. Most believe that anybody who doesn't end up in Hell, and believes in Christ, will still be family. And that anybody who was never taught to believe in Christ on earth, will be given the choice later. I think I may be counted as a "Jack Mormon" on this issue. And I'm sure I'll be opening up a big fat can of worms by saying this, but.... I don't understand exactly what is supposed to make a family no longer a family... I believe that a family is a pair or group of people who dearly love each other, and show deep concern for the welfare of one another. Plain and simple. They don't have to be blood related, or legally related. They don't even have to be in the same place! They just have to care about each other, wherever they might be. The only way to not be a family anymore, is to stop caring about each other. But in heaven, people always care about each other! In fact, they do so more there than they do down here. In any "kingdom" or level. That's what its all about. In some senses, everyone in heaven is just one great big family, because in heaven, we all know each other much better than we could know anyone down here. Very FEW people have nothing but all fully active, temple-sealed LDS family members on all sides and in all extensions of relation... Actually, I wouldn't even bet my $2 writing pen that anybody has that. So if it were true that families can be torn in half-- meaning half in a higher kingdom, half in a lower kindgom-- that would mean the half in the higher kingdom would have to stop caring about the half in the lower kingdoms. But don't you have to strive for perfection to get into the higher kingdoms? Well, love for half of your family just vanishing is not perfect. Heck, that's worse than earth. At least down here, most of us love our family for good, lol. Love should not be stronger on earth than it is in heaven. That's backward. I don't think heaven is about playing "king of the kill", being part of exclusive clique-like groups, and looking down your nose at everybody who's not in your group. That just doesn't sound like the kind of mentality that eternal, heavenly beings would have. I also get my opinions from what my mother saw after she was "clinically dead" but then revived. I tend to take the word of someone who's actually SEEN it, more than the word of anyone else. I may prefer the LDS church out of nostalgia from when I lived in Europe. But I don't believe that anybody is just going to stop loving people when they die. My mother still knew and loved her relatives during her experience. So I believe every decent person will.

I hope you can talk him into getting married. I find the best way to break through defenses like "Its just a piece of paper" is to say, "Ok, well if something makes no difference to you either way, but its extremely important to someone you love-- then where's the harm in doing it?". My cousin William (son of my uncle John, who is fairly respected in the church) and his wife were in the same situation. William stopped going to church for several years, depsite his parent's regular activity. Then he got into a fight, where he was nearly killed... Shortly thereafter, he met Gabby (his current wife). They fell in love and lived together for a while, unmarried. The near death expereince eventually made William want to go back to church. So the missionaries started comming by. Gabby (who had litterally been through the worst life experiences a woman could go through), had never really been taught much about god or the bible. Never went to any church before. But she was just blown away at the intense positive spirit a visit from the missionaries brought. She said every time they visited, after they left, she walked around on a cloud of happiness all day, which never happened before (by the way, same thing happens to us when they visit, lol). Gabby took an interest in the church, and was just blown away at how all the women stepped in and got involved with her. Her whole life, she was convinced nobody cared about her-- until she met my cousin. She wasn't a pitty pot, its just nobody ever reached out to her, or treated her like she mattered before. She and Will came back to church together. Gabby was baptized just a few months ago, and now she and Will are working hard to go to the temple eventually. As for the finances of your wedding... There are ways around that. Most marriage licences only cost $40 to $80, depending on your state. As for the ceremony, if you personally know the one who will do the ceremony, then you can work out deals. I don't know if LDS Bishops charge a fee for the ceremony (many pastors/reverends, etc. do). Our reverend in an out-of-state chapel only charged $150. Then you can do what my cousin William and his wife did this year-- Get permission to use the gym in your local ward for the reception. I helped set it up for William. We went to the Dollar Tree, the 99 cent store, and Party America and bought plastic table ware/utensils, table covers, artificial flowers, decorations, etc. (like the little colorful baggies, candies, and packages of 100 little fake silver and gold painted wedding rings, etc). We put a candy fillded baggie and gold/silver ring at each seat. We did a potluck buffet (each guest brought one dish, drink, or snack). One of the women in the ward was quite tallented with cake decorating, and she made the most lovely cake.... For free too! It only took her a few hours, and she really respected my cousin so she didn't mind. His bride simply wore a VERY pretty white dress (not a wedding gown, just a classy white satin dress she borrowed from someone) and we all did her hair up with little white "baby's breath" clipped in here and there... We did her makeup, her nails. She was as beautiful as any bride could be! All the women in the ward teamed up with decorating the gym. One of the husbands brought in his stereo with HUGE speakers, and we used William's ipod for the reception music. The whole thing probably costed less than $300 from Will and Gabby's pocket. The ceremony was beautiful, and the reception was fun, with great music and good food. Trust me, its doable. :)

