JohnsonJones

We also had typewriters. Of course, we then had to either hand deliver them or mail them which may have taken longer, but with a type written message had a more physical component that one could keep through the years. It's a lost art. I remember in High School I utilized a mechanical typewriter (that's prior to the electric typewriter), that was guaranteed to increase finger strength and grip strength...they just don't make 'em like they used to.

That is lovely. I've never been to Niagara Falls whether it was lit up or not. It looks like it is very pretty during the Festival of Lights at the Falls and local community.

I am a very dull person. My favorite app is probably bog standard with Mormons. I enjoy the Gospel Library.

This is something that differs from individual to individual. When I went through the university, bachelor students were given a basic overview of the historians craft and historiography. Whether someone that changes history is because they are going against the mold or they are Great because they share a vision with others was not something that was really covered. When one goes for their Masters they get more specific with a Masters Thesis and that is further refined when one goes into their Doctorate. There are definitely those with varied ideas concerning those individuals who "change" history, or at least appear in history, but there is no real consensus that I know of between all historians. I think it depends on the situation and the timing. A prime example is Jeff Bezos. He has changed the retail landscape and transformed shopping habits in North America and Europe to that of shoppers participating online to attain goods. He was not the first to do so, but he is the biggest. I'd say it was Ebay that started this trend via it's auctions, but he came about a way to do it better and more appealing to shoppers. Does this make him "Mold" blowing or is it that he was a "Great Person" with a vision shared by other powerful people? That is debatable. There were others who blazed the online marketplace first, and some could say he was not the one to come up with a majority of his ideas first, rather he took the ideas others had before him and refined them. That in and of itself did not make Amazon become the behemoth it is today, and it was not just a shared vision of several people. What occurred was that the citizens and individuals of North America and Europe collectively jumped upon this bandwagon of commerce to make it what it is today. It is a reflection of our society and their desires and impulses that propelled Jeff Bezos and those with him to the spot that they reside in today. A similar idea could be transposed upon Jeff Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs, and many other entrepreneurs. These are still very modern in our time and akin to current history in the making. It is sure that analysis of their lives and their impact on history will be studied far beyond when any of us are still alive and kicking. The question then is whether it is that they are mold blowing individuals that changed history through their ideas (I could see this as true for the individuals above), or was it that they happened along at a period where others shared their vision (also true for the individuals above), or is it more like luck where they were at the right place at the right time (which I think has to do with success sometimes more than people would admit). Turning this away from my historians craft and more towards the gospel, I think there are people who are sent to this life with missions to fulfill. In some instances those individuals are assigned to bring great inventions, causes, and things to our lives. This could very well mean that those who seem to be at the right place at the right time with the right idea (such as those individuals I talked about above) are at that time and location for a specific purpose which they agreed upon in the heavens. I believe that what is created on this earth was spiritually created in the heavens first, which means that there are probably a host of angels whispering in the ears of various people on what to do and how to do it, reminding them of their missions on this earth, and bringing forth the fruit that will help make our lives easier, as well as expose others to the gospel. Think about how much a personal computer has helped people reach out to their fellowmen (for example how we do on these forums), and how missionaries can talk to people who have questions on the gospel simply by sitting in front of a screen. Think about how much facebook has helped the church and spread the gospel, as well as connect members to one another in fellowship and love. My personal opinion is that this is all part of a divine plan which was ordained in heaven before we came. Of course, that's not very historian like, but as this is a religious forum and not a professional arena...this is one place where I can relax my historian's stance on history and instead reveal that I think history has a distinct effect of being changed and manipulated both by the adversary and the Lord, by those who want war and hate, as well as heavenly messengers who's main concern are the salvation and exaltation of man.

I am the very definition of someone who has bad grammar and spelling mistakes on these forums. For some reason what I mean to type and what comes out at times are not the same. I even reread my posts and you will often see I have edited it in an effort to correct my mistakes. You will then note that I still have mistakes in my posts after I do this. I'm a historian and should have perfect grammar and spelling. This only occurs when I have someone else check my work and proofread my papers, which is a significant difference than what happens on the forums. This is not true on the forum. I am constantly making mistakes. I'm terrible proof reading and then editing my own posts.

