Jane_Doe

Couple of thoughts:
- A child choosing to use thier agency to choose otherwise doesn’t mean the parent failed. Remember, even a third of Heavenly Father’s children choose to leave. That is thier choice. 
 
- The best thing you can do is pray and keep the communication bridges open.  Ideally a person should be able to discuss things early, before it becomes a fully fledged soup box. 

Couple of thoughts:
- A child choosing to use thier agency to choose otherwise doesn’t mean the parent failed. Remember, even a third of Heavenly Father’s children choose to leave. That is thier choice. 
 
- The best thing you can do is pray and keep the communication bridges open.  Ideally a person should be able to discuss things early, before it becomes a fully fledged soup box. 

Couple of thoughts:
- A child choosing to use thier agency to choose otherwise doesn’t mean the parent failed. Remember, even a third of Heavenly Father’s children choose to leave. That is thier choice. 
 
- The best thing you can do is pray and keep the communication bridges open.  Ideally a person should be able to discuss things early, before it becomes a fully fledged soup box. 

I'm less sympathetic to GoFundMe stuff now. For some people, I'm familiar with the family/circumstances and know that there are financial needs. But, for others, I'm very suspicious. One of my friends lived in a house that was easily $800K (by the size of the house and market) and due to a bad storm, her basement got flooded. She went onto GFM to ask for $10k to renovate her basement. Ummm, no, it's called suck it up and save for what you want done. I feel bad this happened to you, but I'm not going to give you money for a want. And I'm really bugged by people who start a GFM for themselves. I guess it's more honest, but in my mind it is the same as standing at the intersection with a sign asking for money.

I think there's a point where you can only care so much. I've been in too many situations that just drained me emotionally (before later learning to better ground myself) and it's hard. Shedding tears over every tragedy is tough to do.

It’s common to get “compassion fatigue”, especially with gofundme. For a slightly different perspective: 
Pre covid when we saw Make a Wish kids at Disney both LG and I would be incredibly moved, often to the point of tears. Now we see them so often that it’s become normal. We still feel bad for them, but it's now like “Yup, good luck kid. See ya’ in line for Space Mountain.” Cruel? Not really, we just adapt quickly to our circumstances. It’s almost impossible to not have subconscious mental barriers up. 
 

It’s interesting how online communication has changed in the last 20 years.  We’ve evolved from sort of niche forums and individualized blogs (with aggregators to help us track our favorite sites), into consolidated formats like Twitter and Facebook where everyone can theoretically communicate with everyone.  The movement over the last 5 years has been to exile certain ideological groups from those mass communication platforms; but rather than leading to a renaissance of the blogs and special interest fora, conservatives seem to be trying to either set up competitors in the mass-social media market (which progressives will never join and which can be shut down or appropriated with relative ease) or to “take back” mass platforms that have increasingly been banning them (which I frankly think is unlikely to yield sustainable success).
I’m not sorry to see Twitter run into the ground, if that’s what Musk chooses to do with it.  And if Musk manages to restore some modicum of free speech on the platform for a couple of years, so much the better.  But conservatives need divorce themselves from the idea of centralized social media, of a single “public square” (or even a small handful of them) that of necessity is managed (and curated) by a single person or entity.  Such institutions will inevitably fall under the control of the people or groups who most want to control them; and the motives underlying such a desire for control are rarely good.

It’s nice to see the hard left go into breakdowns over this, but the moment anyone on right gets any kind of infraction, no matter how justified,  I’m assuring you that the same people celebrating today will lose it and claim Musk “sold out” or “became woke”. 

Honestly, I don't think if that's true that it would really matter.  Like dividing 10^(9999999999999999999999999999999999999999) by 1.02 instead of 1.01.  It's effectively the same result.

Honestly, I don't think if that's true that it would really matter.  Like dividing 10^(9999999999999999999999999999999999999999) by 1.02 instead of 1.01.  It's effectively the same result.

An important refinement on this to make (speaking as an LDS Christian lady)
Free will is foundational to what it is to be.  It is intrinsic to whom person is.  The Father acknowledges this.  Christ (whom was always the chosen to be the Savior) choose to follow in His Father's wisdom in this regard.  It was Lucifer whom then said (in essence) "Time out-- no no, that's a horrible idea.  I'll force everyone to behave.  I'll be the Savior I"ll be the most High!".  The Father already had the Plan, Lucifer's rebellion was never a valid option.  But Lucifer did always have the option to obey or rebel, and he choose rebellion.
 
You can't get a more anti-Calvinist view point than LDS Christians.  The "sovereignty of God" is... not a concern.  Just zero.  We have all have choices- you, me, the Father, etc.  They are intrinsic.  Obviously some things aren't possible and consequences comes with choices.  Even the Father acknowledges this and works within that framework.  

I'm gratified to see some of the younger generation starting to realize that some folks are just plain pushing the social agenda a bit too hard.  The latest meme:

 

From what I saw (I could be wrong) the school and even the Oregon governor came out with clear condemnation for the fans behavior- flat out calling it “religious bigotry” (which it is). While of course that doesn’t excuse the fans that did the actions, it is nice to actually hear the leaders take a stand condemning it. 

