classylady

No thank you. And "fulness of the Holy Ghost?" Never heard of it until now. I've heard of the fulness of the priesthood and fulness of the gospel, though. If people lived up to their privileges, they would be taught as the people of Enoch were taught. They would have Zion. The riches of the world would be obsolete. The riches of heaven are an entirely different matter. In any case, I am partial to Hugh Nibley's words from such works as Approaching Zion and Zion, A Distant View.
 
 
 
and
 
 
and
 
 and
 
 
As far as possessing honor, glory, riches, power, etc, that comes later (D&C 76:50-58)
 
 

It will be in St. George next year - Nov 6 & 7.

I went, I enjoyed, I am going again. And again. And Again. 
We were 45 minutes late getting there. We hit bumper to bumper traffic. The Oregon Colosseum where our TOFW was held, also was FULL with other venues - Even with a handicap sticker, we had to park in the lower 20. 
 
Our rooms at the Red Lion Inn were wonderful. There was a 25 year celebration for one of the raido/tv stations. What a loud group. They met in the lobby for no-host drinks, then went in for their dinner. We couldn't hear to register - had to write notes back and forth with the hotel staff. 
 
At least on the trip to TOFW went at a steady 50 mile an hour clip until we hit the off ramp and downtown. We hit every red light! 
 
It was nice and quiet at the hotel that night - at least it was around my room. The two rooms where the other sisters were in nearer the lobby were across the hall from two suites. One was a wedding anniversary party and the other was a wedding couple. Both partied well into the wee hours. 
 
If it had been me across from them, I would not have hesitated to call the front desk at 3 AM and requested they quiet the party goers. 
 
We all met at the lobby at 7 AM, traveled 0.7 miles to Elmer's Restaurant for breakfast. There were two cars in the parking lot when we got there. Got seated, and then waited, and waited, and waited, etc., for 10 minutes for our waitress. We hailed a busboy going into the waitress/kitchen area - finally our waitress came, took our orders and left. NO one had a difficult, or long cook time order, yet after 20 minutes we still were not served. One loud: Waitress! brought her out to explain that orders for a table of 8 on the other side of the restaurant was up before us. What? When did they come in????
 
Because she took so long to initially get to us, they got waited on first. 
 
We were 10 minutes late for the start of TOFW because of that. Even though we told the hostess that we were in a rush, needing to get served ASAP - we knew what we wanted as we had red the menu online the night before.
 
I asked our waitress if Elmer's policy is that she share her tips with the hostess and/or cook staff? Yep. So she got poor tips from us. One of the sisters filled out the Courtesy cards too. Food was good - though my hollandaise sauce on my omelet was cool and not hot- and the eggs benedict eggs were way overcooked and with cold hollandaise also.  
 
TOFW - Saturday: It was great! Mary Ellen Edmunds - what a woman, what a sense of humor. She provided depth and humor in her The Sunbeam Influence. Tamu Smith & Zandra Vranes. Two black women (their words) teaching us how to live life with a little more SASS - http://tofw.com/Tamu_Smith_Zandra_Vranes_/p/48  . Mercy River, Whitney Johnson, D. Kelly Ogden, Laurel C. Day, Terryl and Fiona Givens, Sandra Turley. Josh Wright and Elaine Dalton. 
 
Coming home we stopped at Deseret Book Store, while there one of our sisters got a text regarding another sister in our branch. Sister Eva W had gone to the emergency room on friday with heart arrhythmia symptoms. Her condition worsened and she was taken to Corvallis by ambulance to the Good Sam's heart center. Corvallis is on our way home, and it was 6:45 PM -still visiting hours at the hospital. Could we please go see her? When we got there, she had just been taken into surgery - for quadruple bypass. Her daughter and son-in-law were there. 
 
Sister Eva W is a beloved sister to the entire branch. She has taught seminary for nearly 15 years, she is my favorite music director. The YW and the YM really like her - they actually seek her out at all of our branch activities! Actually she is one of my favorite people. She is type II diabetic and when I am in dire need of a supporting voice, she is it.
 
