NightSG

Well, the missionaries are supposed to be the ones dedicating themselves full time to teaching you, but that doesn't mean that nobody else can. First, check mormon.org and see if there's more than one phone number listed for missionaries. Maybe there's another pair in your ward. I'm sure leadership will understand if you just tell them you'd rather not be taught by the current set but are willing to be taught by someone else. Failing that, the bishop's number should be there, and he should have some ideas that can help; every set of home/visiting teachers has that one assignment that will never answer the phone/door/email, and some have nothing but those types, so maybe a pair can put you on their list just to have someone that actually wants to hear from them. Then there are those people who just like to talk so they can hear their own heads rattle; you may have noticed a few of them on here, and they really are everywhere, so likely your ward has a few women who will gladly teach you whatever you want to know, what you don't want to know, what you hope never to know, and what nobody (including them) actually knows if you give them a chance.

http://postimage.com

This: especially at 41, I find myself often doing more of what I saw my parents and grandparents do than what they told me to do. Actions speak much louder than words.

Well, if they're tackling age discrimination in the selection process, maybe next they'll go after religious discrimination. Would do 'em some good to have a couple Jews in there. Maybe @prisonchaplain could get his name in the hat too.

Around here, the ones in charge are usually active in their churches. I suspect its because the others tend to burn out and/or just plain snap long before they get to that level of seniority. The usual pattern seems to be the family falling apart, then the individual either has a psychotic break that pretty much kills their career instantly (You lose a lot of the community's trust after a drunken, underwear-clad, armed standoff with state troopers in your front yard.) or sinks into depression (and usually addiction) that kills their career slowly.

Yeah; some of it is really bad cooking advice. (Ezekiel 4:12)

A lot of people complaining about segregation were told the same thing. Try it from the other side some time.

Who? Oh, yeah, I think there was something about Him in one of those books they handed me. Never quite figured out the LDS theory of "we put His name in the Church's name, so it'll balance out when we don't talk about Him all that much."

Since I didn't join the Church until after 30, I didn't get the personal experience with YSA wards, but I've gotten to watch it from the outside a few times visiting friends who were stuck in them. It's "sure, you can have your service in the time slot nobody wants...unless someone else needs the chapel that Sunday afternoon, in which case you'll be in the Primary room...and we need the grownup chairs in the chapel and cultural center, so you might as well just sit on the floor." SA "magnet" wards are even worse; sit in the back, so the white folks families don't have to look at you or let you have any of the more comfortable seating. Of course, you won't be asked to pray, speak or pass the Sacrament because that's for the white folks families too; you should be thankful we pass it that far back. And don't complain about having Sunday School in the only room in the building where the heat/AC doesn't work so you have to strain to hear it over the box fan in the doorway, or we'll take away the fan. That would have been a really short discussion for me; "I'm not making that drive." As a teenager in the Methodist church, I sometimes went to the college youth group's weeknight meetings, simply because the high school level one met at an inconvenient time, and I lived 8 miles out of town, so everything I did in town had to be coordinated with someone going that way. There was never a complaint or even a suggestion that I should only attend the other group.

Speaking of...wandering through Big Lots Saturday, I noticed they were playing some sort of bluegrass instrumental. It can be hard to pick out a melody on a banjo, since every note ends up with 3-4 fill notes attached to it, but I managed to hum along for a couple bars until I recognized it... ...Man in the Box is really not a song that should cross genres like that.

Just tell him you'll only get dunked at a church that will play this during the actual baptism. https://youtu.be/htlT8zj0wcg

Same reason certain people weren't happy with their separate but "equal" drinking fountains and bathrooms.

IMO, that's good in other ways too; look at Chris LeDoux. He wrote songs on the road from one rodeo to the next, so he had the real world experience he wrote about. Waylon Jennings worked the family farm and played for his relatives, then was a truck driver to keep the bills paid while doing a weekly local radio show. Merle Haggard, when he wasn't in jail, worked farms, oilfields and truck driving. Dolly Parton was just plain dirt poor until she turned out to be a musical prodigy. All of them knew what they were writing about. Having met Richard Leigh (Don't it Make My Brown Eyes Blue, Somewhere in My Broken Heart, The Greatest Man I Never Knew) and Roger Cook (I Believe in You, I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing, Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress) after they did a small songwriter's jam session here, I'd have to say the key to their success was being happy to stay off the big stage; writing is a generally a separate talent, and they had the good fortune to have their songs recorded by some serious performing talent, (Though there's a lot to be said for hearing some of your favorite slow dance tunes played by the original writers on a couple of beat up guitars at a small city park amphitheater.) and they really didn't strike me as having been in it for the money, but mainly the thrill of hearing those big stars sing their songs. Cook mentioned often having trouble believing the way that every now and then, a royalty check for one of his songs would just turn up in the mail, and depending on the use it would occasionally be a six figure check that he would have to call his agent and ask just what the heck that was for.

