seashmore

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Posts posted by seashmore

  1. Due to circumstances I'd rather not get into, I ruined the bag I kept temple clothing in since 2012.  When I went shopping on the online store (no distribution center nearby, even if it were open) I found I didn't like either of the two options available.  Anyone have any websites they could direct me to?

    I really liked the old, discontinued style, mostly because of the hanger hook and shoe pockets.
    The generic "Temple Bag" looked like a great one, except the lack of a hanger hook.  That is a must-have for my small temple dressing rooms, so it surprises me that neither options have that. 

     

  2. My dad is in this camp.  He gets easily frustrated by technology and the terminology confuses him.  Hence his having outdated desktop equipment, and he only got a smart phone last year.  Bonus: its a tracfone, which means I helped him set it up to connect to his wifi, but he is still convinced that it's using his data/minutes.  He doesn't have video/mic capabilities on his desktop, so his participation is limited.  He was also told (or given the impression) that he needed to log in using a video so that people in his ward could see him.  I tried, to no avail, to tell him that it is possible and permissible to watch/listen to meetings without having a video. 

  3. 1 hour ago, MarginOfError said:

    I've refused to participate in tithing settlement for probably a decade now. I don't object to tithing settlement or it's purposes. I object to the time frame in which it must all be done. Requiring a bishop to meet with each family in the last three months, while also requiring at least a clerk or other bishopric member to be present (if done by the books) seemed anathema to reducing the administrative load on the bishop. 

    I'll return to tithing settlement when the bishops are permitted to take these declarations throughout the year. 

    I still review my tithing statements to make sure I'm paying a full tithe. I've been pretty open with my bishops that I don't consider the ten minutes he could spare for me worth his time. They've never complained.

    I've also thought the timing was a little odd.  It's such a busy time of the year for everyone, and it does seem like an unnecessary sacrifice on the part of the bishopric.  But, as the hymn says, "Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven."

    I usually go.  It's a great time to make sure I'm not about to lose myself spiritually before the Seasonal Affective Disorder hits full force.  Last year, the only slots left available to sign up for were two hours after church let out, right during my nap time.  Since it hadn't quite got cold yet, I decided to walk the two and a half miles.  It gave me quite the chance for reflection.  The year before, a different bishop had pointedly said the following, "The second coming is approaching.  Are you ready?" 

    The only time I've regretted going was the year the YSA bishop pulled people out of Sunday School one by one.  I thought it was a bogus way to go about it.

  4. Hopefully it went well for you!

    I'm not a fan of open-ended speaking assignments.  When I was asked to give an FHE lesson in the YSA ward, I asked for a topic, and the person said, "Pray about it."  So I talked about prayer.  :)

    Last minute teaching assignments, though....whew!  I almost love the challenge of those!  I find them much easier because I can invoke participation, though.

  5. On 3/16/2020 at 6:40 AM, JohnsonJones said:

    I also enjoyed the movie The Inspector General with Danny Kaye.

    I love The Inspector General!  I grew up watching TCM, but it wasn't until I bought a "Family Pack" from the five dollar bin that I discovered that movie.  Kaye is so funny!

     

    On 3/17/2020 at 7:53 AM, JohnsonJones said:

    I really like It's a Wonderful Life.

    It was either that one or Miracle on 34th street that flopped in the theaters.  It could be gotten for very cheap and so it was shown on TV channels around Christmas (?) I believe, and through that gained a following as a Christmas Classic.

    So, a movie that did terribly at the theaters originally is now beloved by many.

    It was It's a Wonderful Life.  One of my absolute favorites; I'll watch it any time of year.  If I remember correctly, part of the reason it flopped so hard was because of a May release date.  Fun thing I discovered: if you remember, one of the angels says, "You'll spend that hour getting to know that man."  Once, I timed it and the amount of screen time we spend with Clarence "getting to know" George is longer than an hour, which, to me, says something about God's timing.  Hot dog!

    I have to ask @JohnsonJones and @LadyGunnar have you seen Cary Grant in I Was a Male War Bride?  Pure hilarity!  I'm a sucker for screwball comedies, though.

     

    I'm more likely to dislike a popular movie than to like something that's unpopular, if that makes sense.
    Although, my best friend did tell me she didn't like Dan In Real Life, which I absolutely adore!

     

     

  6. 34 minutes ago, Still_Small_Voice said:

    One crazy thought that I learned recently is if you make more than $32,350 in United States currency per year you are among the top one percent of global earners.  If you are among the top one percent of global earners and pay your tithing imagine what these tithes and offerings can do for saints in foreign countries.