@NightSG How did you get this calling, I was under the impression from various other posts you have made over the past few months that you were protestant, but definitely not LDS. In your instance, I would have probably cut back on what I was doing. You could tell the leadership that you would be happy to help, you would never turn down a calling, but these are the challenges you are facing. I cannot relate to your situation you have described, but I can talk about something similar that I have experienced in my short life in regards to stake and regional travel. When you are a high counselor, you have a ward which you are assigned to in many stakes. In this, at times, if you are in many areas of the world, can be rather far away. There are two different occasions which I can speak about in this. In one occasion, the ward was around 2 hours away, so roughly a 240 mile round trip. With the ward you were assigned, it was hoped that you would be there at least two to three weeks out of the month. I can understand gas being expensive and needing car maintenance. If this was an extraordinary burden, the idea is that they would express this to the Stake President or his counselors. This is the important part of any calling, that if one has something that is being an overly excessive burden, they need to tell someone to see if there is a solution. Sometimes that solution is to be released. I can understand how it can cost gas and create wear and tear on a vehicle, but one needs to express these things to someone rather than just taking it up the nose. In this same light you also have Regional/Area presidencies and those who are part of that group. They also are expected to travel great distances, in some instances with destinations being 6 to 10 hours away. Whether they utilize flights, or drive vehicles, this costs money as well. If one is not able to afford this in time or expense, it is expected that they will express this to their leaders. This should not be a burden that they cannot deal with or manage. If it is, then they need to express this concern and the Leadership can either find solutions to help negate these difficulties, or release them from the calling. That said, it sounds as if you have been made bitter in regards to the Single Adult experiences. I am sorry that you have had such terrible experiences. I am lucky to never have had to go through such things myself, but I can imagine that it could be a terrible thing to go through. When one has no money, and is trying to deal with things like you did, it can be incredibly hard to see the benefits or good in a given situation. Perhaps in that situation it would have been better to worry about one's personal needs first, and then put forth about what they could in their calling. We see this in the church many times. The church actually puts family first. I recognize that when someone has family needs that these needs can take away their time from the calling. That should be respected. Many times people feel they are so important in their position, or that their calling is so important that they put that calling first, and their family second. Invariably the family might suffer for this. This is not how I understand the church. One should put their family first, as well as their own personal sanity. That does not mean that one suddenly stops all scout activities if they are the scout master so they can play with their kids on Wednesday night, but it may mean that if they ONLY have Wednesday night off to spend time with their family, perhaps they should be released so they actually have time to spend with their family (much less have a family home evening). It does not mean that one who is a Bishop should suddenly supersede any duties in lieu of family time, but it does mean that if their daughter is in a championship soccer match, or their son's football team has gone to state and it's the same night as the youth temple trip, then the Bishop can spend that time with their family (and trust their counselors and youth leaders can handle whatever comes up...I have some interesting stories in that regards though...where actually somehow the youth didn't bring all their recommends somehow on that same time the Bishop was involved with the family and only the youth leaders went on the temple trip...but that's for another time). In that same light, tackle the things you need individually first, and if it interferes with your calling, tell your church leaders before having such a terrible experience as it seems you had. It sounds as if others in your Single Adults had similar difficulties in this avenue, and as such, it could be a symptom of the area you were in and the difficulties represented in the unit. In this, I would probably guess, you were not alone. You had things that you could probably relate to those few (5 or 6) Single Adults that were in your area and associated with. I am sorry that you had such a terrible experience in the past dealing with Single Adults. I cannot change the past, nor your experiences with it. I can however say, the LDS church is about people and families. It is also about forgiveness because leaders are NOT PERFECT. They are also not mind readers. In such, I would hope that you would study the scriptures and focus on the main points of the gospel of the Lord and the atonement, and then once you have a good foundation there, start to stretch out...you could have a better experience with the LDS church. It may not be that you are able to do the Single Adults in the stake, in which case it sounds like people in this thread have provided ample other arenas which you can explore in regards to dating or finding a spouse if you so desire. However, it is always important to make oneself secure financially and temporally before trying to stretch out in other avenues...even if one feels a church calling requires it. No church calling is ever important enough to sabotage your well being, and no one should ever expect you to do so. I am lucky to be in a good marriage. I cannot relate to what many Single Adults go through today. I can say that if I were single, I probably would look first for someone with a strong testimony and faith in the LDS church. Second, I would look to find someone who was already happy with their life and themselves. I would look to see one who was secure in their own ability. If that meant that they never went to Stake functions because they didn't have the money...but were secure in their own life otherwise...that would be a bonus over someone being arrested for having a car that didn't meet state qualifications but was driving it nonetheless to stake activities. On the otherhand, at my age, I might just decide I'm done with the entire marriage thing and enjoy the family I have (until they got sick of me and shuffled me off to a nursing home or something like that). However, if I were younger, I think the important thing is to be happy where one is at, and to not go beyond one's means, whether it is in the church, or otherwise. Once again, I am sorry for your experiences in Single Adults. I would hope that this is not a sticking point you hold against the LDS church itself, but rather something that you can recognize perhaps mistakes were made from your leaders (and all leaders make mistakes, none are perfect) either from lack of information or other reasons on their part. I hope you can forgive those you hold responsible for the difficulties imposed and find peace in the future. Finally I hope that you would read the Book of Mormon and see that times where many of those in the Book of Mormon also suffered, sometimes apparently due to the choices of their leaders, but found the faith to endure in the Lord.

