Sunday21

Canadians are frequently described as ‘mostly white people’. they mean that we are boring. Can’t dance, no style, can’t cook, can’t jump. Went to a restaurant described as ‘traditional and mostly white people’ in Ottawa. The description fit like a glove. All the customers were old white people. Like something out of the last days of the RAJ. Pukka Shabih? @MormonGator would know the term. Fine linen tablecloths, fine china and cutlery and very very over cooked food. Surely being referred to as ‘mostly white people’ cannot be an insult more a gentle pulling of the leg.

Dear @Texan So good of you to join us? Ahh the gentle concession of Texans and the province of Quebec!

Maybe time to relocate that base? Sell land for big profit square foot by square foot on eBay. Use proceeds to move to another site?

WANT AD: Thirty missionaries for elaborate practical joke. I confess I do not know why I think this is funny, nor do I know what situation might be referred to, but I keep picturing a nice pleasant missionary reading this ad and saying ‘Sure. Why not?’ I need a New Yorker cartoonist to illustrate.

I was proud when I saw the young Saint on Stranger things. Smart, sassy and smart!

@JGarcia Glad to know you! Pleased that you are here!

Dear Smart IT people, I am frequently in the situation of allowing technical support onto my computer eg Adobe. I never save passwords or user ids to my computer. I worry that if I then later pay bills from my computer that I may have a problem with security. What do you think? Many thanks!

Dear Folks, I was trying to get into the ward directory to send a chirpy thank you to a helpful sister (admit you have done this! It’s not just Canadians!). I could not get into the ward directory. Is anyone else having this proble? But the new changes to the site are amazing! So well laid out! The graphics! And the messages that pop up really are poignant! Maybe I could send a chirpy ‘thank you’ to the site developers? What talent! @NeuroTypical and @zil probably work there!

No kidding! That is kinda awesome!

Goodbye

This is so true! Both on dating sites and in person! However, it does give you a lot of practice in saying, ‘No’. Church ladies need lots of practice in saying this golden word which becomes absolutely vital with each step that you take into the relationship. Get a copy of ‘For the strength of youth’ and keep it in your purse. You will probably have to hit someone over the head with it at some point! Maybe they should issue a heavier copy? I guarantee you that you will be saying ‘No’ ‘No’ ‘No’ throughout the whole dating process. Actually ‘No, not till you are divorced’. Is the easiest ‘No’. The ‘But just come in for a moment while I find this very interesting Ensign article’ moments are trickier. Keep a journal! I promise that you will have enough material for a hysterical blog in at least six months. Let us know how it goes! By the way, some of the octopuses that I encountered went on to hold high positions in the stake. It is only by the grace of God, that I have avoided serving under bros who assured me that the LOC did not apply to them! Try to find it funny! We live in a small world and you will likely end up being friends with their wives and children.

My sheep stealing ancestors had some reasons for their actions. I know that we lol know the following but it makes me fell good to defend my ancestors. The Scottish (not English as claimed by popular culture) wanted to increase revenues. To increase revenues they turned the peasants off the land and left them to starve. The Scottish landlords waltzed off to London to party But were made fun of by the English. Served the landlords right! The English made fun of the Scottish landlords while the Scottish landlords made fun of the peasants. The peasants understandably responded by stealing the sheep. They had few other choices. Those peasants with more funds emigrated. My ancestors were too poor. I went to a graveyard in Lusk with a long line of gravestones labelled Robert xxx. Hung for stealing sheep. I wonder how they were able to afford a headstone? Anyway. I view them as survivors. Those peasants closer to the sea survived by collecting, selling and eating seaweed. Anyway ... all caused by social climbing Scottish landlords who were then snubbed by the English. Many of the more well off scots went to the new world along with the Irish. Many Irish famines occurred during which the English parliamentarians happily stood back and watched as the bodies of my ancestors were eaten by wild dogs. Queen Victoria persuaded foreign governments not to help. My theory is that the ancestors of the scots and Irish contributed to the civil war by refusing to give up slaves and therefore their incomes because they lived in the shadow of the starvation of their ancestors thus contributing to the deaths of many young men in the civil war. So if we could all be more understanding of the plight of others and establish a more just society, we would avoid many problems.

Hope you all have a great time! @pam Goodluck with the move! Be careful, those Texans like to shoot people!

I bet you do have really interesting ancestors! And one day, you will hear the great stories!

Old bailey transcripts for family history. If you have English criminals as ancestors.https://www.oldbaileyonline.org/ Before conversion, I was discussing my clan’s history with a genealogy expert. He told me to check Scottish hanging records. I was immediately insulted. Yeah. He was right! Here is another source for those of us with loose ancestors. Probably a more tactful way to put this!

I didn’t even notice! Thanks for this!

@dprh So glad that you are here! We are very pleased to help!

@Traveler So sorry to hear this! What a drag. And those tickets were probably expensive too! My sympathies!

Church picnic tomorrow! Hope that it does not rain!

I once fell asleep in a train. Woke up to find myself alone, in the dark with the train car shuttled into a shed. Pre cell phones. I managed to get out through a very circuitous route. Union station Toronto. Missed my connecting train of course.

How upsetting for everyone involved!