Back to TOFW - I am going next year. 2015 ~ Living Proof. 

The last 3 years I haven't even put up a Christmas tree.  With some kids gone it just didn't seem worth the effort. This year I will have all 3 of my kids around for Christmas so I'm doing the whole Christmas thing.  Excited about this.

My favorite season is from Thanksgiving to the New Year. I wish I still had young children at home. For me, to see the excitement in their eyes makes Christmas so much fun.

My favorite season is from Thanksgiving to the New Year. I wish I still had young children at home. For me, to see the excitement in their eyes makes Christmas so much fun.

I honestly don't know how to subtract "feelings" from the equation. Almost everything we do is based on feelings, i.e.: 1. the choice of a marriage partner (I would not want to marry someone who did not have feelings involved, 2. a spiritual witness of a testimony of the Gospel (for me, that was such a strong, spiritual emotional witness), 3. the choice to be baptized and confirmed. Strong feelings most likely existed to get to that point, 4. the choice to divorce (and along with the divorce the desire to have the sealing cancelled). There are very strong feelings attached to divorce. If a man or woman knows that they have absolutely no desire to be with their ex partner in the next life, even if repentance and forgiveness has happened, even if they have Christlike love for one another in the next life, then I think why not go ahead and cancel the sealing? 
 
Another thought I had, suppose the man is requesting the sealing to show respect for his current wife. Is that based on "feelings", or based on intellect? For the husband that may be intellect (if he wants to keep his marriage happy). For the current wife, that could be "feelings". If the current wife is insecure because of the husband's sealing to an ex spouse, then I see that as a logical, valid reason for the man to request a sealing cancellation, even if feelings are involved by the current wife, and that's the only reason he is requesting the sealing cancellation.

When one "feels" strongly that a sealing should be cancelled, has prayed about it, and has received an answer to that prayer, then why not get the sealing cancelled?  In the hereafter the sealing will be cancelled anyway. Why wait until then if it can be done now? No eternal blessings will be denied anyone. If it wasn't "okay" then the First Presidency would not cancel Sealings.

When one "feels" strongly that a sealing should be cancelled, has prayed about it, and has received an answer to that prayer, then why not get the sealing cancelled?  In the hereafter the sealing will be cancelled anyway. Why wait until then if it can be done now? No eternal blessings will be denied anyone. If it wasn't "okay" then the First Presidency would not cancel Sealings.

IMO, whom you are sealed to "matters". Otherwise, we would be going back to the early history of the church and just seal ourselves to whomever (prominent church leaders) we chose.

First, she has no stewardship over you; so you are not bound to accept the revelations she believes she has received.
 
And second, as Joseph Smith taught,
 
 
Don't be afraid to just take her experiences and say "I don't know if that's true or not; and I choose not to worry about it at present".  Now, if she starts getting all offended at that--you've got a problem, but it's not a theological one and it's your friendship, not your soul, that's at risk.
 
Incidentally:  Visions of Glory is highly problematic.  See, e.g., this review.

whose reality?  (rhetorical)
 
Seriously, If it helps bring a little less worry and peace to someone's life then it matters.  
 
Just about everything in this life is about "feelings".  We're even commanded regarding a "feeling".  

IMO, whom you are sealed to "matters". Otherwise, we would be going back to the early history of the church and just seal ourselves to whomever (prominent church leaders) we chose.

Blah blah blah
 
Is it not enough that mirkwood is humiliating me on facebook?  

What is one of your favorite days of the year?
 
Mine is Thanksgiving. Especially now that we are in this Branch in Oregon. We all gather at Church on Thanksgiving around 1pm for a real feast. Roast Turkey, Ham, mashed potatoes, funeral potatoes, variety of salads, breads, desserts (including pumpkin pie (this year I am making my Grandma's deep dish pumpkin pie - actually two of them). I may even make 4 or 6 loaves of homemade whole wheat (grind the grain myself) bread. 
 
Then we linger and visit for several hours. The Branch is my family now - and I really enjoy being with them. 

