kiwibabee

I have never seen A wonderful Life either.... My favourite Christmas movie as to be Scrooged followed my A Christmas Story.

I was just reading a pamphlet from the Jehovah Witnesses. In there it was talking about the star that showed the way for the wise men to Jesus. It made mention that the Star of Bethlehem was really from Satan, as it brought the wise men to King Harod, and he sent out the extermination order, and only good things would the Lord have sent. I didn't believe it, but I was wondering what were others thoughts on this.

I am always on facebook. ( yes I do farmville, but now i also do Treasure madness, so addicting) and I blog

as for the long white cloud- its just because the clouds hardly ever disappear, and all it ever does is rain.

I'm in New Plymouth Good luck on your mission thinking of missionaries we probably know the same ones.

Just want to say from the land under the long white cloud. I am from Utah, I married a Kiwi, and have 4 wonderful kids (at least when they are sleeping) My husband decided almost 2 yrs ago that it was his time to live near his family. He is the only member of his family so we are here to show through example how wonderful it it to live the gospel. It has been a struggle for me, but we i am making it through. so kia ora all.

you mean like "Saturday's Warroirs"? No really my sister was told in her patriarichal blessing that she chose our family. I have always felt with my kids that they knew each other before they came down to earth.

I think there is more going on with your wife then what she is telling you, but I could be wrong. I am just wondering if you have any children, and how long have you been married? I think going and talking to someone about it is a great idea, even if your wife doesn't.

this is a question I thought of the last time I went to the temple. you all know how much of the temple symbols are present in the garment. my questions is do the spirits that we go through for wear garments after we are done in the spirit world?

In my Patriarchal blessing I am told I have unseen beings watching over me. and according to my husband I need them with my driving. and My moms blessing mentions guardian angels for her. So I am a believer!!!

bunnzy having been put on probation and disfellowshipped (yes I was a bad girl) I was put on probation through talking with my bishop at the time, I couldn't partake of the sacrament, say prayers, give talks, or hold a calling. When I was disfellowshipped a few years later it was through the bishop courts and I had the same rules apply to me as being probation. I had to talk regularly with my bishop for both, and let them know about my progress. After I was married I had to have another court held to reinstate me from being disfellowshipped. when I was on probation it was only for a certain amount of time that my bishop felt was long enough. all things are up to the bishop but from what i experienced being one probation was informal and only for a short amount of time. being disfellowshipped required a court on both ends and lasted approx. a year. I haven't been ex'd so I don't know what that is all about. But I was sealed in the Temple a year after I was married and I haven't has a problem since.

I guess I better get over my chocolate addiction.

Your son could be mine. My husband has just been called to be in the Branch presidency, so he thinks it is great to go up on the stand now. In fact on Sunday I gave a talk, of course he followed me, but would not go to his dad, he kept on going to someone else, It made everybody laugh. When we first moved into this branch they hadn't had kids there for a long time. And basically this branch only has old people. We got a lot of dirty looks when ever any of my kids made a noise. If my District President saw them give us that look, he would stare them down and then go announce how nice it was to hear children once again, as that is a sign of growth. AS for going out into the foyer, I hold him on my lap and not let him go. He can't have any toys and it gets pretty boring quickly. I ask him if he is ready to go back in and play with his toys nicely and quietly I go back in. it takes some time but he is getting better. Just don't expect things to happen quickly, it takes time.

This is my 4th child, you would think I would know how to get him to sleep through the night, but I am at a loss. He wakes up in the night and comes into our room. I used to put him in bed with us, now I take him back into his bed and lay by him. I try to leave him, but he always know when I am gone and comes and finds me again. I can't let cry himself to sleep as we are living with relatives. I would get him a crib, but we have no room. I just don't know what to do, I am so tired.

after reading this My thoughts were that the mothers of these kids were just frustrated with there chilldren's choices, so they were talking about what they wish they could do, but when it comes to their children getting married I bet they would be supportive. He had overheard the conversation so he wasn't part of it.

Now I've got the theme song going through my head.