Nothing I say will guarantee you to find love or a spouse. I actually have stories of men and women who are righteous but have remained unmarried. Most of the Men, though, I cannot say are completely innocent in the matter, having had an opportunity at one point or the other that they could get married, but chose for one reason or the other not too. If one is not handicapped, I think at some point or another, as long as they seek someone to date, eventually will end up with the opportunity to be married if they so desire it IF they are not disabled in some fashion. However, I have seen it over and over again where they decide for some odd reason, that they cannot get married to some LDS girl or such thing for whatever reasons. On the otherhand, there are those that are disabled or handicapped which I have seen never have the opportunity to be married in the church or to a member of the church. It also seems that worthy LDS women outnumber worthy LDS males, and that this ratio grows larger the older one gets. This may work in the favor of LDS men, but it can be VERY disheartening to LDS women. I have a nephew who is now 50 years old and never married. He gets uncomfortable discussing what has happened in the past, but as far as I know, is a worthy LDS member. It can be difficult for him to see others who have children and families that are around him. He is also on the East Coast. He has been able to date LDS members, even in the area where he is. It may seem crazy, but the East coast has quite a number of LDS members comparatively to some places in Europe. In Northern Europe they actually have a multi-nation get together once a year of around 800 single adults from many nations up there just in hopes that they will be able to meet another LDS young adult. It can be fun, but I think that people are at times desperate (if people talk about BYU and BYUi having that marriage attitude, well....this event in Europe exceeds those in my eyes). The blessing of the East Coast is that normally there is a stake Single Adults group. This may mean that you have to travel two or three hours to get to an activity every so often, but if you go, you will meet other young adults. This is far better then the travel across national borders and further for a once a year event that occurs in Europe. Of course, it may be that you meet no one at your Single Adults group for the Stake. They occasionally also have Regional Single Adult activities, which are probably more like the European event above. In this you may have hundreds of Single Adults. What I am suggesting is the same as what some have said above. Go to Single Adult activities. There is NO guarantee that you will find someone, but it is a higher chance that you will find a worthy LDS member if you go, than if you do not. I would advise patience. That can be a VERY HARD thing to do, especially the older one gets. Patience in the Lord is a great thing to have. It also can be a horrendously hard trial. I am glad I did not have to suffer such a trial myself, but that is little solace to those who are undergoing it currently. I am not so certain traveling to Utah is the best idea in order to find a spouse. I have heard of stories where it works out, I have also heard of stories where it absolutely does not work out. An individual moves to Utah for that sole reason and in many cases is no closer to finding a worthy LDS spouse than they were before. I suppose it depends on the individual. I have not participated in this online thing of dating. It was not something that existed when I was young, and my children didn't utilize it either. At the time when most of them were dating I highly advised them NOT to find dates online as it seemed less safe. Times have changed though, and many here have far more experience than I do in this new fangled type of dating. It may be that the LDS singles dating site is a good option, especially for those who do not have many LDS members in their vicinity. In that light, signing up for one of those dating sites made specifically for LDS singles may be a good idea. I would highly advise that you keep your standards regardless. Not all LDS individuals are there for good reason in some cases (or so I expect at least) and so caution is always advised. I would advise to trying to date individuals inside the church. It is a worthy goal to aim for a temple marriage. There are those that marry outside the church though. It works out sometimes, at other times it does not. I would ensure that anyone I date would respect the standards I set, whether they are LDS or a non-member. It may actually be at times that a non-member will respect your moral boundaries and the law of chastity MORE than a member would. Once again, no matter what, stick with your morals and do not go beyond those boundaries no matter what. My personal thoughts are to aim for a temple marriage if possible. That is only going to occur IF you keep your own morals and the law of chastity. I know what I said above probably is of no solace to you. As I said, nothing I say can guarantee that you will find a spouse or not. I can urge patience, but many would ask, at what point does patience run out? In the Lords time is all I can say. We DO believe in a hereafter where the Lord has all the answers that we may lack on this earth. If it is our lot that we must wait until that time to find the answers to some of the largest unanswered prayers we have in this life...then may we have the strength to do so.