I've ridden in everything from 114F down to 17F. Cold is actually easier, as you can always add more layers, though that day I overdid it a bit and was starting to sweat through the inner layers by the end of the commute. Getting your cold weather gear sweaty pretty much kills way too much of the insulation, and there's no way to fix it on the road.

FWIW, if you're looking into touring, rail trails can be great, since they don't exceed the old railroad's ruling grade, but that also means climbs can go for miles. On the Mineral Wells to Weatherford trail, going east, you're climbing almost continuously for about 5-6 miles on a fine gravel surface. Getting back on asphalt after that was a pretty interesting experience; it really felt like I'd had about a half pound of sugar and a couple of energy drinks. Suddenly 10-12mph wasn't a grueling challenge anymore.

Have you considered the possibility that maybe you really are a massive jerk and only those people are willing to come out and say it?

McGraw had a few good ones, but I don't think he ever released an album with more than two songs I liked. On that note, I wonder how much it hits musicians' profits that people can now just buy the 1-2 songs they like for $0.99-1.50 each online instead of having to buy the whole album. Might result in more sales to people who otherwise would have just pirated the whole thing rather than pay $10-15, though.

You should have felt right at home then; country fans don't go to Aldean's concerts unless there's someone really good opening for him. IMO, I'd still like to find out what the brother's not saying. "We're a perfectly normal family without any anger issues that, well, we just don't talk to our perfectly normal millionaire brother much the last couple decades." Somebody didn't want contact for some reason.

Gee, there's a bold statement. Reminds me of the wife who accused her husband of sleeping through church. She demanded that he tell her anything the preacher had talked about. "Well, he went on a bit about sin." "You'll have to be more specific than that." "He was against it."

Off and on for 7 years. Started bike commuting pretty much exclusively in March of 2016 after my Pontiac died. Rode up to Mineral Wells and Weatherford this weekend, but ended up having to call for a ride after 73 miles when my back wheel started having problems. Would have been a tricky fix on the road, (though I have a friend nearby with a small workshop who offered his couch for the night) and the only person I could think of who would recognize the three not so common tools I'd need from my garage had a truck anyway, so I just had him come get me.

So much more fun than just doing a loop and ending up back home without doing much in between. https://texasfromtheothersaddle.wordpress.com/2017/10/01/s24o-dinosaur-valley-state-park/ Plus I got a cool dinosaur book for my oldest, a couple of mineral samples and a 3D postcard for my youngest, (and the fun of telling her "I hauled rocks 30 miles on a bicycle for you, so you could act a little more appreciative") and a DVSP patch that I need to sew on one of my bags so I can remember to build the collection as I head out to farther away parks. I think Lake Mineral Wells at about 53 miles is the next target. Lake Meridian, while slightly closer, has a real monster of a hill in the last couple miles, and I have friends near the far end of the MW Trailway that will put me up in a much nicer accommodation than a hammock in the park, plus no camping fee.

And where spelling is important too.

IMO, every judge and jury in a deadly-force-against-unarmed-attacker case should first be educated on the events of 1953 in boxing; 22 boxers in their physical prime died as a result of injuries suffered in the ring, from opponents in their weight class, wearing big padded gloves, following Queensbury rules. Saying that an unarmed attacker on the street, without gloves or rules isn't lethal force in the face of that information is a bit less believable. On the other hand, I think Jonathan Aledda and all the other cops involved in Charles Kinsey's shooting should have their badges tattooed on their foreheads, and each be placed in general population of the nearest prison for as long as Kinsey still feels any pain or impairment from his injuries.

You know, it's funny how the "political neutrality policy" in the rules is ignored as long as it's Trump being insulted. Same for name calling rules in general. We all know he's planning to run again in 2020, (and has, in fact, already filed the paperwork for the campaign) and to use his political pull in the meantime to support other candidates, so the "an office holder is different from a candidate" excuse doesn't hold water; for all practical and legal purposes, until he withdraws his candidacy, is disqualified, or is defeated in the primaries or general election, he is a candidate in the next Presidential election.

Did you find any clues as to who did it yet?