NightSG

I'm in Texas; that's a lot closer to Missouri than Australia...and I grew up on a farm

Oh good. For some reason, through three secretaries now, my phone number and email in the ward directory seem to get messed up again about 6 months after I fix them. It does keep the phone calls to a minimum, though :)

But will they be able to marry their burritos?

Nope; they plan to ship 'em back right away if they get sick. Might as well just call them the Vector Battalion. And if you think our "first world hygiene and sanitation" will keep us safe, just remember we still have salmonella and E coli issues here fairly often.

IMO, they needed to pick one or the other, and cut the extra audio out completely. With the audio quality we had at the time, (nobody with keys showed up until 2 minutes before the session started, so nothing was set up, couldn't find all the cables, and ended up watching it from an older TV in the RS room instead of the projector in the chapel) the doubled-up voices made it hard to understand.

Well, I did finally attend a singles FHE a few weeks back. $30 worth of gas and 4 hours on the road on a Monday evening got me about a 10 minute lesson that wasn't particularly relevant or memorable, 45 minutes of unrelated but directed (so it wasn't a situation where I could strike up a side conversation with anyone) chatter about sports, and a light snack. Then I got home after midnight and had to be at work again the next morning. Don't think I'll be doing that again, nor trying to get it going here if that's what it turns into.

IMO, this needs to be restated outside of Priesthood, and repeated often. As singles, we hear often "you should first get comfortable with being single," which makes about as much sense to me as going to Addiction Recovery and telling people they should first get comfortable with alcoholism/smoking/whatever. People work to keep the things they're comfortable with from changing, not to change those things. Another point he didn't single out as much, but that was clearly in the message is that we should not be letting any earthly goals take precedence over the search for an Eternal Companion. I hear a lot of "I'm not going to date until I finish my degree" even on up to the PhD level.

Maybe Conference should be relocated to an area with a large Seventh Day Adventist population.

Just use the "wheat snack bread" and glue it together with the "peanut butter," then. Should be stronger than quartz.

No vodka until after lunch. Tequila sunrises are much better for breakfast.

The problem with contacting other leadership is that, since there aren't stake websites anymore, it's hard to find contact info for them. The dances in question have also been hosted by at least three different stakes. These are MSA and SA dances, so I can see some romantic stuff going beyond what you might find at a YSA dance, but when Blurred Lines is one of the tamer songs, there's a problem. Just off the top of my head, I could probably come up with three hours of Michael Buble, Harry Connick Junior and Brian Setzer Orchestra without having any sexual innuendoes or language issues. Plenty of country, (I'm in Texas, so there are some at every dance that would like it.) classic rock and current stuff too. It feels like they're throwing a lot of that stuff in there specifically to thumb their noses at Church guidance.

Thanks. Sort of just wanted that confirmation before emailing my stake presidency over it. Just sent off an email to the first counselor, and will see what happens. It's frustrating to waste an entire Saturday and $30-40 worth of gas going to what should be a spiritually uplifting activity held in accordance with LDS standards only to have them crank up overtly sexual or demeaning songs. I'm the last person that wants it to turn into three hours of two-stepping to the Oak Ridge Boys' arrangement of How Great Thou Art, (though that actually might not be a bad choice once in a while) but it's not that hard to come up with a few hours of appropriate music while still keeping it lively and modern.

As a convert, I don't have as much background in how some things work as others, so I'm hoping someone here can point me in the right direction. Since my own stake has had precisely one single adult dance in the two years I have been a member, I frequently travel 2-5 hours each way to dances and activities in other stakes. CHI2 13.6.6 is pretty clear that all Church dances should maintain an environment inviting to the Spirit. However, at several of these dances, very inappropriate songs (sexually oriented and/or flat out demeaning to women) have dominated the evening. Comments to the DJ and organizers were met with an attitude that the Handbook is for youth dances, and adult dances have to "keep with the times." Needless to say, if I wanted to just go to a dance that's not at all inviting to the Spirit, and more concerned with the standards of modern society than those of the Gospel, I'd save a ton of gas money and just go to the local bar. For that matter, the local Baptists have regular singles dances that hold to "our" standards better than these stakes. Now, taking it up with my Stake leadership seems a bit roundabout, since the ones in question are over an hour beyond our boundaries, but I have no way of knowing who to contact in the other stakes. Is this a situation where it would have to "go up the ladder" through my stake leadership and back down to the ones in question, or is there some other appropriate way to deal with it?

Must resist the urge to make fiber content joke...

It's clear you've never attended an LDS singles activity. You'll never find a more wretched hive of bad makeup and social ineptitude.

It's clear you've never attended an LDS singles activity. You'll never find a more wretched hive of bad makeup and social ineptitude.

The problem is that this treads dangerously close to rewarding bad behavior; it's teaching her that she can get more than he is obliged to give by withholding affection, and that it's ok for her to do that.

Meh. Everything Bear Grylls did, the cameraman did faster and smoother while carrying who knows how much gear and keeping the shot properly framed. I want a show where a couple starts out by assembling a basic trunk kit like some of us already have, (think one medium daypack per person, and maybe a spending limit) and then have to deal with some fairly realistic situation for a week or so with those kits plus what they would reasonably be carrying in the car for such an area anyway. Let's face it; if I'm going to be flying over the Yukon in a bush plane or on a seagoing vessel, I'm taking a completely different kit from what's in my car to drive around central Texas.

And if they do state that, sue the snot out of them for discrimination if you find even one employee with eyebrows.

IMO, the purpose of any position is pretty much what others have stated; it's to keep you focused and not fidgeting with anything. Certainly the Lord knows what is in your heart: He doesn't need sign language. When standing, if my hands are empty, I generally end up in something more like the "at ease" position, hands behind my back, palms out, thumbs linked. When sitting in church, since most prayers come right after a hymn, I usually have my phone or tablet in my hand, so I turn it face down (removing the temptation to punch in the next hymn number on the app) and place the other hand loosely over that one.

One could also argue that tithing by check eliminates the effort of counting out the money. While we're at it, let's get rid of those preprinted slips and envelopes. If you're not making your own paper and ink for your tithing slips, you're just not obedient enough.

I saw this last night, and it just seemed to me like they could have used most of the time a lot better; the first couple hours felt more like they were trying to avoid showing too much of what He taught, instead just showing that He taught and how much it annoyed the Pharisees. I can see that being partly to avoid conflict between all the different denominations of Christians that will see the movie, but IMO, I'd rather see a firm stance, even if it's one I don't necessarily fully agree with in all the particulars. Ultimately, it felt like all the talent and brilliance happened between Gethsemane and the final moments on the cross. (Yes, I realize that's a pretty critical part of the whole story, but teaching and being the perfect example was also His gift to us.) The post resurrection felt more like "all right, the important part's done, and we've blown the CG budget except for just enough to overdo the nail holes, so let's hurry up and get this over with," too. They did an impressive job of showing the physical torture between arrest and crucifixion, (not sure how one could portray the spiritual torment of taking on all the sins of the world) and the casting was interesting, but it really felt like everything before the Last Supper was just filling time so it could be an over two hour movie. Anybody else feel that way, or is it just me? Also, the preview for Noah looked like that could have some real potential.

Admit it; you're all just jealous that you didn't think of the double-sided picture trick on your missions.

Protestors kept it classy:

Millionaire gay couple is suing to force a church to hold their wedding | The Libertarian Republic This could have interesting implications for the Church, at least in the UK. Then again, these things have a way of spreading; if they succeed there, there will be others trying it in other countries.