I too am very supportive of anti-divorce laws. It seems that in nations that have these, one of the first things to show the decline in morality of that nation is when they rid themselves of those laws (not always, but sometimes). For example, Ireland used to be a very Catholic nation and also had very strict laws concerning divorce. They got rid of those laws in 1995 (by referendum, made into law in 1996), and within twenty years they went from one end to the other, as they now not only allow easy divorce, they also allow Gay Marriage and see that fornication and adultery are very common occurrences. I hope that is not a Mormon influence or that Mormons push for things like that. I'm old fashioned in that way in that I believe we should hold firm to our marriages and our spouses, and if there are problems, look to oneself as the problem instead of blaming one's spouse. It is also warms the heart when non-member spouses and families join the church. It does not always happen (and in my family, though my wife and kids are members, despite my efforts I don't think any of the others will ever join the church for example, at least in this life), but I think there is always great happiness and rejoicing on earth and heaven when part member families all become members and eventually are sealed in the temple.

On the note that I mentioned above, did anyone catch President Nelson's reference to the Philippines yesterday? He brought it up specifically in relation to the LDS church, the natural disasters that occur there, the LDS involvement all over the world, and LDS humanitarian services all within a paragraph or two! It seems the Philippines are a very important arena that they keep an eye on in regards to the Members and LDS faithful in that nation.

I can tell we will see this differently from each other. Rather than get wrapped up in it, I think I'll focus on the areas which we do agree on instead. I think we have far more in common than differences overall.

This is my thoughts on the topic, but NOT doctrine, or even really a strong opinion, just some thoughts I have upon reading it. The Book of Mormon is a central item to every individuals testimony who believes that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints is the correct church with the true gospel on this earth. This is because, if the Book of Mormon is true, than Joseph Smith was a prophet. If Joseph Smith was a prophet chosen by the Lord, than what he did was ordained by the Lord. This means that the priesthood truly was given to him and the church established is the Lord's church and the gospel is the true gospel. If we lose our testimony of the Book of Mormon, it is a catalyst that will start our lack of faith in the gospel taught in the Church as well. We gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon by the Holy Ghost. As we read the Book of Mormon, hopefully we are sensitive enough to recognize the Holy Ghost testifying of it's truthfulness to us every time we read it. If not, continued perseverance in reading it hopefully will bring that Spiritual guidance upon us. This has the effect of continuously letting the Holy Ghost testify to us that the Book of Mormon is true, hence renewing our testimony every time we read it. This is why reading the Book of Mormon is so important. We renew our faith and reinvigorate our testimonies when we read the Book of Mormon. It constantly allows us to have that renewal of that feeling and testifying by the Holy Ghost to us of it's truthfulness on a daily basis. This does not mean that the other scriptures are not important. They are vital to our spiritual growth. The New Testament in particular gives us the life and teachings of the Lord. In this, we can further strengthen our testimony of the Lord. However, the difference of why we read the Book of Mormon and the New Testament is one that is foundational to our faith. The words of the Lord are also found in the Book of Mormon. While the New Testament gives us a testimony of the Lord, it is utilized by many other churches and at times some of their teachings as well as that of the world, tries to tear us down and destroy our faith in the gospel. This is why the Book of Mormon is another testimony. It is the mouth of two or three witnesses. The Book of Mormon and the Holy Ghost testifying of it to us can give us that peace of mind that the teaching found in the New Testament are the teachings that we find in the gospel proclaimed in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints. If you have a rock solid testimony of the Book of Mormon, by default you will desire to read and learn the New Testament and other scriptures. You will never fall from the gospel. However, if you do not have a testimony of the Book of Mormon, all manner of other voices can crowd in to disparage the faith we practice, and place their own ideas of what the Bible means in the foundations of men instead of Heaven. Thus, by having that Testimony of the Book of Mormon and constantly renewing it, we can stand firm against the temptations that would lead us out of the church and into the world. I think THIS is why the Book of Mormon is so important to us that we should read and study it every day. If you can do nothing else, I would say to read the Book of Mormon. Ideally you set apart enough time to read the Book of Mormon for that renewing of your faith, as well as other scriptures. If done in this manner, as you read the New Testament you will also feel the Spirit and have a testimony born of the Spirit about the truthfulness that we have a Lord and Savior and the teachings he gives us in the New Testament. Just my thoughts on the OT.