It is not a matter of "logic". Logic is the process of using truths we already know as building blocks to prove the existence of other truths, things that must necessarily arise from what we know now. For example, the First Presidency taught of the existence of a heavenly Mother by using a sort of logical argument stating that the existence of an exalted Man or "Father" necessarily implied the existence of an exalted Woman or "Mother". There are many different forms of logic, but I know of none that would allow us to take our current imprecise and partial understandings of this topic and use them to prove that "kingdom progression" must necessarily exist.
 
You could argue (quite convincingly) that the scriptural and prophetic teachings seem to imply that "kingdom progression" does not happen -- and I would probably agree with you -- but that still does not constitute proof in any rigidly logical sense. We really can't use logic to establish the facts one way or the other.
 
But that doesn't mean both are equally likely or equally reasonable. We do not have a public revelation of the truths of these matters; I rather suspect we don't know enough to understand those answers, even if they were given to us. We are thus left to grope in the dimness, offering opinions and telling stories as to why our suspicions ought to be valued over someone else's. Here's mine:
 
In evolutionary biology -- a topic that interests me greatly, but that I have no real expertise in past the dedicated spectator level, so take the literality of my examples with a grain of salt -- living things are classified according to a taxonomy that starts (depending on which taxonomy you like best) with the organism's "kingdom". There are several kingdoms, varying depending again on which taxonomy you want to follow, and they typically have names like Animals, Plants, Amoebas, Slime molds, Fungi, and so forth.
 
Within each kingdom you find an astonishing variety of living things. "Animals" include things ranging from an all-but-invisibly-tiny water bear to the 100+-foot-long, nearly half-million-pound blue whale, from a millipede to a moose, from a lobster on the bottom of the sea to a mountain goat at 15,000 feet, from a fish sailing through the water to a hawk sailing through the air. All of these are part of the Animal kingdom.
 
If you look at, say, the Plant kingdom, you will see an equally astounding variety of living things, from duckweed that looks like cornmeal floating on the water to giant redwood trees nearly 400 feet tall (think of it!), from pansies to cacti, from Kentucky bluegrass to carnivorous (!!) Venus flytraps.
 
Some very long time ago indeed, possibly billions of years ago, these separate kingdoms of organisms were thought to have had common ancestors. But at some point, some organism took the path of becoming Animals and some took the path of becoming Plants. Today, hundreds of millions or perhaps billions of years later, both types of beings (or rather, their descendants) exist and flourish. But a Plant and its descendants will never become Animals. Never. They are of the Plant kingdom. That branch divided a very, very, very long time ago. That choice was made anciently. It can and will never be undone. Plants may, and surely will, continue evolving and developing in all sorts of astounding directions, but they will never become Animals. And Animals will never become Plants. It makes absolutely no sense to suggest that any living thing would "progress" from one kingdom to another. Such an idea doesn't even make sense. A Plant and an Animal are both "living things", but they are of completely different types.
 
I believe the "kingdoms" spoken of in the Doctrine and Covenants are of a somewhat similar nature. All such kingdoms of glory are comprised of human souls, just as all taxonomic kingdoms are comprised of living things. All such kingdoms of glory will offer progression to their inhabitants, just as Plant and Animal species, and indeed all living things, progress through the generations with varying rates and types of change. But the divisions have taken place. Plants are not Animals, and never will be. In the same sense, we are choosing this day how we want to exist. We make our choices now, in this life, while we draw breath, and perhaps also in the next while we await the Resurrection. But the time will come when our choice will have been made. We will have set ourselves on our eternal course, and our loving and generous Father will do all that can be done to help us further ourselves along that path.
 
But make no mistake, they are separate paths, and the further along them we go, the further they separate. And those paths never cross each other.
 
An elm tree spends no time wishing it were a buffalo. For the most part, and with only a few bizarre exceptions, a person spends no time wishing he were a protozoan. In my opinion, it will be so in the next life; I don't see that those in a "lower" kingdom will spend any time thinking about how great it would be if they were in a "higher" kingdom.
 
But our Lord has told us that we will gain a maximum of joy and eternal happiness, literally beyond our ability to understand, if we seek honestly and intently for exaltation. I believe him, and so I seek.