I want to apologize to you aphrodite. I need to be looking at myself and ask am I following all what the leaders have asked of us? I have a problem with drinking coke yet it has been asked that we not drink anything that has caffeine in it. Will I be held accountable for that, I do not know, but the real question is- am I willing to take that chance? As for your bishop going over your heads and talking to the parents, I would not have been very happy either. When I was 18 and going to a singles ward the leaders decided that you had to be 21 before you could go. But they quickly put it back because to many of us called to the church office. I think that leaders in a singles ward think that if they butt in that we will stop getting into trouble. I always laughed at that, because you will find trouble if you go looking for it. I was going to another singles ward and my boyfriend at the time was going to the singles ward that I originally attended. We got into trouble, nothing to serious but enough to have to go talk to our bishops. My bishop was a former mission president- he was great I just put on probation, My boyfriend was dis-fellowshipped and the stake president pulled me in and told me that my bishop had it all wrong with how I was taken care of. That really bugged me. But here I am today I am still active in the church and I try to go to the temple when I can. As for the Temple, I remember the first time I went through that I felt like it was never going to end. It took me a while to be comfortable with going to the Temple, and now that I am so far away from one I wish I could go more often. My husband and I were sealed in the temple a year after we were married, so garments were a little hard to get used to at first, now they are like a second skin. I want to know what does your husband think of all this?

I buy and sell on ebay. although now living in new zealand I get to do trade me instead.

Good for him!!! Surprised CBS let him get away with this even though he's right AMEN ANDY ROONEY! Right on, Andy Rooney! Andy Rooney said on "60 Minutes" a few weeks back: I don't think being a minority makes you a victim of anything except numbers. The only things I can think of that are truly discriminatory are things like the United Negro College Fund, Jet Magazine, Black Entertainment Television, and Miss Black America. Try to have things like the UnitedCaucasianCollege Fund, Cloud Magazine, White Entertainment Television, or Miss White America; and see what happens...Jesse Jackson will be knocking down your door. Guns do not make you a killer. I think killing makes you a killer. You can kill someone with a baseball bat or a car, but no one is trying to ban you from driving to the ball game. I believe they are called the Boy Scouts for a reason, which is why there are no girls allowed. Girls belong in the Girl Scouts! ARE YOU LISTENING MARTHA BURKE? I think that if you feel homosexuality is wrong, it is not a phobia, it is an opinion. I have the right "NOT" to be tolerant of others because they are different, weird, or tick me off. When 70% of the people who get arrested are black, in cities where 70% of the population is black, that is not racial profiling; it is the Law of Probability. I believe that if you are selling me a milkshake, a pack of cigarettes, a newspaper or a hotel room, you must do it in English! As a matter of fact, if you want to be an American citizen, you should have to speak English! My father and grandfather didn't die in vain so you can leave the countries you were born in to come over and disrespect ours. I think the police should have every right to shoot your sorry ###### if you threaten them after they tell you to stop. If you can't understand the word "freeze" or "stop" in English, see the above lines. I don't think just because you were not born in this country, you are qualified for any special loan programs, government sponsored bank loans or tax breaks, etc., so you can open a hotel, coffee s! hop, tri nket store, or any other business. We did not go to the aid of certain foreign countries and risk our lives in wars to defend their freedoms, so that decades later they could come over here and tell us our constitution is a living document; and open to their interpretations. I don't hate the rich I don't pity the poor. I know pro wrestling is fake, but so are movies and television. That doesn't stop you from watching them. I think Bill Gates has every right to keep every penny he made and continue to make more. If it ticks you off, go and invent the next operating system that's better, and put your name on the building. It doesn't take a whole village to raise a child right, but it does take a parent to stand up to the kid; and smack their little behinds when necessary, and say "NO!" I think tattoos and piercing are fine if you want them, but pl! ease don 't pretend they are a political statement. And, please, stay home until that new lip ring heals. I don't want to look at your ugly infected mouth as you serve me French fries! I am sick of "Political Correctness." I know a lot of black people, and not a single one of them was born in Africa; so how can they be "African-Americans"? Besides, Africa is a continent. I don't go around saying I am a European-American because my great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather was from Europe. I am proud to be from America and nowhere else And if you! don't l ike my point of view, tough... I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG, OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AND TO THE REPUBLIC, FOR WHICH IT STANDS, ONE NATION UNDER GOD, INDIVISIBLE, WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL!