I would have a different slant. He is successful because of oligarchy and commercialism. He inherited much of his wealth and utilized commercialism to stay afloat. Without the oligarchy of the rich family he comes from, he probably would have gone to the poorhouse with his first bankruptcy. Class advancement or changing has slowed down in the US over the past few generations, with the rich staying rich and the poor staying poor due to this more oligarchical system in place in the US currently. With government controls today, business is less capitalism in many instances, and more oligarchy instead. You have a few breakouts (and big ones at that), but overall, many of the high places in our business world are controlled by the same families who controlled it 40 years ago, 80 years ago, and 100 years ago.

Was anyone else impressed with President Nelson today? He is ONE SHARP cookie. He gave that entire talk without the use of papers and notes on his lap or from what I could tell, in front of him. That was a LONG talk to say off of memory. He may be old but he is still extremely smart and alert. I'd say he is in better shape than several other members of the twelve. I also can say that I had affirmation that he is the prophet chosen for our current time. I believe he is the prophet of God not just because of his seniority in the quorum, but also because he has been chosen by the Lord for this position, prepared from his youth and through his life to fulfill being the prophet, seer, and revelator and president of the church at this time. It is an exciting time to be in the church.

It has been so long since I was 11, I honestly cannot say exactly what I knew or did not know at that time...BUT...by the time I was twelve I had read all the standard works, knew the entire course of the plan of salvation (from pre-existence to the three degrees of glory), and some of the things people consider "deep doctrine" these days was actually openly taught to the youth in church. Of course, as we see today, much of those ideas probably were more cultural than specifically doctrine, though at the time many of the ideas were taught as such. It was not uncommon in my youth that those who were the age of twelve were expected to have read the Book of Mormon and be very familiar with the rest of the standard works. That doesn't mean everyone read the entirety of the Bible though, but we were encouraged to read it regularly (actually, we still are today, and the Book of Mormon, but I'm unsure that as many are doing so). Later in life, there was an even stronger push to get the young people to read the Scriptures, with notable stories from Spencer W. Kimball A young boy reads the entire bible and of course the Statements of Ezra Taft Benson. My impression is that your friend is a little off on some of their assumptions. I may have missed it, but which prophet stated that the church is no longer under the condemnation that Ezra Taft Benson proclaimed? It may have happened, I don't recall it having occurred though. I think overall the LDS church is falling further and further into iniquity. A few years ago a study was done regarding Seminary students and the Youth in the church. It was found that (and this was a while ago) almost 25% of the youth of the church were falling into sin with the Law of Chastity (and we are not talking the lighter sins, but the heavier ones which I won't go into detail here, but want to clarify that these sins are the complete disregard for the law of chastity as to what we see in the world today). In my own limited vision of what I see, I think this has only gotten worse. I see many youth that are falling away far more rapidly, and many of those that are in the church seem to lack some of the basic knowledge that we knew as children. Instead of expanding on beliefs, I see the church boiling down to basics, to try to at least guarantee that people understand the basic fundamentals of our religion, much less the more complex ideas. I see that the church has a divorce rate similar to what the world's divorce rate is. I see the LDS church having many members fall away for the most trivial things, but in higher numbers today than ever before. That said, I think that those youth that are the strongest and brightest of our youth today may be stronger and brighter than those of my youth, or those when my kids were youths. The world today is far more wicked and treacherous and it takes a far stronger individual to navigate those wild rapids and survive than it did when I was young, or even when my children were young. I look at my grandchildren and I worry because of how dangerous the world is spiritually today. I think it takes a VERY STRONG soul to withstand that. I think we see the results of these extremely strong youth in the numbers that we see going to do youth baptisms in the temple, and participating in church activities, and going on missions. I have noticed that there are those of the youth that are exceptionally strong. But I think that there are many who are falling away from the church today as well. I think many great and wondrous things are occurring, and even if the church is still under condemnation there may be individual members who have implemented the Book of Mormon in their lives fully and that condemnation does not apply to them specifically. For them perhaps great knowledge is being attained, but for the church as a whole, I think there is a lot of misunderstandings of some of the most basic principles at times. The eleven year olds I have seen in our wards would vary. In talking with the twelve year olds in discussions (so a little older than 11) I honestly think it really boils down to the parents and how they teach their children. There are some that I can tell have been taught very well by their parents and these children know the Book of Mormon, can talk about Church History, and know the plan of salvation inside and out. On the otherhand there are those who have a tough time even identifying whether Nephi was a prophet, or at times, who the prophet yesteryears was (in otherwords, who Gordon B. Hinckley was, much less any other prophet), or who Brigham Young or any other prophets are besides the one that they see today, and Joseph Smith. These same children seem to lack any knowledge of the plan of salvation, what the three degrees of glory are, or what the Sprit world is. I know they are taught these things in primary (as they are in the manuals I am certain), but for some reason they do not seem to grasp them (and perhaps it is because they only get one hour in a year or several years to learn it). Now, obviously my personal experience is very limited, so it may be that things are occurring differently in the church as a whole, however in my experience, it does not seem that what your friend thinks is exactly what is occurring. Hopefully this comes across, not as offensive, but merely my observations and thoughts in relation to what your friend stated.