I'll be honest, I don't really trust historical birth records. Mostly because remains of humans have been found (humans in our full behavioral / appearance modernity-- NOT the ape-like ones) from around 50,000 years ago. But even just 10,000 years ago, we didn't really have a decent writing system, even in the form of pictures. I do believe in god. I'm not an atheist. But I also know that science is finding things that simply don't match what our modified version of the bible says. This doesn't mean that the bible is not true. It just means there is a TON missing from it. If all the original biblical documents could be included, the bible would probably be the size of an encyclopedia, rather than one book! lol. So how can we just look at our one little extremely modified version (which by the way, has been re-written and re-translated so many times it isn't funny), and claim to know all of religious history, for sure? Even the name of Jesus has changed. They say Jesus that came from the Greek name of "Iesous" which in turn came from the Hebrew names of "Jehoshua" or "Joshua". Some say the true name of the Lord is "YAHWEH-YASHA." But of course, there are plenty of other translations and opinions. And that's just one word/name that cannot really be pinned down. The most famous name in the bible!! So clearly, less famous names are going to be extremely hard to track and confirm. Then there is the fact that billions of people have been born, lived a full life (moved away to far off lands, got married, had children, and died), without ever having had anything about themselves or their life officially documented in any way. Some of those people are our blood ancestors. When we run into those road blocks, all we can do is guess. As for how science ties into all this-- I've heard a lot of theories... For example, some experts have found that the words for certain numbers in the ancient languages often sounded or looked very much alike. And "hundreds" were sometimes confused with "thousands". And of course, early on, they didn't even have words or concepts for numbers as large as millions or billions. So naturally, even if our ancestors knew that the earth was more than 4.5 billion years old, even if God or an angel tried to tell them that in a vision--- there is no way they could have recorded a number like that, or conveyed it to us. They probably couldn't even comprehend it. We can barely wrap our minds around numbers that big today! So yes, in matters of when the earth was created and exactly when our race began-- there may very well be some mistakes in calculation. Doesn't mean the bible is not true, it just means humans aren't perfect in record keeping. As for the "part human, part ape" remains that are being found, and causing theories of evolution from apes... Well, there have been some cultures that were destroyed for perverting things, and mating with animals... I wouldn't put it past some of our ancestors... Its not like it hasn't been done before. Some scientists argue that it couldn't possibly be as simple as humans breeding with apes, because the ape half of these remains is unrelated to both prehistoric apes, and modern apes--- and the human half is unrelated to modern humans. Ok well... If they're really so "unrelated" to us modern creatures and to each other, then where do they get the idea that we CAME from them? Its really quite laughable in my opinion. Besides, DNA that old is really messed up and largely incomplete. Deteriorated by time, and missing most of its components. And even if they really are unrelated to our modern "species"-- that doesn't mean they didn't cross breed amongst themselves way back then. I DON'T believe we came from apes. I do believe in god, and Adam and Eve. But I also think our historical "time span" records, and our birth records are... A bit off, to say the least.

