HockeyDude

At our house we're just sort of going to leave the TV on, because I inparticular can watch about any event and enjoy it. Really looking forward to track and field, gymnastics, diving, and Micheal Phelps lighting up the pool. Even though the Winter Olympics are more my style, I can't wait for Beijing to start. :)

I'm in a very deep high school situation, right now. Being a deep member of the hockey team, a lot (a lot, not all) of my buddies and groups I hang around drop the F bomb like it's second nature, as well as do and talk about things that are in no means in tune with the spirit. You just have to discipline yourself to be the light in the darkness. I'm not going to change who I am so people may like me better. People like me fine in doing what I believe, and if you have enough confidence in yourself, it shouldn't be that hard to keep the standards, even in a crowd like the one I hang around in. They poke at me time and time, there's no denying that, but friends will respect your efforts, for the most part. One of my defense partners has made an oath that he will get me to swear by the end of the year, but whenever he brings it up I just smile and say," Good luck with that."

Ah, well first, you must focus your inner energy. Breathe in, breathe out...become one with the internet...lol, nah. If you're looking for a .gif (moving picture, basically) I'd go to a more prominent image hoster such as photobucket or flickr. Type in what you're looking for, and keep it under the pictures option. If you find one, click on it to open it's main page, right click on the picture, select "Save target as...", select which folder you want it under, and then just upload the picture. Should work like a charm, let me know if you're having problems.

Hm, good question. I think what did it for me was getting more involved in activities that got me excited around the church. Youth conference, EFY, dances, they all leave such a great impact, and that happiness around the church makes you eager for more. It once put me in the perspective that, "This is the joy that our older members have been talking about, the joy that comes from true love of Christ." Well, I liked that happiness, and so I picked up the Book of Mormon by my own accord and couldn't put it down. Nephi is my role model. With that being said, being able to understand and know about the doctrine also helps. It puts more of a familiar tone on things. If you go to LDS.org, they have scripture references for almost every topic. If you take different colored crayons/colored pencils and highlight scriptures by topic, it's so much easier to find answers, and it just gets you excited about the church. Especially once you start finding the answers to tough anti-Mormon questions. So, sorry to drag that on a bit, maybe that's worth a try with your son. I'll send a prayer your way to maybe help your son recieve an inspiration, if you'd like.

Hello. Well, I was originally a Forum-er, and now it seems like I'll be able to meet more people from the church. Sweet deal, right? Hehe, anyways I'm Eric. I'm a 16-year old high school student from Minnesota who does his best to balance academics and sports, while having fun in life. I know it'll get harder later, but I'm doing pretty well for now! I play hockey and soccer for the school, made Varsity for both this year! I also love to inline skate, and this year I'm hoping to make the professional/elite class cut based on marathon time! (^That calls for about 1 hr. and 21 min. time. My best from last year was about 1 hr. and 25 min., so I'm not too far off!) But, just like a have what I consider a "fire" for everything that I do in my life, I have an equally strong (it not more ferocious) fire for the church and it's divine works. I can't wait to be a missionairy. I recently had that very strong feeling that seems to "etch" into you that the church is true, so now I have no doubts in going forward with this work. And....I need to learn now how to shorten up things like these. The moral of the story is that I'm Eric, nice to meet ya.

Here's coming from a 16 year old licensed driver: I think you're right on with your opinions. I know the rules here are that you're not supposed to drive other people unless they're your siblings, or I heard from someone that it's also alright if there's two of each gender in the car. I'll have to ask the Bishop about that one. Either way, I agree with you. On the flipside, I wouldn't go so far as to get truly angry about it (not sure if you said you were, maybe I misread). I'd come to your wife and your daughter, and in a soft voice tell them about your concerns, what you'd like to see happen, and why. I know that when my parents start yelling or raising at them I get this natural attitude that's something like: "Well, I'll show them." Dating when you're sixteen is a guideline as well, remember that. It's a guideline from the prophet, meaning we definately should follow it, but it's not a commandment. I'm not a father so I know I wouldn't understand this, but maybe you should let this be an opportunity to let your daughter exercise her free agency? I don't know, those are my thoughts. I'll send a prayer your way to help you out through this.

