Sunday21

Dear Vort, Yes it is a bit like that...and rather sad... The book is by turns insightful, funny, and frustrating. In one sense, I want to recommend that young women's leaders read the book to understand what some women are going through but on the other hand, what is the point? If you are considering walking towards the great and spacious building what can be done for you? Not much, I think. The Bishop asked me if I would like to be Young Women's leader, not a call but asking about my circumstances. I was not able to be Young Women's leader at that time but.. I am interested in the issues associated with helping Young Women remain in the church. Helping Young Women remain in the church is a complex issue. If I was raising a girl, I do not know if I would explicitly bring up some of the issues. Bluntly, I am not sure if being open about some of the issues is really a good idea. Another thing about this book, it is well-written in terms of sentence structure, engrossing, raises provocative questions. On the other hand, there is profanity. Not a lot but it is there. Why the massive increase in profanity, obscenity and just plain nastiness in the media in the last 10 years? Think "Game of Thrones", Breaking Bad etc. What is going on? The media has dramatically increased in questionable content in the last decade to the extent that it is challenging to find "lds friendly" material. If your goal is to have the Holy Ghost with you at all times, then entertainment has become a thorny problem.

??? even for a Scottish person who grew up with a recipe for haggis (10" by 20") hung up in the kitchen, with directions to include eye balls, this makes me queasy!

I suspect that 1) not every parent is cut out to be a teacher 2) some parents do not want to spend more time with their children 3) some children do not want to spend more time with their parents.

So very, very happy for you! Now that you have done received the Holy Ghost, you will never be alone. You have friends in high places! ?

Hmmm! Warm there huh? Getting warmed up for a toasty hereafter? ? Little devil?

Hmmm! Warm there huh? Getting warmed up for a toasty hereafter? ? Little devil?

Groan!

I am reading, "The New York Regional Mormon Singles Dance" by Elna Baker. She describes her life as a twentyish Mormon girl living in New York City. It is by turns depressing, funny, and a bit shocking. It is odd that she feels the Spirit, has witnesses from the Holy Ghost but also resents the church. I may be wrong, as I am half way through the book, but I feel she is moving towards inactivity.

Yes this is weird. I have had relative strangers ask me if I am Jewish. I am blond, blue eyed with pale skin. I think it is because I always look familiar. People always think they know me from somewhere.

My neighbors are Jewish. They are very nice. Very approachable.

I am reading this. Any Jewish dog has my sympathies!

Thank you. I am trying this!

What really bothers me is that parents and young people here, perhaps not in the us, often assume that if a university offers a degree that you can find a job with that degree. Why do I say this? I keep meeting people who tell me so! People with degrees in forensics and psychology!

In my ward, the Relief Society brings the food and the Priesthood cleans up. In Hell, the Priesthood brings the food and the Relief Society cleans up!

Why not build a temple in another location in Jerusalem? Were previous temples built on the exact same spot?

I don't know about tranfering credits. Almost everyone in my sister's program is part time. Apparently you can write a paper really fast, get comments and then rewrite. My sister can't bring herself to do this.

It is my personal theory that deep down all Mormons feel they are Jewish, having spent so much time following the exploits of Lehi's descendants wandering round the America's, we feel part of the family!

Thanks so much! I did not realize that the temple was a mandatory feature. I confess I was picturing a rather jolly barbecue!

From what my sister tells me, no arbiter, no appeal and stiff deadlines. In my sister's degree program, there is an impossible project that represents a must do final project. Apparently the other students that she corresponds with fake the project. My sister is a couple of courses away from this capstone project. We are trying to figure out what to do! Very worried!

Dear Aish, so pleased you are here! In the Book of Mormon, those who follow the law of Moses sometimes make an animal sacrifice. For example in Mosiah, the people have a big meeting and they bring a long a first born lamb to sacrifice. Are animal sacrifices part of Jewish observations of the law of Moses? Perhaps only in certain denominations? Perhaps the practice is archaic?

Dear Lehi, my sister is doing her masters through Western Governers. It is significantly cheaper than many other options. Some problems though. The online class is run by a prof who does not mark the assignments. So the person teaching you is not the person evaluating you. Big problem. Very often the two parties have completely different ways of looking at an assignment. You are assigned someone to mentor you. This person is sympathetic but powerless and sometimes very useful and sometimes very useless.

Dear Bros and Sis's, Personal plead. I meet so many people through my job and church who have done a degree in an area where there are few employment opportunities eg education, forensics. There are also many people who go through a degree in which there are jobs but only if you get into the right stream, psychology, human kinetics, who never find out where the jobs are while studying so they can select courses accordingly. Could we spread the word, at least to the parents, that this behaviour is only a good idea if you have a trust fund? I was talking to a father as part of my job. He was going to steer his daughter into architecture -massive unemployment there in my country. I looked him full in the face and told him "it is nice to meet a man who is prepared to support his daughter for the rest of his life". He visibly paled. What if we routinely asked everyone who declares, "I am going to: work with autistic children, go into marketing (we have graduates from our very best universities standing by the side of the road with a sign saying 'give me my first job in marketing' every year), vet tech (minimum wage for the rest of your life), history, women's studies, geography (you need some very good connections to turn this into a job), It is very difficult to sustain life on minimum wage. Trying to both pay rent and run a car (very hard to live life without a car in many cities here) is very challenging. Poverty weights you down. It really bothers me when LDS parents say to me, oh my daughter will get married. She doesn't need to work. Well for one thing do you want to raise a daughter who needs to marry to survive? Have you ever read Jane Austen? Desperation is not a good state of mind in which to make a commitment for eternity. I wish I could persuade every parent to hire a math tutor! The demand for those in mathematically oriented subjects is so strong here, we can't keep them in school. By the way, if anyone knows a statistician who consults let me know!

We love you! Hang in there!

That is a downright lovely elephant! We are very proud of you. Pay no attention!