Beefche-- I agree, I too fully support this. I’m sure the church leaders have already considered and discussed all the possible outcomes of internet missionary work, good or bad-- and they have decided to allow it. Pam-- thank you for confirming that it is an official church activity, it seems you have looked into it. And thank you for the offering up other reasons why internet missionary work would be a great option for some people. Bigfoot, aka Elder Wright--- I’m not a moderator on this site or anything, but I would like to welcome you here. Thank you very much for joining the conversation. I hope you will be back, if its allowed. I’m glad that you and others are confirming that this is indeed a legitimate project with the church. Now I need to point my uncle John ( he's been a member for over 30 years) toward your blog and facebook page! Lol. Maybe even this forum thread. I tried to explain to him 2 days ago that missionaries are now allowed on Facebook and blogs, and that members of my ward regularly get updates from our local missionary this way--- But he didn’t believe me! He insisted that all missionaries involved in online work were lying to people about the church‘s approval, and going against the regulations. “Probably doing it with cell phones” he said. I kept insisting that I really thought it was legit, and that nobody would be able to get away with it otherwise. At least not for long. Even if many Bishops and MP’s don’t go online much, word would eventually travel back to them from members who DO go online a lot. My uncle still wouldn’t listen, lol. But maybe all this will help. As far as risks and distractions go, I think that with online work, a missionary is just going to have to take it upon his/herself to avoid things that are not allowed. Just like they do in real life. If a bad advertisement / page pops up, or if someone tries to send you inappropriate messages-- you just do the same thing you would do if someone drove by you in a car on the street blasting unapproved music, or walked up to you and propositioned you innaprorpiately-- Just ignore it and keep doing what you're supposed to be doing. :)

Man, that free candy van's got "Pedophile" written all over it...

As others have said, it may have been teens who were recently desciplined by the church. Or teens who have decided that they no longer believe what their parents believe. I know plenty of families like that, who are divided-- mom and dad are TBM. Brother is away on a mission. But rebellious sister is angry because nobody approves of her non-LDS boyfriend that she is "deeply in love with", etc... Or mom and dad recently converted to the chruch, in an attempt to correct their dysfunctional family, but their 2 wild teenage sons don't like all the rules and are completely disgusted at being forced to dress up every sunday... All very common tales. Not just our church either, of course. My aunt Sue and her husband are VERY strict Catholics. They run a farm raising cattle for butchering. Her husband is very tough and demanding on both of their sons (my cousins, of course). Their oldest son is a good boy, has good grades and a football scholarship. But their youngest son (Joe) is 17-years-old--- and a total nightmare! Joe purposely got himself kicked out of Catholic school. He has major authority problems with his father. He went totally goth (yeah, the black makeup, trench coats, and everything). Then declared he was both an atheist AND a vegetarian, just to defy his father, the religion, and the family business. He was getitng in trouble with the law, and actually kidnapped his own girlfriend for over a month! He stole thousands of dollars from his fathers under-the-bed cash reserve, and he drug his girlfriend around hiding in motels in and outside the county, all summer long. He wouldn't let her call home, and never left her alone, or let her speak to anyone. All because her parents forbid her to speak to him ever again. He finally let her go, but she won't press charges, because he has gang ties, and she is too scared. This is all AFTER Joe's father made him spend almost 2 years in a special "tough love" school over seas (it was like a miltirary camp almost), trying to whip the rebellious streak out of him. Joe threatened to return home completely unbroken, and worse than he was before-- and boy did he ever! lol. Nobody has any idea what to do with this kid... As for our church, I don't know how it happened, but 6 months ago, I was driving by our ward and I saw 2 HUGE cracking dents in the concrete wall in front of the church steps. It looked like 2 softball-sized cannon balls had been shot at the wall or something. They hadn't been there the week before. I reported it to my VT who told our bishop. The following week, it had been repaired. There's no way a car could have driven into it (too many trees and poles in the way), so it baffles me what could have been strong enough to do it.

Well I suppose I should explain my reasons for suggesting that, because reading back over it, it does sound a little bit "high school-ish", lol. Of course, I understand everyone's concern about not appearing to be playing games. I'm not into playing childish games either. But my concern is that a person can be disfellowshipped in some wards for being labeled a cheater. And there is really no way to prove anything (at least not on earth), its just her word against his. So to me, that's not a game or a joke at all-- its very serious business. The reason I suggested telling the bishop was because she is innocent, and she would only be telling the truth, by explaining it. I don't consider telling the truth playing games. I believe the only person who would be playing games in this situation, is the one who is making up lies (or at least threatening to, which I think is extremely immature of him). She will have to tell her bishop (and anyone higher) about her ex's threats no matter what, especially after her ex fulfills his threat. I mean sure, God knows the truth. But human church leaders are not mind readers. We are kind of stuck down here for the rest of our mortal lives. So we don't want to risk getting kicked out of the church during this life over something we didn't even do. When someone's church status is on the line, the last thing I am thinking about is games. I see it as being honest, and getting everything out in the open. But of course, its up to her weather she wants to do that now, or later. Hopefully the fact that she is still active in the church will work in her favor, while church leaders decide who is telling the truth and not.