I don't think you need to worry about that. Missionaries go through a lot of training for the exact purpose of helping those who don't fully understand the church. They also deal with many people who are against the church, so this will likely not be something new for them. I think it's a really good idea!

That's a very powerful conversion story and testimony there, first of all. The decision is up to you. Do you need parental consent to be baptized before you're 18? I forgot. Here's my two cents: at whichever age you get baptized, your parents are going to have to deal with it. No doubt you're going to see them again, right? Maybe what you need to do is to explain to them what the true beliefs are of the LDS church, a little bit at a time. I'm sure at first they won't want to hear any of it, and will probably be upset, but little by little I'm sure the Lord will open up their hearts. We have a man in our ward who was 18 when he got converted. That same man is I think...54 or so now, married in the temple and everything, and his PARENTS were converted just over a year ago. The Lord has his ways. Welcome to the LDS Forums, by the way. I'm Eric. :)

I think it was my friends. My dad was always played basketball on Saturday mornings at the church, so I actually played in this junior basketball league from maybe age 4 to 7. But during that time my closest friends, two friends, and I would play street hockey together literally every single day. (I mean literally. If they were going somewhere, I'd either go with them, or my parents would check if I were sick since I wasn't at their house playing hockey) So eventually, I don't know, they carved roots into me, and hockey became way more fun than basketball to me. I joined up in a league when I was 7 or 8, and now those friends and I are 3 of the 6 sophomores on Varsity. :-P I don't mean to turn this into a hockey discussion, but have you ever heard the Detroit HoneyRoasted? (It's a youth group, a dominant one. We've played several teams from other states, and the HoneyRoasted are pretty good.)

Yeah, the snow you're expecting on Monday I think they said was hitting us either tomorrow or Friday night. (argh, quote button isn't working :-S) I actually kind of like the snow. Cold and depressing at first, (as in, when I was younger), but once you actually get used to it and start finding things to do, I was actually looking forward to it. Ice too, I look forward to ice. Maybe it's because I'm a Minnesotan, I'm a hockey player, or I'm just nuts. :-P

Sun tan. I'd rather be alllllll natural. ;-) Pasta or sandwiches?

Snow storm, eh? You probably got the one that just passed through us! How many inches did you get? We wound up with 7 or 8, I can't remember. :-P

Church dances are a blast! The thing that sets apart church dances from other dances is really the atmosphere. It's a lot of fun, but at the same time it's clean and modest. The songs are actually like, good music, too. None of this inappropriate rap or "gangsta" music that just pounds in your ears and just screws up the whole scene. We're talking Crazy Frog, Darude techno-wise, and other common clean rock/pop bands that everyone likes to dance to. Another thing I really enjoy is first off all, the spirit is there. It's a crazy, fun environment, but it's still there. Almost everyone you'll talk to is really nice, really professional, and you'll make tons of friends that you basically have a mini-reunion with pretty much every dance. It's awesome! It's not enough to talk about it though, you should go to one! See how you like it.

Quilts, same reason as you said. We have one on my couch that has nice air circulation too, so that you're never too warm, or too cold. Snow or rain?

Hey Alanna, I'm Eric. I'm not too far off here in Minnesota and am 16. If you want the whole-in-depth, go ahead and check out my intro thread! (might be on like, the second page by now ) We're a little low on youth in this section at the moment, but there seems to be more and more filling in. :-P

Woah, beats you up? That's harsh. I could show you this one jitsu move my friend showed me, but I'm sure you wouldn't want to pay for charges on a broken neck. (it's more for self-defence and all that...yeah...) My day's been so-so, I'm like really tired right now. But, it's the weekend, and some of my LDS friends might be at a football game I might be going to today, so that'll be cool. (our high school is playing theirs. DOMINATION!! )

Hey Lolgirl! Sakura, right? Oh, and to the questions, I'm not that much of a TV person. We have plenty of hockey to watch up here I guess, so I'll watch that on TV, or otherwise I'm a big fan of the series "House." Can't miss that. "Full House" is good too, we always watch that when it's on in the summer. There's also this improv comedy show out there called "Who's Line is it Anyways" out there that I've been watching for a number of years, it's so funny. I'm the oldest of the kids, two younger sisters. (not always the greatest thing, but it's alright )

Musicals.

