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I was baptized when I was 16. Although I had some contact with the missionaries, most of my preparation was through ward leaders and one of my high school teachers. My parents allowed my baptism, but weren't terribly supportive. I was determined to learn what I needed to know to be completely active in the Church so I kept learning (and making mistakes). I was able to attend BYU which helped me a great deal. I think that if you are considering joining the Church, the most important thing is that you have a solid testimony of the Gospel, especially of Jesus Christ. After that, things will come along in their own time. Oh, and, just for the record, this all happened nearly forty years ago. I can remember it so clearly as my baptism was one of the most important turning points of my whole life.

Congratulations! Such a beautiful part of the world.

Congratulations!

I say 'go for it'! Find a good skydiving business that will allow you to tandem jump. Gives you a chance to have the experience without worrying about having to remember when to pull the cord. lol. I went about seven years ago when my middle son turned 18 (the minimum age to jump). We had a wonderful time! The company had us go through an hour long training program and then off we went. My husband was such a downer about the whole thing that I wouldn't let him come out to the drop zone on jump day. He had to watch the video afterwards. I'll admit that ferris wheels are not my favorite things...ski lifts are even worse. Skydiving is NOTHING like that. I had absolutely no fear on the day we jumped. Had the biggest adrenalin rush of my life! And, since it didn't happen if there weren't any pictures... (My tandem instructor and I. He's the one with the beard. lol.)

Happy Birthday Pam!

Congratulations to you and your son! My son served in that mission about 10 years ago. He absolutely loved it. He dreams about returning with his family (including his momma. lol.)

Congratulations!

Congratulations to you and your son!

I can't wait!

He's a little excited to come home as he's missed a lot...the birth of twin nephews, his brother's wedding. He's looking forward to meeting all the new family members. On the other hand, he loves both the country and its people very much. He has spent a great deal of his mission going barefoot, which he loves, and eating native food, which he also loves. Apparently, he is not a picky eater at all anymore. One of his favorite new special meals is fruit bat. I have no clue where we'd be able to get those around here.

Thanks for the support everyone! It is really wonderful to have sons who have been so willing to serve the Lord. And, as a family, we have really benefited from the blessings associated with having a missionary out. But we are a very close knit family, too, and the absence of anyone even temporarily is hard on us all. My granddaughter, who is 4, went with us to the MTC on the day that we dropped our missionary off. She is so excited to have him back that she's been driving her mom crazy asking when Uncle will be home. Her mom finally helped her make a calendar chain to keep track of the days when he will be back.

Got some really wonderful news yesterday. Our missionary is coming home on May 15th! He's been serving in the Fiji Suva mission, but since he's in the French-speaking part of the mission, he's been in New Caledonia and the Loyalty Islands the whole time. Needless to say, I'm thrilled to have him come home! Here's a picture taken near his home on Lifou: I have to say, third time has NOT been the charm. This is my third son that has served a full-time mission and it hasn't gotten any easier. My only solace is that it'll be at least 13 years until my grandchildren are ready to go.

Congrats Jennarator!

While I understand the prophet's directive to limit ourselves to one earring per ear, I'm not sure that 'enforcing' the idea at girls' camp is a good one. In our stake, camp has proven to be a great way to fellowship less active and even some non-LDS girls. So, with this guideline in place, does that mean a young woman who is unwilling to remove her piercings but would otherwise come to camp be unwelcome? Seems to me that camp should be more about fellowship and less about appearances.

That's great news! I wish them lots of happiness together.

I was really shocked when I read the news report on KSL.com earlier. Never ever thought it would come to this. And I am really hoping that the story doesn't end here. The Cox family still needs the closure that finishing the investigation would provide. My heart is breaking for them.