@Alia. I am not sure if this has been mentioned but...Are you perhaps depressed? Sometimes medication is very helpful.

I was the roving substitute teacher for awhile. We had a mixed gender class of teenagers that no one wanted to teach so teachers would not show up or would try to get out of the calling. One of the teenagers, young lady, had a very obvious disability. Possibly in reaction to this disability, her parents let her be as nasty as she wanted to be. She liked being nasty. I was asked to teach her Sunday School class when I arrived at sacrament. No warning as to the issues with the class. As students entered the class, she would make spiteful remarks. I realized later that she insulted the poor and the less popular. I asked her to leave the class. The class was shocked but we went on with the lesson fine. I talked to the Sunday School president about the cruel young woman. He was keen to help until I told him the name of the young woman. As soon as he heard who was the problem, he backed away from me in horror, saying ‘Oh No!”. Her parents are both pillars of the church. I called both parents individually. They were both angry with me. I just said that the young woman had been rude to other students. The mother was very very angry with me. The father listed the operations that his daughter had recently had. I made no comment. The young woman left a strangled apology on my voice mail. She then spent the rest of my tenure with my class hiding in the bathroom. She shortly afterwards went inactive. The parents now speak to me again but they avoided me for awhile. I think that the church has a duty of care to class participants. We should offer a psychologically safe place within reasonable boundaries. Thus, we preach in such a way as to sooth the weary but to motivate the comfortable. This approach is reasonable in a religious setting. Everyone and particularly the youth, should find church classes to be a place where they are valued as children of God despite how the world sees them. To obtain a safe place, I will remove those who are disruptive. I will immediately eject those who are cruel. This is my approach but I am the only teacher who ever ejected this young woman from class or made any type of objection to her behaviour. Yes I asked around and there were quite a few exteachers to talk to! I may be the reason for the loss of this young woman. I had a younger brother who died at 17. He had many very difficult health problems. He was a monster at home but my mother would never allow him to act-out outside the home for the practical reason that we needed the good will of the various authority figures. It was very clear that my brother’s behaviour was drastically different between home and elsewhere. I guess that sometimes, especially in front of a class and particularly if you have no assistance that you have to choose between the many or the one. I teach as part of my work related duties and I make clear that some behaviours are unacceptable and will result in ejection from class. I do this on day one of class. So if your wife has the benefit of your presence, for a lesson or two, you could try something like this: Try to find out what specific behaviours are the problem. Calling out insults in class? You and wife, could have a class in which class members begin by working individually to make a list of unacceptable behaviours ( to avoid Group Think. This is part of the Nominal Group Method). I would start this class by discussing the nature of Jesus. I would steer the conversation to the times that Jesus was kind to those who were socially unacceptable eg woman with issue of blood. Think about that in a hot climate! I would stress that at church we are kind to everyone as was Jesus and stress the value of each child of God. I would begin the class by saying the every voice is respected and all are expected to show respect for each other. This approach should help set the tone. So back to Nominal Group Method, you then lead a class discussion as to acceptable and unacceptable behavior. Each individual makes their own list. The lists are then shared with the class. While the class is working individually you wander round and help individuals and, to ensure that the baviors that you object to, are listed by some indiduals as their own points. Make a joint class list, discuss why each behavior should be banned or controlled. Do that consensus building thing where you all agree how aweful each behavior is. Shocking! Discuss what happens for transgression and rewards for compliance. Reward: Spirit will help you in your life. How did you feel last time you felt th Spirit? How has the Spirit help you in the past? So students suggest rules. You write them down. If disruptive behavior is the problem, try to be very specific about the behaviours. Talking over someone in class? Making fart sounds with armpit? What exactly is the behaviour. if anyone disrupts the class during this proceduere. Walk up to them and make that statement. ‘You are disrupting the class. Please leave.’ Be polite but firm. Don’t apologize. Text their parents, bishop, Sunday school Pres. In text, state behavior if possible. If you don’t know the behavior, just say disruptive. Don’t apologize. A useful penalty in my view is that the student must leave the class, go find their parent and attend classes with the parent for a week or so until the student apologizes to you and agrees to change their behavior. I would not shame the student before their peers because we all need to save face. We want the disruptive student to return and rejoin the class so don’t set a high bar, like apologizing to the class, as the price of readmission. I suggest getting the cellphone number for all parents and I mean- both - parents, as well as the bishop and the Sunday school president so that you can text if you are ejecting a student. If you think that the parents don’t care, text them anyway and cc bishop and Sunday school president. I you don’t hear back from parents call them. After the class has set the rules, email rules to parents. List penalties that you as a class have set. So in short, can your wife teach on her own? Yes, because disruptive students are ejected. I would let the Sunday school Pres know what you are planning, but I would make clear that if you take on this new responsibility that new procedures will exist. Stand your ground. I would approach the new challenge with optimism and big smiles, fully expecting that new procedures will be associated with changes in behavior. I would ‘frankly forgive’ repeatedly. I would also cheerfully accept that some parents will dislike my methods. Who knows, you may be one of the few sensible adults that young person has the benefit of interacting with all week! Show them that sensible people take charge and make changes when changes are needed. Goid luck!

I fear that you may be right. I have the uncomfortable feeling that this guy may indeed be a ticking time bomb.