Christ-a-mas!

Interior decorating. That would be fun, if I were any good at it. We've had some pretty good vacations. If it's a big one, we have two-four families we go with, and both my best friend and my sister's best friend are from one of those families, so it's cool. Last June we went to Hawaii for 10 days, which was a lot of fun. We also all went to the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico for 8 days, which with the service (free food and smoothies whenever you wanted...humina humina ), was paradise. Some of those families went to France too, but we had things going on, so that didn't happen. No worries. I think last time I checked I was...5'10". I get spurts on and off, so I'm never really sure. What kind of shows do you watch, or if none, what do you do with your free-time?

Might be a little awkward, since I'm not used to typing my prayers, but I'll give it a shot. "Dear Heavenly Father, thank thee for this day. Thank thee for the oppurtunities that thou hast had in school and seminary and for the strength given at both times, and I ask that thou will help me to continue. Please bless me with safety as I journey on to my other destinations in the day, and help me to avoid temptation. Also, please bless those who are struggling to find whatever their objective is, that they may be able to recieve light and find it, particularly (sorry Douglas, I'm using you as an example here ) Douglas, who is seeking to find the truth. I thank thee once again for my oppurtunity. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen." I'm no expert, I'm sure a high number of this forum would my prayers look like a minor's. (well, technically I am. ) Yours don't have to be quite so long either, I've built up over time. Just remember the basic format that's already been posted, and you'll be fine. The Lord isn't picky when you're speaking to him.

Newsies, huh? Once again, you and my sister have similar tastes. I swear she was about to put a knife to my throat until I bought her the karaoke version of "King of New York." Haven't seen Pride and Prejudice though. Winter would be a for sure favorite if it weren't so long up here, largely due to the fact of hockey, pond hockey, skiing, and a lot of the big "things" or events happen during the winter. Otherwise the spring is great too, we get such nice weather. For careers, I've always been changing. Right now I'm debating between an electrical engineer and physical therapist, (like, sports medicine) but if I could I'd also like to step up into different business positions like management, marketing, and even entreprenuership. They may sound boring and all that, but my seminary teacher owns the largest local division of Target, and he's shown me that it can actually be fun and doesn't take all that much time! Whichever way, I hope to go to BYU-Provo for college. You? Oh, and have you gone on any super-cool vacations?

My toothbrush is blue-ish and white-ish. Goes great with Scope toothpaste. Dang, the movie question is always the hardest question for me. I've have to say the Mighty Duck series, D1, D2, and D3. They don't display hockey all that well and I know they're kids movies, but the overall stories and actors are just great! Tus? Favorite season, and why?

Hm... well for powers, I agree with you that mind-reading would be nice. I think my top choice would be between being able to fly and invisibility though. Physical features? Lol, I wish I had a pic to summarize it for me, but our digital isn't so handy the way my sister deletes everything that isn't hers. Best I could say is your typical athletic build. Slim enough, but not scrawny or anything like that, with a decent amount of muscle, but not like football player amount. I've currently got brown-ish hockey hair (I grow it out for the season), wear contacts, am obsessed with T-Shirts in shorts (I'll wear them even if it's like, 20 degrees out), and I wear this necklace I got from Hawaii 24/7. You? (you have pics though, that's not fair ) My comeback question? What color...is thou toothbrush?

Hah, a teacher! I was just called out of being the Teacher's president before I was just confirmed a priest. That time is so great if you can make the most of it. (and trust me, I know. I'm 16, fresh out of those shoes. ) Shoofly's format is really well set out. Also, it helps me personally to think of everything I've been thankful in the day a couple of minutes or so before I actually give the prayer. If you can get yourself in the habit of praying every night, that will help as well. I've noticed that through that practice, my prayers have gotten longer and more heart-felt, and I actually feel like I'm speaking to the Savior. I wonder what would happen if I could get into the morning routine.