We have a lot of food storage. A lot. lol. We do not, however, have thousands of pounds of products that we'd never eat. We only store what we eat. And I make sure that we eat what we store. Our most recent experience that made us really glad for food storage occurred when my (adult, living on his own) son lost his job for almost six months. While he was scrambling to find another job, the unemployment check that he received just barely covered his mortgage. Our financial situation (missionary in the field) wouldn't really allow us to provide funds to help him out. The food storage came to the rescue when he came about once a week and 'shopped' in my storage room instead of going to the grocery. That said, I'm not really sure that the guidelines concerning food storage are really just about the food. I know that for our family, the goal of storing food has caused us to learn a lot of new skills. We have a huge garden that produces enough fresh food during the summer months for fourteen people. We also bottle, freeze and dry hundreds of pounds of fruit and vegetables to go into storage. I've learned how to prepare and save seed and also manage a not-very-big food budget so that it stretches to include storage items. And the last thought to this novel (lol!) is that I think that storing food is about obedience. We're not always taught they 'whys' of commandments, just the 'to-do's'. Many might presume that a commandment to store food is about needing the food later. Maybe it's about showing obedience to every commandment.

We have a son out on a mission now and, quite frankly, supporting him financially is quite a sacrifice for us. That said, it is something that we, as a couple, decided that we would do many years ago and it is not a burden. This is our third missionary to serve. My husband and I decided to fund their missions so that they could focus on first high school and then college rather than working many hours to save up what can be a daunting sum of money. And, this is MY opinion, but the real sacrifice of having a child go on a mission has nothing to do with money. It is very difficult to have a child thousands of miles away, to have limited contact and to worry about every tsunami, cyclone and earthquake that hits the South Pacific! *said tongue a bit in cheek* We're planning, once we get this last mission paid for (four months! Wahoo!), to begin to save for our grandchildren's missions so that the total burden for their expenses doesn't land on their parents.

We spoke to our missionary son in the South Pacific earlier tonight (Christmas Eve). Because he's a day ahead, we got a real treat at our family dinner tonight! We were able to Skype for the first time and it was wonderful. Got to see not only our missionary but his companion and the awesome member family that invited them over. Best Christmas present I'll get this year for sure!

Happy Birthday Pam!

You have my sympathy. What a difficult time for you! I can't, of course, give you any definitive answers as to your brother's future, but I can share an experience that I had that might give you some new perspective. Several years ago, a friend (who was also a neighbor) committed suicide following several years of depression and prescription drug addiction. I was devastated to lose her, but was even more devastated by the attitudes of some of our other, supposedly righteous LDS neighbors. I simply couldn't wrap my head around the idea that a woman who was in so much pain would lose her family forever, too. When I sought out my Bishop for counsel, he said that he was inspired to let me know that she was not in full control of her actions at the time of her suicide. The drugs, addiction and depression had robbed her of her free agency to such a point that he (the Bishop) didn't believe that she would have to bear the full weight of her actions at the judgement bar. I prayed about his counsel and felt assurance that all would be well for her and that, at last, she had found some peace. Best wishes to you and your family.

Congratulations! Marina is beautiful!

Congrats on earning your Personal Progress. That's a BIG accomplishment. The program came out long after I was in YW, but I've spent a lot of time as a leader. Hope your example encourages others to keep working!

That was hilarious! Thanks for the link.

Ugh. This bring back some awful memories from when my paternal grandmother died. She'd spent much of their lives setting my father, uncle and aunts against each other, so it shouldn't have surprised anyone when most of them were at each other's throats after her death. She'd made some bequests, but not all the items and funds that some thought they were entitled to. Truthfully, that adversarial period destroyed my father's relationship with his sisters completely. I don't know that they ever spoke in the thirty-something years before he died. Needless to say, I was pretty worried when it came time to settle my parents estate. I love my brothers deeply and didn't want anything to come between us. When I spoke of my concerns, one brother said "We'll love you no matter how you handle things." And he meant it. Fortunately, we were able to get it all done without incident and we're as close as ever. I guess the point I'm trying to make is that this can be a difficult time for families in the best of circumstances. When the deceased has set things up to make the situation adversarial on purpose, it can put everyone in a nearly impossible situation. This family has my sympathy.