Post us a picture if you did.
 
 
Here is a teaser for my outfit tonight.
 
 

 
 

From what our Bishop told us, requests for sealing cancellations by both men and women are more flexible than in the past. Years ago, a sealing wouldn't be cancelled unless and until the woman was getting married again, and she wanted to be sealed to her new husband. Now, women (and men) may request a sealing cancellation at any time after a divorce.

There's been some debate and questions on whether men may request sealing cancellations from their ex spouse/s. I have no actual church statement, but when my husband went in and asked our Bishop about requesting a sealing cancellation from his ex wife, the Bishop said "No problem." In fact, the Bishop even asked why it had taken my husband so long to come in and request the cancellation. (He's been divorced for over 34 years.) My husband replied that he didn't think it was an option available to men.
 
It took quite some time to get all the particulars done, i.e.: a letter needed to be written explaining circumstances of divorce, the ex spouse contacted from the bishop to make sure there were no issues, and then an interview with the Stake President. After the interview with the Stake President, it took less than two weeks for the reply from the First Presidency.  The Sealing Cancellation has been granted!
 
My husband feels so relieved:  "like an albatross around my neck has been removed."
 
Hope this helps anyone with any questions about whether a man may request a sealing cancellation.
 
 
 

Classylady, Thank you for posting.  I've wondered about that and in discussions over the years was often told "why does it matter?"  But it can matter.  I'm glad there is an answer to the question.

There's been some debate and questions on whether men may request sealing cancellations from their ex spouse/s. I have no actual church statement, but when my husband went in and asked our Bishop about requesting a sealing cancellation from his ex wife, the Bishop said "No problem." In fact, the Bishop even asked why it had taken my husband so long to come in and request the cancellation. (He's been divorced for over 34 years.) My husband replied that he didn't think it was an option available to men.
 
It took quite some time to get all the particulars done, i.e.: a letter needed to be written explaining circumstances of divorce, the ex spouse contacted from the bishop to make sure there were no issues, and then an interview with the Stake President. After the interview with the Stake President, it took less than two weeks for the reply from the First Presidency.  The Sealing Cancellation has been granted!
 
My husband feels so relieved:  "like an albatross around my neck has been removed."
 
Hope this helps anyone with any questions about whether a man may request a sealing cancellation.
 
 
 

There's been some debate and questions on whether men may request sealing cancellations from their ex spouse/s. I have no actual church statement, but when my husband went in and asked our Bishop about requesting a sealing cancellation from his ex wife, the Bishop said "No problem." In fact, the Bishop even asked why it had taken my husband so long to come in and request the cancellation. (He's been divorced for over 34 years.) My husband replied that he didn't think it was an option available to men.
 
It took quite some time to get all the particulars done, i.e.: a letter needed to be written explaining circumstances of divorce, the ex spouse contacted from the bishop to make sure there were no issues, and then an interview with the Stake President. After the interview with the Stake President, it took less than two weeks for the reply from the First Presidency.  The Sealing Cancellation has been granted!
 
My husband feels so relieved:  "like an albatross around my neck has been removed."
 
Hope this helps anyone with any questions about whether a man may request a sealing cancellation.
 
 
 

There's been some debate and questions on whether men may request sealing cancellations from their ex spouse/s. I have no actual church statement, but when my husband went in and asked our Bishop about requesting a sealing cancellation from his ex wife, the Bishop said "No problem." In fact, the Bishop even asked why it had taken my husband so long to come in and request the cancellation. (He's been divorced for over 34 years.) My husband replied that he didn't think it was an option available to men.
 
It took quite some time to get all the particulars done, i.e.: a letter needed to be written explaining circumstances of divorce, the ex spouse contacted from the bishop to make sure there were no issues, and then an interview with the Stake President. After the interview with the Stake President, it took less than two weeks for the reply from the First Presidency.  The Sealing Cancellation has been granted!
 
My husband feels so relieved:  "like an albatross around my neck has been removed."
 
Hope this helps anyone with any questions about whether a man may request a sealing cancellation.