    This gives me motivation to connect with the spam artist that contacts my work's email.  Multiple times a day, he tells me about how the financial robot can solve my financial woes.

  7. On 9/16/2020 at 6:38 AM, Fether said:

    Here is my opinion 

    “Never do anything that could lead to sexual transgression. Treat others with respect, not as objects used to satisfy lustful and selfish desires. Before marriage, do not participate in passionate kissing”

    - For the Strength of Youth

     

    “The For the Strength of Youth pamphlet contains standards that, when followed carefully, will bring rich blessings and help us stay on the covenant path. Although it was written for the benefit of the youth, its standards do not expire when we leave the Young Men and Young Women programs. They apply to each of us all the time. A review of these standards may prompt other ways we can be more careful in our gospel living.”

    - Becky Craven, General Conference 2019

    Having had some experience with kissing gone beyond the FSOY standards, I decided I wouldn't participate in any kissing unless we're standing or wearing seat belts.  Satan and I know my weaknesses, and those are objective check points.  The only people I expect to adhere to those standards are myself and any guy kissing me. 

    That being said, I feel a bit obligated to warn you about passionate kissing, which some call making out.  Once that line is crossed, and you feel that feeling, you want to feel it again.  It can be incredibly difficult to deny yourself once you've given in, even when you know it's the proper thing to do.  I'll get a little personal.  When I was in high school, I had some lie down, passionate make out sessions with my boyfriend.  When a divorced RM I was interested in dating after college suggest we cuddle, I was all for it.  Cuddling led to spooning, and I didn't know how to change course in the middle of it.  Before I saw him again, I called him and told him that, while I still liked him and enjoyed cuddling, I was not comfortable with spooning.  He said he understood, but it wasn't longer than a few months before it was happening again, because we both allowed it.  It's the old story of how to boil a frog. 

    It also influenced the final lesson I gave to my YW as I moved out and they graduated high school (3 of them were going to BYU-I, and a fourth has joined them).  I had planned to teach them about the talk to "Stay in the Boat," not realizing they had that lesson the week before.  So we compared Joseph of Egypt and Potiphar's wife with Samson and Delilah.  I told them that if any guy ever got "Delilah-y" with them, to be like Joseph of Egypt and RUN!  One girl, probably trying to come off as her usual sarcastic self (although I suspect she had reasons), challenged me with, "What if he's on the boat?"  I looked her straight in the eye and said, "Push him out."

  8. 8 minutes ago, NeedleinA said:

    It came from the combined agreement/consensus of the 5 area stake presidents and the area 70.

    That's what I thought, but @Still_Small_Voice made it sound like there were places that had state-wide mandates against singing, which is why I brought it up.

     

    3 hours ago, Still_Small_Voice said:

    The no singing in church state regulation was unConstitutional and ridiculous.

     

  9. I've attended in-person every Sunday but one (Labor Day, when I was out of town) for a couple of months.  I forget, when, exactly, we were allowed to go back, but I was overwhelmed with the Spirit the first two weeks.  Probably because my in-home services were awful.  My roommate relocated to her parents' home for a couple of months, leaving me essentially alone, and my worship was basically putting chairs on my patio so a ministering brother could come over and spent 15 minutes chatting and praying with me. Except for April, when there was no approval to administer sacrament to members outside of your own home.  This week, we opened the overflow, but that's because people were taking the 6 foot guideline seriously.  The side pews are small enough that one person can sit against the wall and another in the aisle and still be following it.  Also, there was a full row taken up by a single sister on one side and a childless couple on the other.  Why people don't leave large rows for large families baffles me, even in the Before Times.

    As a person, I'm pretty adaptable in a general sense, so the microphone sanitizing and new administration procedures didn't feel like an interruption for me.  The masks I'm used to.  I'm a receptionist for an eye doctor, and I've been masking at work since early April.  Our ward has also adapted pretty well to the alterations in administering.  The bread is broken and placed into individual cups, spaced every other slot, while the sacrament hymn is played.  One Fast and Testimony meeting, I sat just behind the Aaronic Priesthood holders, so I had a pretty good view of them preparing it, and it reminded me of how the Atonement is a very individual thing.  I shared Chieko Okazaki's quote, "Did you know that if you were the only person in the world who needed the Atonement, He still would have died for you -- just for you?"
    The young men walk around with a full tray in one hand and an empty tray in the other, standing in the pew in front of you so you can drop the empty cup in the empty tray.  A few weeks ago, it was quiet enough that I heard the blessers (our ward has no priests) empty the empties into the trash.  The sound of the plastic cups tapping against each other as they fell felt symbolic of our community of individuals ridding ourselves of our sins and shortcomings by turning them over to the Lord, who promptly discards them.
    Those administering the sacrament wait until the congregation has received both bread and water before the blessers hold the trays for the passers, and then each other.  It serves as a reminder to me that JOY is an acronym for: Jesus, Others, Self.  We find joy when our focus is in that order.