I am absolutely NOT an IT person, but my work installs Norton Antivirus on all our computers, though that may be only those actually owned by the college and such. I believe that costs money. At home my son installed called AVG anti-virus free and another called malwarebytes. I use them about once a week to do a scan. He absolutely loathes mcafee (I'm not sure of the spelling), and if he finds it on a computer I buy he does all he can to uninstall it. He compares that to a virus, so probably avoid that one I think.

yes, it's more of the latter. I don't really know about the comic's multiverse thing, but the bubbleverse or multiple universe thing from physics is what I was referring to. Multiverse general idea scientific america multiverse scientific american more evidence that we are living in a multiverse

It will be interesting I think. In theory, I believe Russell M. Nelson would already be considered the Prophet of the church, but had not yet been officially appointed or voted on (unanimous vote by the Quorum) previously. If the vote was held, I think it may be shown at this upcoming meeting. Or it could be something entirely different.

That's a pretty big issue I think. What could be done to overcome that type of bias though?

I followed the directions, now to see if this worked. Excellent, or at least I think this is excellent. I see the picture, does anyone else see the picture?

So there we have it, but what do I do with it. Gotta go to correlation and church, but after that I can try something (maybe this evening). How do I get it from that post into an avatar status?

Angry? I'd absolutely be delighted. That would be an awesome blessing. If you could be a Christian and have no challenges that it was a straight path from A-B...that would be a WONDERFUL blessing. For the righteous that would mean a much easier time to get to Heaven. I think that would be wonderful!!! Unfortunately, I think it really isn't the Lord who throws these obstacles in our lives. I'm not a Calvinist, so I have slightly different beliefs. I think the Lord wants all of us to get to heaven and has made it possible so that we all can. He does not try to stop us and I think he would have it as a straight path from A-B. However, because he loves us he has given us free agency, so we are able to choose. This same principle applies to the people around us as well, they all have free agency. IN addition, we have the adversary who wants to drag us down to hell. I think he puts a LOT of obstacles in our way, as well as temptation to us and to others around us. This is what creates those obstacles and makes it so that we do not have that straight path from A-B. But if I were blessed with a straight path from A-B without obstacles, I would definitely NOT be angry with the LORD. I'd be praising and shouting hallelujah's all the way back to heaven. That's more of a blessing than anything else I'd think...In MY PERSONAL opinion.

@Vort Definitely not the Ballerina guy. The person with the Red Shirt first made me think of Target employee rather than Star Trek. LoL. I'd probably prefer some actor from a Western, but the closest of the pictures could be young Russell Crowe knitting. I looked up Russell Crowe movies with Westerns, but realized why I hadn't seen any of them when I saw what they were rated. Maybe a Louis L'amour book cover? Here's a bunch of them Google search of Louis L'amour book covers But I have no idea how to get them from there to the avatar status... Sackett was a great cover, so was Hondo. It also reminds me I recently read some non-westerns with the Louis L'amour short story collections that came out (they had the cover of volume 6 part 1 which are the first part of his crime stories. I've been slowly reading through the short story collection.