From what I saw (I could be wrong) the school and even the Oregon governor came out with clear condemnation for the fans behavior- flat out calling it “religious bigotry” (which it is). While of course that doesn’t excuse the fans that did the actions, it is nice to actually hear the leaders take a stand condemning it. 

My condolences to the UK.

She was a rare breed and will leave a massive hole to fill. She did her duty to the very end and found her rest in her beloved Scotland. I'm sure the usual suspects will be along to take their passive aggressive digs just shortly, but she will be sorely missed. 

Long live the King. 

We’re praying for your country my friend. 

I’m an LDS Christian lady married to a he generic Christian dude. we are extremely happy. But you got to have a shared value set. 
 
Have a serious and open discussion with this lady. If she’s totally against raising Christian kids and it’s something you are passionate to do: that’s a foundational clash and the relationship needs called off. 
 
If her reaction is “it’s not for me but I respect that you love it and I’m cool with you teaching that to the kids”, then have an in depth and frank conversation about things.  When you’ve been together for two years any question should be game. 

Hi, Timmy; and welcome!
The two things that go through my mind are:
1). What kind of family, and what degree of church involvement do you want to have, twenty years from now?  That won’t “just happen”; it will be the result of the trajectory that you and your wife are setting now.
2). Your wife sounds like an introvert who prefers to avoid crowds (like me!).  That’s fine; but the older I get, the more value I find in my relationships with my ward members; and I’d encourage her (and you!) to begin building those now.  🙂

Hi and welcome Timmy234!
This doesn't really have anything to do with church attendance.  This is an issue around how you and your wife surface and resolve issues that come up in the marriage.  Absolutely, both of your behaviors and choices will effect your future family, on the topic of church attendance and others. 
So, how do you go about surfacing and resolving issues with your wife?  Have you brought the subject up with her?  
 

Well, since Jonah( @romans8) has already been kicked off the site for this exact behavior before) is it any wonder to hear him doing it again?

Haha.  Ironically, when the Covid shut downs were in full swing, guess which state had zero decrease in driving?  Wyoming. 
 
Honestly here’s my total driving for a full week: a trip to the grocery store (5 miles round trip), a trip to church (2 miles round trip), and maybe 2 other trips around town.  We walk to school, friends, library,  and before working fully remote I’d bike to work 6 months of the year.
 And then about every 6 weeks we got to go to Colorado for Costco or something (3 hour round trip). 

—Chooses air travel (funded by someone else) over a car, any time the drive would be in excess of three hours.
—Thinks YOU are the primary cause of global climate change.
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you modern America in a nutshell.

Why I love my small town (30k population):
- Because I can walk/bike to everywhere I need.  For all other shopping, there's Amazon.
- I see familiar faces are the park, getting to know each other and that sense of community.  And with 30k, it's enough to be familiar but not claustrophobic.
- I can leave whenever I want.  Hiking in the mountains is a 7 minute drive.  Easy star-gazing with my daughter.  There is freedom to spread my wings as far as I want.
- "Traffic" is when I accidentally drive by the High School when the students get out.  It's a really annoying 4 minute wait.
- Just down to earth.  No clutter.
 
 
Why it's not for everyone:
- (Big one) Work.  There are a very limited number of business in town.  I enjoy remote work, but it's not for everyone, and that's really limiting.
- There are limited opportunities for in-person specialized groups.  For example, for competitive sports it's slim pickings for teams here, and for games there's a lot of driving.
- In a small town you got to entertain yourself.  We don't have Boardwalk musicals-- but the high school puts on two performances a year.  We do things like have huge bubble parties in the parking lot.  The local parade and fair is the time the kids show off their pigs.  
- We don't have all of those "big city" amenities and shopping.  If it can't be found at the grocery store, you either Amazon or drive to Colorado.

Here in Wyoming we define "town" as a place having at least 1 of the following:
- A gas station
- A stop light
- Is located on some road junction such that you say "turn right when you reach Johnsonville"
 
 
It is a very different mindset then other places.  For an example from 4 o'clock today: I work remotely and the company I'm working for is hosting a big "let's get together" event, with offices all across North America and Europe.  An organizer from CT reached out to me, inviting me to go to the nearest office with promises of how fun this will be, food, swag, and socialization.  She was shocked I replied that it was over a 3 hour drive.  So she asked "would you manager approve of you flying down?".  The airport is also 3 hours away.  She meant well, and I thanked her for that, but it's just a different world than she's used to.
In contrast: last week a co-worker of mine needed to have it verified in-person that he has a real passport.  I was the nearest employee, so we met in the middle of the 3 hour drive.  And he was thrilled I saved him from having to drive 7 hours both there and back.  We met at a nice little town: they have a gas station (it's the only gas station 1-2 hours in any direction).  
For a third example: when I first moved to WY, literally that week I discovered that I was expecting and needed a new wardrobe.  I live in a big city for WY standards-- we have 3 grocery stores and 2 thrift stores.  No maternity clothes and I would have to drive to Colorado to get clothes.  I was complaining about this and how I missed "civilization".  My new co-worker asked where I was from: Denver.  She replied "Oh, I like Denver, it's a cute little town".  "Huh?  Cute little town- there's 3 million people there!  Where are you from?"  "Beijing".  Oh.... everything is relative.        And I have since learned that small towns are way better than cities (more on that next post).