Well, I don't know much about the process of breaking a seal, because I've never been sealed to anybody before. My parents, brothers and sisters want nothing to do with the church, and niether does my husband. We don't plan on having any children either, because things are just too rocky. I'm pretty sure the only way I ever will be sealed to anybody, is to marry someone else, lol. However, I do know that you need to out-smart your ex. Stay one step ahead of him, and check every move he makes. If he plans on telling your bishop that YOU were the one cheating, then make sure you get to your bishop first on the matter. Write out a letter similar to your original post, explining how your ex is claiming he will refuse to let you break the seal, and how he plans to spread lies about you being the cheater as a form of revenge. That way, even if your ex does do something like that, the bishop won't believe him. BUT-- Don't tell your ex what you are doing. Or he will think of a different lie to surprise you and the bishop with.

Wingnut-- Yikes, I certainly hope that’s not the case… If I were a missionary, I certainly would not want to risk it, if the church didn‘t ok it. With all the other church members on Facebook, I would be too afraid that it would find its way back to my bishop, the SP, or the MP, eventually just through talk. I was really shocked to see him and some of the others on there. I first saw them because I got a notification that my Visitor Teacher had just added them to her friends list. So I was like… Wait, what?? I followed the links to their pages, and yup, there they were! First names, pictures, and all, but still currently serving! So I went ahead and added them too. Then I saw our missionary online, and shot him an IM, saying, “Hey! What on earth are you doing on here?? Lol. I mean its good to see you and all, but still, I didn‘t think it was allowed…” And here’s his reply, copied directly: “Haha thanks. I'm on here because our mission has been assigned to pilot an online proselyting program using social networks, blogs, etc. Just a few of us were selected to do it. We are sort of a pioneering group, it's pretty crazy, but it's way sweet! They’re just seeing how it goes for now.” Maya-- True, if its church-approved and well monitored (like from the bishop‘s office, or the church library, as both have internet access), I think its helpful. On our elders page, I see tons of mission work photos like community service, baptism photos, links to his blog, and blogs of church leaders, videos from the mormon missionary channel on YouTube, lots of neat things. And encouragement for everyone to “Suggest him as a friend to our non-member friends”. Gwen-- I agree about the benefits in maturity concerning the “detachment from mom and dad”. My cousin Johnny just came home from his mission. Before he went, he was extremely shy and quiet, kept to himself a lot and had no clue what he wanted to do with his life. When you finally did get a word or reaction out of him, it was really goofy and “little-boy-ish”. But now he’s confident, outspoken, focused, and he has solid goals he’s actively chasing after. Personality wise, I hardly recognize him, lol (in a good sense). But I’m sure these guys online are still doing plenty of in-person work. Whenever I see them online, its only for like a half hour in the evening. The rest of the day, they’re out and about doing the usual stuff. Now if they just converted to 100% online missionary work, and stopped doing door-to-door visits, home teachings, and community activities, etc.-- THAT I would have a huge problem with. Because they would miss out on everything that really changes a person for the better while on a mission (hard work, early hours, responsibility, social interaction, etc.). Pam-- Hmm, its possible. I saw the phone our guys have, and it was actually pretty fancy! Lol. I asked to see it for a second, and it had just about every feature you could name. Although I really feel that a strict policy to accessing Facebook only from a bishop’s office or a church library would be safer and more focused for them, because they couldn’t just log on any old time and place.

Possibly if they were alone, but I'm pretty sure they're being watched. Because something makes me doubt they would be allowed free access to the internet, with nobody around. I mean it just doesn't sound like something the church would ever allow. Hopefully it is just elders/sisters who live in other member's homes, and its the household computer, with members/companions sitting close by like within view of the screen, or something.

Hmmmm, that's an interesting question! All I know is, I see them singned on anywhere between 6pm and 8pm in the evening. I do know some of them don't have their own apartment, some are taken in by other church members, like older couples who's kids have moved out, or single members of their own gender. Maybe the members they live with have internet access. If that's the case, I'm sure they are well monitored.

