priesthoodpower

1. My stake averaged about 20% HT rate the past 15yrs and its slowly gone down to about 8% this year, the only persistent members were the older generation. Maybe because they have more time on their hands where as younger folks like myself are working 6-7days a week with 2 jobs. My personal experience is that HT really is a powerful program but its being altered partly because of disobedience but mostly because of generational changes in society. 2. Cell phones are a major contributing factor to our changes in communication. My father, brother, sister etc..dont even enter my home gate unless they text me to let me know they are coming over and I respond "ok". Since my wife went inactive 6 yrs ago the relief society and primary presidencys and also missionaries started to make efforts to visit us at our home, sadly they would just show up unexpectedly standing in our doorstep. My wife and myself were furious that they didnt even try to text us to give us a heads up. My wife made me tell the bishop to put us on the "Do not call/contact/visit list".

I sort of agree, except itll be more genuine in regard to approaching it the way each individual chooses and not be forced to do it in some scripted manner. One size does not fit all. Its getting away from the Robot behavior and allow us the freedom to be ourselves. For example when I was a missionary in the 90's we were told to follow the lessons word for word, no deviating off track. Now the missionarys have no set outline and allow the interaction to be guided by the spirit.

This earth test is not about them, its about you. The older we get the more connected we become with other members/leaders and the more we see their faults. That is why Jesus taught us to have faith like little children. When you were a little child you never had the thought of "callings are given out of necessity but not really inspiration". A childs faith is pure and unshakeable. Quick story: My 7yr old daughter was looking forward to her daddy baptizing her on her 8th bday (which at the time was about 6 months away). There was no doubt in her mind that I was going to baptize her and it would be a very special day. She talked about it for six month until the day finally came. 3 days before her baptism I fell backwards off a 15ft ladder smacking my head on the concrete ground. I should have died, or at least broken a bone somewhere. But no, I was preserved to fulfill her faith in God that her daddy will baptize her.

Dont forget Financial advisor ..cough! cough! MLM recruitor.

Therapy is a BUSINESS! The less you help them the more they keep coming back $$$. My wife is a Marriage and family counsel therapist and she got sick of being a shoulder to cry on and not really helping solve peoples problems by using the method of repeatng the problem back to them. She is exploring other forms of new age therapy that have better results. Atleast the Bishop is free. lol I agree with you here. My wife left the LDS church 7yrs ago and would fit that description. However she does admit that being raised in the LDS church was the best thing that happened for her and her brothers in a single parent household. She supports our 3 kids being raised LDS. As an adult she feels religion is no longer useful to her. Medicine is medicine, Science is science, Psychology is psuedo-science

1. Its about time we implement these "common sense" changes (as gator puts it). A very close friend of mine was a star athlete at BYU in the 90's, he was baptized/converted his junior year at BYU and married a mormon gal. His life as a teenager and before becoming mormon was filled with alcohol and sex. It was nice to see that he settled down to raise a family. 15 yrs into his marriage his company became very successful and he became bishop in a Utah ward, while serving as bishop he developed a relationship with one of the women in the ward and everything went down hill from there. My feeling was that satan used this fella's past experiences of promiscuity to tempt him. Having a third person in these interviews makes sense, its what we did as missionaries. 2. The solution to all of life's problems was taught by our Master and Savior Jesus Christ - love, forgive, be humble, repent. The "untrained professional" aka the Bishop, repeats back to us the Masters words. Most of us cant follow or dont want to follow those simple suggestions and so off we go to the "trained" professional (therapist/psychiatry) to do things the worlds way, nothing wrong with the worldly way, its just not the celestial way of the Master.

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Respects bro, I didnt know you are a father, let alone paying child support. If you follow some of my posts in other threads you would know that my relationship is rocky with many recent ups and downs. She submitted for divorce 5 months ago which we are still waiting for the final court date, we have since reconciled and I assume she will dismiss it. It has been a humbling experience for me filled with so many life lessons. In theory I really want my relationship to last but Im not sure I can keep up with her change in lifestyle, if somehow I end up being single soon I have often thought that I will NEVER marry again! lol, so in some regards I admire you single people.

1. First and foremost improve your outer appearance. Lose 5 pounds, get a haircut, upgrade your wardrobe etc.. 2. Attend as many church functions as possibile 3. LDS dating websites 4. Move to Utah, if you are fortunate enough to marry while in Utah quickly move out of Utah. 5. Christian dating websites 6. Non christian dating websites 7. craigslist If you believe in pre-mortal life then we are all brothers and sisters and it shouldnt matter what religion or culture your potential partner is from- Love has no barriers. Before the gospels of Jesus Christ and even before the restoration of the church by Joseph Smith, God commanded Adam..."multiply and replenish the earth". Im not saying to settle for less, im just saying that you will let life pass you by if you are too picky waiting for the perfect person. You can die single while being true to your temple covenants, or you can die while having raised a happy non-lds family and still being true to your temple covenants, of course the preffered is to marry an LDS partner but if that aint working out keep your options open. Me and my wife are both returned missionarys and temple married with 3 children. She has left the church and is actually anti-religion/anti-mormon. I plan on living out the rest of my life being true to my temple covenants and having raised a happy family.

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agree with Zil, My daughter is 14 and my hats off to the YW presidency and leaders that help raise our children. Thank you!