yoyoteacher

Uh....you meant Kansas City, right?

I actually wore a dress for mine. Someone had a long sleeved white dress in my size and threw it at me. Be thankful for that jumpsuit! You don't have to worry about tucking the skirt in between your legs to keep it from floating up with an air bubble! Having done many baptisms at the temple in those lovely jumpsuits, you should be fine; they are of a thick material and don't show much of anything, even when wet. Wear white undergarments, but beyond that you shouldn't need anything. You'll be out of the water and back to change before anyone will notice anything even if it does feel a bit see through for you.

I feel like I have to do this often, though I think that comes with being the only Mormon some of my friends know. It's a very interesting blessing to have, to be sure. I'm looking forward to being able to explain my faith further in the near future to my family. There's much they understand, but still a lot that I could do to help them more.

So my dad and I actually talk about this a lot. He's right at the edge of the baby boomer/gen X generation line, and in a lot of ways he swings between the two with what he prefers. So when he retired at the ripe age of 50 or so, a lot of his peers couldn't fathom it and didn't understand how he could be ready to be done working! They got so much fulfillment out of their jobs. But for my father, work was becoming monotonous and was dragging him down. Retirement was this magical place where he didn't have to worry and he could do things on his own time and schedule. My mom is 2 years from retirement and is expressing the same sentiments; she is SO ready to be retired! Perhaps your dad is part of that baby boomer mentality and really finds his identity through work? Good luck convincing him, though I have a feeling it won't happen until he's ready to do so.

Honestly, I had a similar experience in my conversion to the church. I went to Wednesday mutuals with friends, attended church services on Sundays with friends. I was asked if I wanted to go to youth conference, and I said sure. Our stake rotates through and goes to the local (read: I live in Missouri) church history sites every four years, and we happened to go to Independence, Far West, Adam-Ohndi-Ahman, and Liberty on this conference. At the end, we went to a church building for a testimony meeting. I listened to a lot of what was said by others and near the end of the hour, I had this strong feeling that I wanted to get up and say something. It wasn't a testimony that followed the typical format, but I expressed my happiness at being invited and how I loved the kindness and acceptance that the other youth had shown to me over the weekend. I said that I could see the light that they shared with others and I wished I had something like that in my life. At that point, was I converted? In some ways, yes. I started the discussions with the missionaries shortly after. But in many ways, my expression was no more than a desire to come closer to Christ. And in the end, isn't that what we all want and need, to come closer to Christ? If that conversion comes through our experiences in LDS settings or while discussing gospel values with friends of other faiths, does that lessen the conversion? If this girl has expressed that she is "born again," maybe she's just expressing that she feels closer to her Savior, not a desire to leave the Latter-day Saint community.

I've never had a long term calling, but I have a feeling I won't be released from my current callings until I am on my way out the door of the YSA branch. So...I imagine it'll be a happy moment, assuming I'm leaving due to marriage rather than being put out to the greener pastures of mid-single life in a family ward.

I don't know about you, but I see myself as a 10 cow woman. ;-) I'm grateful that I don't have to do much of this in education; we reflect on our teaching, but it's not to the point where I rate myself numerically.

Thanks ladies, for the advice. I'm going to buy a variety tomorrow when I go back to the distribution center. And, on a side note: is it necessary to wear nylon tights in the temple, or would it be okay to wear long white socks? I would love to eventually knit a pair of socks for temple wear, but I don't know if that is appropriate or would be okay. Just wanted to ask some more knowledgeable individuals on the subject.

The lady at the distribution center did suggest petite bottoms (with drisilque in particular because of how they looked when she was holding them up to me), but I feel like I would be bending the rules (so to speak) by buying petites as I am 5'7" tall and have fairly long legs that are proportional when it comes to thigh length and calf length (it's not as though my thighs are super short compared to my calves, thus making my thighs more petite). I actually brought the regulars and the petites of the drisilque with me to the temple and ended up wearing the petites when I left because the regulars were hitting in the middle of my knee caps and were blatantly showing under my dress.

Thank you for the advice, Eowyn! I think I am going to just start doing that in the morning before I leave for the day. Trying on my entire wardrobe was a little overwhelming, though it felt productive at the time. I do have three or four items that a clear no; I have a dress that I used to wear with leggings underneath, but it hits so high that I don't feel I could ever be comfortable in it.

I am currently trying to weed through my wardrobe and figure out what I can and cannot wear with my garments. Right now I'm trying to figure out what to do with my knee length skirts. I worry that I am showing off the hemline of my garments in the back, as I am a teacher and I know my back view is what's seen by many awkward, harshly critical middle school eyes. And when I sit, I can feel where the underside of my garments are exposed due to the nature of sitting in a skirt and how it rides. Does anyone have any advice as far as what to do to help cover up that area? And maybe it is the garment fabric. I know the drilux I wore yesterday felt shorter in the leg than the drisilque did, and these carinessas feel long in comparison, too. I just don't want to be showing them off to the world, you know?