    While I'm glad to be back, the only reason I'm attending in person as often as I am is to receive the sacrament and wave at my Sunbeams, sometimes able to talk to them outside after church.  Our ward also has set up closed circuit broadcasting of the non-ordinance portions of the meeting.

  10. 2 hours ago, Still_Small_Voice said:

    I'm grateful they did not do this to churches in my State.  The no singing in church state regulation was unConstitutional and ridiculous.  I think some little tyrant state authorities like to exercise their power in ways that make them feel powerful.

    I didn't realize this was a state-regulated thing.  I'm in notoriously red Nebraska and we haven't been singing.  Either our no-singing mandate came from local Church leaders, or your city/state has passed a regulation that I can't imagine mine passing, since we never officially went into shutdown. 

  11. Instrumentals are hard to figure out, but I love a good mystery.  (There's a progressive rock/metal song that has instrumentals similar to "Incomplete" by the Backstreet Boys that I haven't been able to relocate for the better part of a decade.)  Do you have any more context?  What made you think of it, where do you remember hearing it first/most often?

    I'm currently listening to the entire August Rush soundtrack to see if that pops anything. 

    Update: I've created a Pandora station which I'll carefully curate to prefer songs with "a clean acoustic feel With a drum set, guitar, saxophone" if anyone else wants to participate.

  12. 38 minutes ago, priesthoodpower said:

    I am excited for the day when non-members can submit names and have access to the higher order of prayer that is performed in the temple.

     

    13 hours ago, Just_A_Guy said:

    It has always (well, maybe not *always*; but for quite a while, anyways) been possible to call the temple and have them add a name to the prayer roll.  But yes, this is a nice development. 

    Before I received my own endowment, I would call and put names on the prayer roll as needed.  My dad would do the same, since it was a three hour drive one way to his temple.  When I worked Tuesday nights as an ordinance worker, the office workers that night arrived earlier than they did on other weeks to transcribe the names for the prayer roll left on voicemail.

  13. 12 hours ago, Connie said:

    *Evil laughing*  Why, no. It will never end!  *More evil laughing*  It is part of my evil plot to make you apologize for all minuscule infractions, real or imagined.

    Wait... Did I say that out loud? Ummm... I will now attempt to distract you with.....

    ADORABLE KITTENS!!

    image.jpeg.2cb5ed62e74daf42bfe15df4f7c21b54.jpeg

    Why would you post kittens on National Dog Day?

  14. I'd get my two sisters and myself debt free with our own homes and reliable vehicles (nothing that screamed "I inherited $5 million"), maybe help out with their or their husbands' schooling if they'd like.  Then I'd update my parent's homes as they saw fit (including forcing my mom to get a professional to finish the bathroom remodel her brothers started over a year ago). Since I've been technically homeless a couple of times, I'd make sure mine had a few spare bedrooms to take in folks on the edges of my circle needing temporary places to stay until they could get back on their feet.  Probably also foster/adopt as many cats as city ordinances allow.

    With whatever remains, I would put 1/3 in savings/investments, 1/3 to getting us some dedicated curling ice (although part of me likes playing on arena ice) and be recklessly philanthropic with the rest of it, one fistful at a time.  Humane Societies, LDS Humanitarian Aid, a gaming app called Givling that crowdfunds to help people with student loans and mortgages, United Ways, public libraries, local food pantries, paying it forward at the grocery store, domestic violence shelters, random Go Fund Me projects, etc.

  15. 23 hours ago, Ironhold said:

    Back in the 2000s, my local and stake priesthood leadership were largely of the opinion that the internet was comprised of e-mail, the church website, and porn. If a person wasn't doing e-mail or the church website, they were likely up to no good. Thus, parents needed to be hyper-vigilant and question everything. 

    I had a similar experience in 2008.  I met a handful of people who formed a group that built each other's testimonies, but we were all online.  One of the members of our stake presidency said, from the pulpit at conference, that facebook was bad news and anyone considering serving a mission should delete their account.  We had an Institute lesson one night, I forget what about, exactly, but it prompted me to email the instructor (who was on the stake high council) about my experience with online friends.  He thanked me for sharing my experience with him, and asked if he could share it with the stake presidency.  I of course agreed and now that same (now released) member of the stake presidency is very active on facebook.  It's all about responsible internet use.

