bl8tant

Given how much contention Monopoly usually causes in our family, I'd be OK with a church policy banning it.

A friend of mine calls alcohol "liquid stupid." I guess this is why.

I three it. (Nice drawing btw)

From one Marine to another, Semper Fi! Glad you're here. This is a great community and I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I have.

Born and raised in the South, did a 7-year stretch in the Ohio, and now live in the Bay Area. 1. Either. 2. Coke FTW 3. Either. It's hard to beat a good side of mac and cheese, but it can make a fine main dish too. 4. If you can use a fork to eat your biscuits and gravy, you don't have enough gravy. 5. Sweet, on the rare occasions when I eat 'em 6. Toilet paper? What happened to the Sears catalog? Under. 7. Scallions 8. Pee-cahn'. Any other pronunciation is false doctrine.

My wife had it done about 10 years ago. Her gastroenterologist thought removing it was necessary to cure her symptoms, but it turned out that she had celiac disease. Removing the gallbladder did nothing for the symptoms, but cutting out gluten did. Having said that, hers was done laparascopically and was pretty easy to recover from. IIRC she couldn't lift anything heavy for 4 weeks or so, but apart from that she was OK.

Interesting- I didn't know about Gonzaga. And yes, I was thinking about areas where proselyting missionaries cannot or do not serve. I figure humanitarian missionaries are pretty much everywhere.

A friend who's recently started reading the Book of Mormon asked me a question the other day: where do missionaries *not* currently serve? I think I got most of the easy ones: Some countries (Israel, Saudi Arabia, the UAE) prohibit missionaries for religious reasonsOthers, like China, Cuba, and North Korea, don't permit them on general principlesSome countries are too dangerous for missionaries to serve in (Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia)I'm guessing that there are areas in the US where missionaries aren't assigned, or don't work actively-- seems like, say, the Badlands or the area south of I-10 in the Atchafalaya probably aren't very fertile missionary areas. Is there a canonical list anywhere of places that don't allow missionaries, or where no missionaries are currently serving? Did I miss any major ones on the above list?

You can volunteer anywhere there's a local chapter. My experience has been that they are glad for any help that they get, and if you work with them more than once the odds of getting a referral are probably pretty good. That reminds me; I need to see when there are builds going on in my current area. I feel the urge to hammer.

I've been in love with this idea since reading Stephenson's Snow Crash, but have never really considered putting into practice much. Going through a divorce has given me new appreciation for the power of choosing specific terms carefully. Rossi's seminal book, Mom's House, Dad's House puts a lot of emphasis on using specific terms, like "my children's mother" instead of "ex-wife", and after trying it for a while I can see why. Naming something gives you a measure of control over it. That's part of the reason why various interest groups have tried to reclaim words like "queer": by redefining a once-pejorative term, they get to control what it means and how it's perceived. I think the Church as an entity understands this pretty well, as evidenced by the ongoing attempts to get people to call us the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints instead of just "Mormons", or the never-ending process of explaining that FLDS, RLDS, YFZ, etc. are not really "fundamentalist Mormons". Everything done in the Lord's name must be done in His way, and in many cases He has specified the wording that we should use--from the Lord's Prayer to the sheet posted in the font at the temple that tells you what wording to use while doing proxy baptisms to the wording of the Sacrament prayer. Interestingly, though, there are also many areas of Church practice and culture where standardized words have crept in unwanted. How many times have you heard people use the same trite phrases during a testimony meeting? (I mean this both to say that some people say the same thing every time and that different people use the same wording or phrases.) I think you're right that paying careful attention to how we name things, and how we express ourselves, can be a great source of power. Too bad I didn't follow my own advice or this post would have made more sense :)

This must be very difficult for you, CtR. FWIW I commend you for your integrity in confessing your wrongdoing and trying to make it right, no matter the outcome of the other man's disciplinary proceedings.

For me, there are four temples that stand out: the Atlanta temple is where I was endowed, and later sealed to my first wife and my sonsthe Seattle temple is where I was first able to take my sons onto the temple grounds and talk with them about what a wonderful and sacred place it ismy first temple trip with my oldest son was to the Columbus Ohio templemy first temple trip with my second-oldest son was in the Oakland templeHow about you?

That's neat, Traveler-- I think each of us have special feelings towards particular temples. I was endowed and later sealed in the Atlanta temple, so I will always have a soft spot for it. I love the Seattle temple (even though it's in Bellevue) because I was able to take my kids there for their first temple visits at a young age, and also because its Angel Moroni statue faces the wrong way. How about the rest of y'all? What temples are special to you, and why? (Maybe that's a topic for a new thread!)

Dravin, this has been hard for me to understand. Why are women so into the whole story line? Beats me. I can only imagine how the LDS world would react, though, if theaters full of adult *men* were screaming and cheering at a 17-year-old actress who took off her shirt. Sauce for the goose, and all that.

I love the view from the Oakland temple... except when it's foggy. Then it's like being inside a cold, damp cotton ball. On clear days, though, the terrace is wonderful!

You should see the group of Twilight fans from my ward who are heading to the three-movie marathon next week. A 41-year-old would fit right in.

Congratulations! That's a wonderful milestone. Here's to many more years of membership and growth in the Gospel for you!

I do not see the stream but it's not for technical reasons :)

I might agree more with this if you and I could come to an agreement on the difference between "ill effects" and "natural consequences." If the children are unhappy because their parents are getting divorced, I'd say that falls into both categories-- but the blame doesn't belong to the innocent spouse, but rather to the one whose fault the divorce is.[1] [1] Wow, grammar fail for me.

Then I guess I join Suzie in not understanding why you think it's deservedly so.

Deseret Book has Preach My Gospel for $9. The Church distribution center has it for $6. If you look around a bit, you'll see that Deseret sells many of the same things that the official Church sales outlet sells: scriptures, pictures, and so on. The difference: Deseret marks it up 15% or more. You're paying for their advertising, their retail stores, and so on. That's what makes them a business. If you don't like it, you certainly don't have to shop there, as virtually everything they sell (from the Book of Mormon up to Tom Clancy and Harry Potter books) is available elsewhere for less money.

Welcome!

I don't think HoosierGuy was saying that this was the way things should be; rather he was observing how they are. My own case fits this model exactly: I earn a great living. My wife is a stay-at-home mom. She has repeatedly decided not to take advantage of my offers to support her in finishing her college degree or working part-time outside the home. Now she's asked for a divorce. If we left the decision up to the judge, I can almost guarantee the likely outcome: she gets to continue being a stay-at-home parent, and I get to pay for it. That is neither right nor fair, but far too often it's what happens.

Welcome!