You know, it can certainly feel like a punishment, but Heavenly Father would never want us to think of repentance as a punishment. Rather, it is an opportunity for us to realize our weaknesses, take those things to the Lord in humility, and to sacrifice up the natural man in us to become better. Heavenly Father created each of us in His image, and He knows each of us. Which means, Heavenly Father knows that this addiction is a weakness for you. One of my favorite verses of scripture right now is Ether 12:26-27, you should go check it out! Chin up, and never forget you are a child of God! There's very little (or anything, possibly) more important in the world than that fact.

I'm really grateful for this topic thread right now! It has been some useful information for me :)

Yesterday was pretty surreal, but I am feeling awesome as I adjust so far. It was good to be surrounded by loved ones (even though none were family, it still felt like I had family there) and to be greeted with big hugs and congratulations in the celestial room. And as soon as I got to the upper floor, I felt so much peace wash over me. I was so at ease and calm, which isn't always a feeling in my vocabulary. Some of it is still processing in my brain, but I think that is expected. Palerider, I actually chose Nauvoo on purpose. In one of my BYU courses, my professor described converts as pioneers for their generations, forward and back, in bringing salvation to all their family. What better place to take this step forward than in the place where the pioneer saints did as well! And there was a pretty strong confirmation of that family pioneer feeling toward the end. I also found out that the original temple dedication occurred on my birthday! Happy coincidence.

Wasn't sure where to post this, so I figured the general board was as good as any. Just wanted to share that I am going to the Nauvoo temple today to receive my endowments. It's been a pretty hectic week and I've been going from nervous to excited to anxious and everything in between. The last eight months have been such a progression and change for me, and I am so excited to take this next step in the Gospel. Thank you to everyone who has given me advice and support in things through this forum. You all are wonderful disciples of Christ!

I was in a very similar circumstance back in October. I was inactive for 7 years and decided to start coming back (I was baptized at 16 and was only in the church 4 years before I went inactive, so I get the whole worry about not knowing enough about the gospel thing). I go to a YSA branch that is about 30 minutes from where I live, but serves the entire stake area. I thought I would be the only one in my older age range (I was 27 then), but found that there was a decent set of older folks in the branch. I didn't know anyone, and I'll be honest: it took me a few months to finally feel comfortable enough to start holding conversations. Since you are vocalizing the desire to go to church, I would like to think that you want to be there for yourself. That is a HUGE first step in coming back to the gospel! I definitely agree in reaching out to the missionaries if that makes you feel more comfortable and at ease. I ended up meeting with my branch president the first day back and got the repentance process started for myself (but I had been thinking about this and pondering and praying about it for almost three weeks by that point, so I was at that point by the time I actually got to the branch). I say go for it! The beauty of YSAs are that everyone is between 18-30, and there is so much love and support there at least in my experience. I have never felt judged or uncomfortable in my skin due to someone else making me feel that way. YSAs are all in the same turbulent decade of life; they understand the trials you have seen/are seeing/will see. I really can't think of a better place for you to go. I have such a testimony of the support and love that is present in YSA branches. I have visited a few others and have always felt that strong spirit in those congregations as well. Good luck! If you need someone to talk to, I am always here. The path back to full activity is a hard one, but it is an AWESOME one!

Congrats!

Since coming back to church in October, I have seen HTs twice and VTs once. It is what it is. I have a strong social support and many that I know I can turn to when I need a blessing, even without the assigned support. It's nice to know someone has my back in this world. Ironically, I was assigned my boyfriend a week or two before we started dating, and then ended up teaching me shortly after we started dating (it was scheduled before that occurred). Then the next month, HTs were reassigned due to the shift at the end of the school year in the YSA branch, and now the EQP is my HT.

All the wards and branches I have belonged to follow the sacrament first practice, with the exception of my second BYU student ward, though that was only during the summer; it switched when we switched meeting buildings after the summer term ended. I know that some of the YSA branches in the Kansas City area do sacrament last, but the family units in the buildings used do sacrament first. I feel like sacrament last doesn't matter as much for the YSA set, as it does for a family unit. Not having tiny children to worry about makes a difference.

Phew, this thread took a pretty interesting turn! I have no intention of having a civil ceremony first, for many of the reasons stated. It's something that I have discussed with my boyfriend and we both know the potential hurt that will come -- from both our families -- and we are willing to endure that. Hopefully between the both of us, we can find the best way to express the sacredness of the temple sealing, its implications, and why we feel so strongly about that ordinance. I think I am going to talk to a good friend of mine who recently married whose family is all Catholic on how she helped her family. Thanks, everyone. I think? Like I said, the thread took a turn so I'm still trying to wade through what is advice and what is debate.