    There was also a girl in my YSA ward who found the Church and was baptized because of discussions she had with missionaries on mormon.org back when that was a thing.  So, it's not like it's an impossible thing to do.  Just have to be genuine about your reasons for forming the relationships.  If you meet someone, in person or online, with the sole purpose of getting them baptized, it usually doesn't lead to a lasting conversion.  Whereas, if you meet someone with the hope that your relationship with them will bring them closer to Christ, you're more likely to see those results stick.

  16. While I love that more missions have opened up to using facebook for missionary outreach, I have to confess some of it seems less than genuine.

    I've noticed an uptick in friend requests from missionaries who have served in my stake/area, but who have never worked with me, and some who have never even met me!  They probably just see a double digit of mutual friends and go for the add.  While that rolls my eyes, I usually decline the request and go about my day. 

    Recently, I was added to a local history group on facebook.  I'm not from the area I currently live in, so it's been kind of neat to see some of the posts there.  A few weeks ago, I saw a post from someone saying they were new to the area, interested in history, and asked for some places to visit.  After seeing the OP's responses to some of the suggestions, I became curious and checked out their profile.  Yep, it was a missionary.  And, I don't know why, but suddenly I felt that the OP had "baited" people into a discussion about history.  I was left with the impression that they would immediately respond to anyone who reached them with a PM about Church history in the area and it all felt....disingenuous. 

    I know if someone did that to me, got me talking about something I was interested in, only to have the other party slam me into something only marginally related, it wouldn't leave me with a favorable taste for the second topic. 

    That said, I'm loving the area missionary pages and the interactions they're having with local members.  Virtual tours, highlighting talents and testimonies of members and missionaries alike, it's all very uplifting.

  17. I took a bit of a sabbatical when I moved and lost regular internet access.  I came back and saw that it had been a bit inactive, which is not uncommon for message boards. 

    I'm mostly here to connect with people who share similar religious and spiritual beliefs, so I don't often visit the current events or political discussions.  Also, I get enough of that elsewhere.

     

  18. First of all, I'm moved by your saying you feel like your faith has died.  I'm sorry for the loss of your daughter, especially at such a young age.  I know that my faith was jarred when one of my favorite CTR-4 students was diagnosed with cancer; I cannot imagine how shaken yours must have been.

    If there was a time in your life you know that your faith was strong, go back and read your journals from that time in your life.  If you haven't kept very good journals, start.  It's okay to reminisce in your journal; write about the things that you remember doing, thinking, and feeling during that time when your faith was strong. Mosiah 18:30 talks about how beautiful the waters of Mormon are to those who came to know of their Redeemer there, because that's where they came to know their Savior.  If at all possible, physically return to those places in your life.  For me, it's my college campus and the grounds of the Winter Quarters temple.

    Read your patriarchal blessing.  View it as a way to see yourself and your life the way that God sees it.

    Recognize that it's going to take time to regrow your faith and be patient with yourself throughout the process. 

    Surround yourself with uplifting, positive media and entertainment.  Keep note of what the things you are reading, watching and listening to are causing you to feel.  Even if you are only consuming "church approved" media, it can still cause you to feel hopelessness, especially due to your situation.  You may find that, for the time being or years to come, there are lessons you skip over.  I still get kind of prickly when I hear talks geared towards parents of wayward children because it reminds me that there are so few resources for children of parents who have gone astray.  (The closest I can get is a scripture somewhere in the NT about loving God more than your parents and that Elder Oaks was raised by inactive parents, but there are no "this is how you deal with this issue" talks that I've found like there are with wayward children.  So, if anyone has any....)

     

    1 hour ago, ByAThread said:

    I don't have a single friend in the world or in Heaven.

    I'm a lonely gal myself.  Some years moreso than others.  (Unwed, childless, seasonal depression.)  When I catch myself feeling this way, I think about all of the people I've done proxy temple work for.  I imagine at least some of them would like to greet me, shake my hand, give me a hug.  I feel they are my friends and are cheering me on in my righteous endeavors.  Even though I can't see them and can't remember most of their names, they know who I am and they love me for what I have done for them.  They are the friends I know I have when I feel I don't have any.

  19. I received some in March that have a pocket for a filter at the top and a copper wire to be shaped to the nose.  I don't put a filter in.  I hand wash them because my washer agitates so hard it will literally tie two long sleeved shirts in knots.  At least one of them (they're all the same design, so hard to tell them apart), the pocket for the filter is starting to get some loose stitching  around the pocket.  They each get worn and washed at least once a week, sometimes twice.  They're the only ones I had from March until the beginning of July, so I don't have much to compare them to in terms of wearing out.