hagoth

Every day there is a portion of my praying that goes like this:  Lord grant our church and political leaders the wisdom of Solomon and Joseph.  Use Caesar (government) to prosper and protect your church, and your church to prosper and protect this land. 
 
Many feel that Caesar may be growing increasingly hostile towards the church.  If so, let us double our prayers, and work even more faithful for the protection (spiritual and physical) of this land!

I am so overcome with joy today, my wife and I were finally married after being together for seven years, she isn't LDS yet but will be getting baptized in a few weeks from now.  I have been ex-communicated for over 10 years and had a lot of challenges to overcome.  My wife and I have been going to church together for seven years and have a strong testimony of the gospel, there have been things in our lives that we had to overcome as a couple and individually that prevented us from getting married sooner but I believe everything happened in God's timing and now that we are married and can progress in the gospel and as a couple striving to be sealed in the temple together, our lives are just being blessed tremendously.  Today, I found out that I won't have to wait a year before being re-baptized which means that my wife and I can be sealed in the temple a year sooner than we both had thought.  I can probably be baptized the same day as my wife now and what's even better than that is that my sister in law and her two kids just told us they are all getting baptized in the church on August 29th!  They had been coming to church with us for a year several years ago and had Anti-Mormon literature presented to them and stopped going after that.  It was the most disappointing thing as her kids loved going to church with us.  I feared that they would never regain that desire to come back but again, the lord was working his plan in their lives and now they are getting baptized.  Growing up mormon I always wondered how my dad always had the desire to live righteously.  I had never had that burning desire to be so righteous but now that i'm married and can finally progress in the gospel I have the overwhelming love for the Gospel and realize how much I have missed being in good standing with the church and living my life according to the commandments.  I honestly can't stop crying as I am so grateful that all these things are finally happening and I know how much joy the gospel gives us.  Just had to share all this with someone!  God is so great!

And then there's Doctor Who Monopoly where someone gets to play as the sonic screwdriver. It's like they sat down in a board meeting and said, "For a game famous for the fighting and hurt feelings, is there any way we can ruin friendships and destroy family ties before the game begins?!"

My final words -->>
 
Darlin', I've been meaning to tell you....gasp... cough......................  cough...  
Oh, nevermind.  It will wait............

I'll be honest.  A little over a year ago, I almost died.  I was, quite frankly, surprised when I woke up in the hospital the following morning.
 
Nothing witty went through my head.  I just wanted my husband to know that I love him, and for him to let our kids know how much I love them.  More than anything, when I was dying, my mind was filled with thoughts of my family and their welfare.  
 
I was amazed at how non-threatening dying really is, how peaceful the process is, even when you are in extreme pain.  Dying really isn't nearly as terrifying as we seem to think it is.  Dying is actually quite easy; it's living that's hard.

I want my children to grow up becoming Republicans, so, of course, we play Monopoly!     My middle child hates the game--thinks it's mean.  Ah well...she's an artist.  There are GOP artists, aren't there? 

Another vote for this-saw it on Monday.
For an example of just one thing-I liked how they worked the Turandot music into some of the other scenes-and not just the ones at the opera.

You'll notice that the song doesn't say "Take from the Little Stream, Take, oh take". The idea of the song is that we should be sharing and doing things for others of our own free will. It's about the mindset of performing unexpected service for others. And that's a great concept. It's called being unselfish and lifting others.
 
It's when others think or expect that you should give or donate your talents to them that the problems begin. When they expect you to do something for them for free merely because they don't want to pay for it, or that you go to the same church, or that you are family or friends, then they are the ones who are being selfish.
 
I work in the automotive service repair industry. I make my living working on cars. I also work part time selling auto parts. Some people think that that means I should have no problem after a long day of working and talking to people about cars, to come home and work on their stuff for free. But my sweet wife has made sure to let anyone who approaches me about their car know right up front to expect to pay me for my services if they ask for my help. Setting that boundary from the outset gets the relationship going off on the right foot. People who come up to me now expect that they will be paying me for my services if I help them. Occasionally, depending on the problem and the person, and their personal situation, I may finish a job and refuse payment. But that's my choice, not theirs. That's where 'Give said the Little Stream' comes into play for me. It's about giving, not taking. 'Taking' removes my ability to grow by giving service, and the recipient's ability to grow by thankfully receiving service they fully expected to pay for.
 