I've only dated one woman for decades (my wife), and I hear things are very different these days (it used to be men would ask women out, and when they did it was far more formal then how I hear people ask each other out today). I think some things probably stay the same, even as some things change. 1. Many women would not admit it, but the very first thing they look for (though not the only, and many times not the most important, but this is normally the FIRST thing they see) is how someone looks. They are very similar to guys. They want someone they think is handsome. I can't tell you what a woman thinks is handsome (for one, I am not a woman, and second, it may vary from woman to woman). Unfortunately for us guys, some are more handsome than others. If one has gotten on the bottom of that list, fewer girls are probably going to look their way. There are some things one can do to offset that, such as what @Carborendum stated above. Dress nicely, Take Baths, Groom yourself, Hygiene, etc. are all good things which can improve how women perceive your looks. 2. Have a solid foundation in the Gospel and the scriptures. Now, I'm not sure if this still applies, but back in my day the GOOD girls always were looking for someone who had a strong faith in the gospel. This could be exhibited in many ways (and from the latter end of the 20th century I'm certain many have heard the suggestions that girls look at dating return missionaries...though that is not the ONLY way for them to tell if one has a strong faith in the gospel). They will notice if you go to church or not. 3. Be nice to everyone. Many women notice if someone is nice to others or are just acting. They notice the small things. 4. Be a Gentleman. Once again, not sure if this still applies today. Back in my day when I was in the dating world before I was married, which was a while ago, being a gentleman was VERY important. Open the doors for them, use table manners (chew with your mouth closed, elbows off the table, etc), use thank you and your welcome to servers and others as well as your date, and in general be on your best behavior. 5. Listen to her. I think this one would stay the same. Many guys just want to impress the girl and so they start bragging or talking all about themselves and what they want. Many women may listen to you, but they have things to say as well. Listen to them and ask them questions about themselves. Today I understand the youth have different things they are interested in , but I think some of the things I listed above are universal things for women in the church and things that they look for. Obviously not all of those things (for example, maybe a girl in today's modern society isn't really looking for chivalry and hence being a gentleman may be a turn off. Personally I might avoid that type of woman, but I'm old fashioned in that way). Be patient and perhaps if you do not seem to have success with the girls you want to go out with, perhaps take a look at those girls that may have

Well, if I had my druthers, instead of representing my name it would be more of my interests or tastes. So something perhaps with John Wayne or maybe Jimmy Stewart. I grew up as a boy Watching Gene Autry and Roy Rogers...Gene Autry was actually my favorite when I was younger. If you make me an avatar though, I probably will need step by step instructions on how to put it in my profile. I'm a tad tech illiterate in many areas.

This is guess on another idea which might apply. Moriancumer COULD actually be a place, thus would be similar to a last name. There are different origins of various last names, for example, someone who has the last name of Johnson may have been [First Name Here] Son of John as their full name in the past, but John's son, then shortened to Johnson eventually came to be. Another could be a Family name so lets say the Johns were a Family name...then a Son of John would identify the family the person was in (and still be like the last name). Last names could also come by profession so if someone was a Blacksmith, the last name may be Black. Or, if one was a Silversmith the last name may be Silver (makes you wonder if Long John Silver's ancestors were Silversmith's in the past...probably not though as he was a fictional character). Yet, another way would be in regards to a location. You could be...John from Lexington....which may be eventually shortened to John Lexington. In this instance, they have a location that they called Moriancumer and lived there for at least 4 years (Ether 2:13). Now it could work two ways, they may have named the location after Moriancumer (which is similar to what Lehi did with several locations they went through naming some places after his sons for example), or it may be something significant happened to the Brother of Jared here. If it was the latter, it may be that from thence on the Brother of Jared was also identified with that location, hence his first given name being Mahonri, but then also calling himself...Mohonri from Moriancumer. Thus, shortened would be Mahonri Moriancumer. Of course, as we do not actually know, it could be anything. I would hazard a guess that Moriancumer would be more of like the last name, and Mahonri was the first name. In truth, we do not know a TON of the cultural ideas that were floated back in those days (thousands of years ago, literally), but there are various ideas that we have gathered through the years in relation to those times and how they acted and behaved.