Thank you for giving me some insight on the other side of the coin. Elder Neilson's talk in this past conference brought me to tears, as I felt like I had been the prodigal son for many years. He gives some wonderful counsel in it and I know that, at least for me, the reaching out and showing of care from others was noticed. Don't give up hope, Eowyn. And if/when your loved one does feel a softening of heart and chooses to come back (because I truly believe that it takes a change of heart and a desire for someone to be ready to come back), this loved one will probably reach out to you because she knows you never gave up on her.

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2015/04/well-ascend-together?lang=eng I'm just going to leave this here, because I think it was a brilliant talk and is one that has a tendency to come back to my mind at least once a week. I'm not sure what to say to the OP to console, as I know my opinions on marriage are in stark contrast. I will say that I understand; my parents nearly divorced at a young age (though it was my father who was the adulterer, not my mother) and it took many years for that scar to heal. They never divorced, and I still wonder if that shoe is going to drop sometime in the future. Divorce is messy. It's something I never intend to go through personally. And I know from some things that are mentioned in my patriarchal blessing that, as long as my future spouse and I work on keeping our marriage strong and founded on our faith, it won't be. Again, I'm sorry that this isn't terribly helpful for your situation, but I know there's nothing I could say to help you.

I don't think I broadcast it to the world when I went inactive, though I did tell my family (non-members) and had some discussions with close friends as to why I was distancing myself from the church. While I was inactive, I was very distant from former friends. I was still cordial on social media, but I would avoid them like crazy in public situations. I think I did it because I felt some guilt somewhere way deep down toward what I had done. I will say that while I was inactive, I never told people I went to BYU in job interviews, I never proclaimed that I was LDS, because I didn't want others to associate my actions with the church. I know I still had a testimony of the gospel, I was trying to distance myself from it and to push it down...which clearly didn't work. When I started coming back to church this past Fall, the first person I reached out to (after I went TO church) was my former YW president who had never given up over the seven years I was inactive in reaching out to me and trying to let me know that she still cared about me. She was the first person I sought out, and the love I have felt from her has been so healing. In a lot of ways, I look to her as a motherly figure, and I'm very grateful that she didn't give up on me. She is going to be my escort next week when I go to the temple, since I can't imagine anyone else being there with me to help and guide me. Not sure if that was at all helpful, but thought I would share just in case.

Smoking is a very hard habit to quit. I have been smoke free for almost a year now (which sounds crazy when I think of it that way) and I remember the first few months being hard. I only smoked two cigarettes a day: one on the way to work and one on the way home, and I STILL find myself in situations where the craving is intense. It's hard, but it's not impossible. Sometimes I joke that being around friends who smoke is "second hand therapy," but I know how challenging it can be. The thing that helps me most is thinking about how much healthier I feel, how much more in control of myself I feel when I say no, and looking at where I was at that point in my life compared to where I am today. When you make sacrifices and commit to your covenants, there are so many rich blessings that will be poured out upon you. We are imperfect mortals. The things with which I struggle are different from others, as we are all unique. Remember that your local authorities love you and care for you and want to help you. Remember that your Heavenly Father loves you and cares for you and wants the best for you. Turn to them for their love and support. Ask for a priesthood blessing of comfort to help you as you go through this trial, if you feel it would be beneficial to you. Know that you have friends here, even though we are miles away, who support you and are willing to listen. You can do this!

I'm putting this out there for advice/comfort/whatever you have to offer. I have been dating someone for the past four months or so, officially courting and dating exclusively for about 2 months. We have discussed marriage quite a bit lately, and we both know that this is where our relationship is headed. It's something we both want and look forward to, though we're trying to ease our way into it timing-wise. One thing that I keep coming back to is having a conversation with both sets of parents about the temple. We both are converts and know that our families would not be able to be at the ceremony should we marry in the temple. I can't help feeling a bit torn in two ways over the idea. While I very much want to be sealed for time and all eternity to him, it's hard to think of being married and not being with our families. I worry that there will be feelings of bitterness toward it (as I had held a discussion with my mother in my teens and had a somewhat negative response to the thought), and there are some things that I have always thought of when I thought of being married that will probably be missing on that day. It hurts to think about getting dressed for my wedding without my mother being there to help. It hurts to think about my father not being able to walk me down the aisle. I don't want anyone to get the idea that those temporal moments are more important to me than being sealed. It's just hard to reconcile those thoughts I've had for years with my current state. If anyone has any advice for how to approach this discussion with our families, things that can help ease the bittersweet feelings that will undoubtedly be there, and so forth I am all ears. I want to honor my Heavenly Father and my earthly parents and right now it feels like it will be very difficult to do both. Thank you for reading and letting me get some thoughts out to others that I feel would understand. Hopefully no one will take this posting in the wrong way as far as not having things prioritized correctly or something of the sort.