But it's not an LDS thing, it's a societal thing. Look at how much more certain segments of society want to take from those of us who work hard without putting in any effort of their own to better themselves. The governmental welfare system is broken. We now have people who feel they are owed something for not working, or because their ancestors may have been abused by someone else's ancestors. Or because they belong to a 'minority' group, race, or class. The end story is generally the same: they want something for free without putting in any effort to earn it for themselves. That's not me 'giving', that's someone else deciding to 'take' from me.

It takes two people to work at a marriage. The situation you describe is not healthy. My advice would be to see your Stake President first and tell him your concerns with your Bishop if you were to go to him. That's just my opinion.

Absolutely. And before this I was all about feeling free and unhinged by any religion. (I have studied religion just about my whole life) yet now...it's exactly as you say. I am happiest now since joining the church than on my worst day-than my happiest back then. Overall I find it ironic that I feel more free now by being in the church.
Great stuff. :)

I would send you an offending pm if you'd like - but I'm allergic to cats

Hi Vort,
I appreciate the willingness expressed by you and others here, but the request is actually much more involved than a quick paragraph or two. I was considering hiring someone to translate a large (and growing) body of classical Latin, but due to other recent developments, I'll instead devote time to studying the language for the lion's share of my late nights for a couple of years, and will eventually get around to doing my own translations.

They didn't read it in my ward this week.  But can I just tell you how wonderful it was to FINALLY have Sacrament Meeting first?

Frankly, I have no problem with the concept of expressing your concerns even to the point of "we don't think you should marry him". You say this once and only once, letting it possibly becoming a case of "you can't say we didn't warn you" without further nagging, but yes, I'd let your daughter know your feelings.

Thanks for THAT image, Eowyn.
I officially hate you.

The kid I pay to cut the grass   

It may be well for some of us participating in this forum to occasionally remember and follow what Elder Hales' said  during the Sunday afternoon session of General Conference last April.
 
No one should be criticized, persecuted, or attacked by individuals, or governments either, for what he or she believes about God. It is very personal and very important. 

Executive secretary is BestCalling.  I was trained by a seasoned bishop, and then trained the next two.  Got to hear everything that went on the ward, and when assignments and callings were flying around, none of them ever headed my way.  Got to give meaningful support to people just by sitting in the clerk's office and playing minecraft while an appointment ran late.  I disliked making the phone calls and could never remember people's names, but they all got to know me so that was good enough.

That's just silly. Why would the dinosaurs be wearing her high heels? It's not even likely they'd fit.

Hey everyone! I found this forum just a few days ago. I've always enjoyed online discussions because I love to learn from others' perspectives (easier for me when I can go back and reread what I and others have said). Anyway, I decided I'd see if I could find an lds-based forum to have discussions in more of a gospel context than you usually find online. So one google search later, here I am!
 
Let's see, about me...
 
I'm probably younger than most on this forum. I just finished serving a mission a couple months ago and will be starting college in fall. I grew up as a member. I'm a big reader, and a lifelong fan of the scriptures, as you might have guessed from my avatar. The 'application' part of scripture study has always been a bit more challenging, but I'm trying!
 
I don't claim to know much, but I'll probably put in my two cents here anyway.    I'm excited to learn from all of your perspectives and insights! Looking forward to getting to know you all.

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.

Compare 2 Nephi 3 (Lehi's parting blessing to his own son Joseph). There, Lehi referred to promises to the earlier Joseph (the one from Egypt), and further promised that a remnant of the Nephite Joseph would be spared.
 
As to the supposed irony of Moroni warning the Nephites of what was to come, it is worth nothing that immediately after Moroni's burial, thousands of Lehi's descendants exited Nephite society in a diaspora that included Hagoth's ships.
https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/alma/63.3-7?lang=eng#2
 
(As to an inkling of where some of those departing Nephites went, Lehi promised a few additional things of note to his son Joseph that might be gleaned from a careful reading of the last few verses.)

Dillonkor,
 
You might also want to consider this:
 
https://www.lds.org/handbook/handbook-2-administering-the-church/selected-church-policies?lang=eng#21.1.22
 

Dillonkor,
 
You might also want to consider this:
 
https://www.lds.org/handbook/handbook-2-administering-the-church/selected-church-policies?lang=eng#21.1.22