Aphrodite My thoughts are if you don't like it it shouldn't be true. You start with Joseph Smith and Polygamy and you go up to the leaders today. Either Joseph Smith is a Prophet or he is not. I have my ears pierced twice but i have chosen to follow the prophet when he asked for the women to only have one. My husband is from New Zealand and as much as he wants to get a tattoo he has not, because the leaders have said not too. I have four kids and yes it I look back and think it would have been great to get my education in first, but I would not trade my kids for anything, and the lord has provided. I have left everything I hold dear to follow my Husband to New Zealand, that required a lot of faith and I still have to rely on the lord as I struggle being so far from home. If the church was perfect with perfect people running it don't you think we would have been translated all ready. If anything were to happen to me today I would be able to look him in his eyes and say "yes I did all that was required of me" I may not agree with all my leaders have to say, but I support and sustain them.

I sometimes feel that some callings are desperation not inspiration. When my oldest child was in nursery and I had just had my son they called me into nursery. I hated that calling, and I now hate being in any primary calling, I am now primary secretary and I still struggle in there. I have asked to be released but to no avail. But I don't let that get in the way of my testimony. As for your patriarchal blessings being similar, I think sometimes patriarch get into a groove and repeat the same thing. But I will say mine is for me there are things in there that pertain to me and there is no way that the patriarch had any knowledge of it. And then I was witness to my husbands, the patriarch was very old and I think very close to the veil, my husband has extraordinary things in his, the patriarch died soon after. So I don't know what to tell you about your experiences, If things were so easy to come by even for the bishopric we wouldn't be exercising very much faith that sometimes the lord trusts us on somethings, and any person would do a great job.

why do we park on driveways and drive on parkways?

well I'm a believer!!! B) I have a friend who is a truck driver, and some of the stories he has told us about some of the things he has seen and had done, are not from this planet, not do they have any resemblance to satan. He mostly has observed them collecting dirt samples in the fields as he drove by and then seeing them enter a very unearthly vehicle and flying away. He has witnessed that more than once. he said they looked like us. one time the ship passed by him and melted all his electrical wires in his truck. another time he was outside for early morning seminary and him and his students saw something over there heads. When my husband and i were driving to Ca. from UT. we saw something in the sky just before Vegas, and we both knew that it wasn't anything from around these parts. I just don't think they want to make contact, just think of star trek, they are only there to observe. In my opinion they were once like we were but they progressed and they are just observing us in our progression. I had a dream a while ago that for some reason i visited another world. The only thing I remember was that they were telling me how envious they were of us here on earth as this was were Jesus had lived. Then being my being was thrust backed to earth. The thrust back to earth felt very real.

Since i have moved from Utah to New Zealand the church has been a great strength for me. I remember what my husband told me as we were preparing to move here. That the church is the same no matter where in the world you live. my children sing the same songs, and we have the same lessons. So I am happy that I am in the church. Particularly for my kids as there was one thing that stayed the same for them.

Thanks for sharing your take on the subject, MoJ. I have to say that I totally disagree about Jesus adopting a look that some people on earth think is the proper look, if He were to come today. I don't think he cares one way or the other. As far as dressing a certain way to get attention, you could say that for dressing in 'Sunday best'. Someone in jeans and a t-shirt wouldn't get as much attention as someone in a nice dress or suit, for example, if they are out and about. Even when I was LDS I disagreed with all this white shirt and tie, clean cut, dresses only code. I feel really strongly that Jesus just wouldn't care what we wore, or whether we wore our hair long or short. There are so many important things to concern ourselves with, that I think this is a waste of energy. You both brought up a very good thought. I hadn't really thought of how Jesus will look when he comes again. I don't think he is going to care what others think how he looks, but I think maybe like jcclsm that he might come clean cut, not because thats how we are dress, more along the lines will we know him if he is dressed like us. We all have the preconceived notion that he will have long hair and beard, but he could come with a missionary haircut. The bottom line would we know him no matter how he looks.