Are there other areas doing this too? Some of the missionaries around our county are now allowed to have Facebook accounts, and add all the other members of the church as friends, to chat in the evenings and such. Of course I know that many missionaries have family memebrs back home who created facebook pages for them for family and close friends to follow and get regular updates. Some send their journal entries home, along with digital cam memory chips and the families update the pages regularly with what is sent home... But in this case, our local missionaries get to sign into facebook themselves in the evenings, and talk to people, etc. And the young ones too, not just the married couples. I just finished chatting in the instant message feature with our local missionary. He was just sharing the news that the ward had 2 more baptisms today :) . I've added several others as friends too, because I've seen them all hanging around the stake center. Although I'm not sure I agree with most of them putting their first names in their account screen names... I mean I personally don't care, but I do worry about security for them. Its kind of new and weird and to know the first names of your local missionaries, hahaha. I still respectfully call them Elder though. They share different church fan pages with everyone, links to church websites, and send out ward event invitations. Also share scripture quotes and ward news as status updates. Hmmmmm, this could very well be a new way of reaching out to people! Like even if members don't make it to chuch that day, or they are just generally less active, they can still catch up with them when most of them are hanging out online in the evenings. And its pretty easy for them to find local members on Facebook too, because of course everyone's first and last names are registered in the church. :)

Never knew that. Now I know why all my international pen pal letters back in high school were so beaten up, lol.

Wow... That was one intense chase dream, lol.

Hmmm, interesting :) Looks like my name peaked in the 1970's at around #3? Stange how in the 1800's, it was a bit circulated, but almost gone in the 1920's... Wonder what the 20's had against my name? lol. But around my birth year, it was #7. Not bad, I guess.

Would I change? No. Not unless I personally wanted to, like if I saw my own habits as destructive enough to bother me. Or unless everyone who was bothered by my "habit" allowed me to pick out a habit of theirs that I didn't like, and change right a long with me. What right do they have to point at me and say, "You're imperfect. You should change." ? Even if they do say it nicely. They're imperfect, with annoying habits too. We all are. Besides, if you're a decent person, you should never ask someone else to do something that you yourself are not willing to do.

I personally don't care for (most) rap. There have been a few songs that I kind of liked, but most are just and bunch of cussing, and promoting how wonderful and honroable it is to lead a life of crime. I know that sounds like something a goody-goody would say, but that really is how I feel.

Dravin-- "There could be other issues like one of them having celiac's, diabetes, high cholesterol or what have you." Very true, I didn't even consider that :) OP--- I see lots of drinks at LDS functions: * Fruit juice (lemonade, Kool Aid, etc) or punch * Water * Caffeine-free soda * You could have iced *decaf* tea or coffee, I guess (like the kind at Starbucks), technically it doesn't break the rules. But you would have to constantly reassure people that its decaf, and even then there's still some debate. * Hot cocoa (I know its a hot drink, but hey, the church/Deseret MANUFACTURES hot cocoa mix, so how bad can it be?) I certainly drink all the above on a regular basis :)

The thing is, if someone else came with them, he would be traveling with them. AKA alone with them for the travel. And they can't be alone with a man. So the only 3rd party who coud travel with them is another woman. Same deal, only reversed for male missionaries. It wasn't always like this. Or at least if it was, they didn't always obey it so strictly. When I was 12, my father and I lived alone (parents had just gotten divorced). So the church was paying a lot of attention to me and my dad, trying to help us through it. One evening, I was home alone and my dad called me from his work to tell me he was going to be an hour late getting home. He was usually home by 5pm, but this time it would be 6pm. Well, our male missionaries came at 6pm. They'd been comming over once a week for about a month, so we knew them. Dad still wasn't home at the time. I told them dad was due to get home any minute, though. So they just came inside and waited (in their defence, it was FREEZING outside, and they were on bikes). They were perfect gentleman. They just sat on the couch, while I sat in a chair across from them, and they challenged me to some light-hearted geography trivia until dad got home (ten minutes later). I never felt uncomfortable with them at all. And when my parents were still married, but mom was home with only me, the missionaries from our other ward would also come in and hang out with us. If the other kids were home, they would chase us kids around the house, play catch with us in the back yard, and even pick us up and swing us around like an airplane... Then they would give all us kids a big group hug when they left. We LOVED our Elder, lol. They can't do that now though, I've heard. A lot has changed. Even the girl missionaries told us they're not allowed to hold people's babies.