~Sarah~

I know that after JS recieved the Word of Wisdom he specifically said that "hot drinks" means coffee and tea. I can't find that specific quote right now tho, and I have 5 minutes before I have to go back to my base and won't be able to log on for 4 weeks......

I sat in a RS lesson once where the teacher said that we should balance out what we ask for with what we are grateful for when we pray, because it is selfish to ask for more. I followed that unfortunate advice and didn't ask for a lot of things because I thought they were too silly. I had a blessing later where I was told that my Father WANTS me to ask him for these things. The feeling I got was almost like I had hurt Him by not asking. No we probably shouldn't pray for the ferarri to show up in our driveway. And as someone else said, prayer is not meant to change the Lord, it's meant to change US. But sometimes He is just waiting for us to ask.

That could be a good thing

I have 2 family members who married people they met on internet dating sites. One of them LDS, one of them not. But are VERY happy.

YAY!!!!!!! That's so great

Here's an idea. Tell your Bishop you have something you need to repent, and that you will only talk to him if he can assure you it will be confidential and not go to the dean of students. I bet you he will be willing to help you out with that.

I ran a mile in 9:07. That's my fastest time. Now I just have to keep up that pace for another mile! to graduate basic I need to run 2 miles in 20 minutes and a few seconds.

My problem with a class like like as a Sunday School class is that I have noticed that in general when a lesson gets into a discussion about defending our religion (which happens a lot now with Romney) it turns into "and some churches even believe this" When I was a YSA I took a friend with me to the singles branch. The discussion turned this way, and people were ragging on other churches for paying their clergy. Well guess what my friend's dad did for a living. She won't go near the church now. Being paid clergy, while we don't believe it is the right thing to do, is not an honorable position, and members made her feel like her family was sinning because her dad was paid by her church. I've had to speak up in MANY discussions like this where it turns into more of a bash session. Most people just go with the flow and don't pay attention to what outsiders will think.

Just because I know a little about how my dad works, I bet your Bishop (even tho you are not a member, he is still YOUR Bishop ) will want to meet with you. All the problems I've had with wards I've been in and the Bishopric as a whole, I have ALWAYS found the Bishop to be a VERY kind and loving man. Kindof infuriatingly so when I go in wanting to rant about some issue I have, and then I see how nice he is and I just can't

Yes I told them all this. But the Bishopric is not the main problem. What they said was just forgetful and insensitive. I can deal with insensitive. I can't work with the the music chairman tho. (I say can't but I mean that I don't want to put the effort into it since I'm leaving. If I was staying I would probably deal with it. But I'm not staying, so I don't have to.)

I don't have a calling I want, I just want a calling. Well not anymore since I joined the Army, I'm going to be pretty busy for the next 6 months. I went months without a calling, and I BEGGED for a calling. Every time the Bishop stopped to talk to me I would say I needed a calling. By the time he had one for me it was too late, I'm gone. I have 1 Sunday left in my ward. However, my favorite calling ever has been choir director. I LOVE choir. I do not let people get away with saying "I can't sing." Not true. You just haven't learned how to. Church choir is a learning experience for everybody. I'm learning how to handle a choir, and the choir is learning how to sing as a group. In my last ward there was maybe 3 people who professed to be able to sing, and the rest of them were first time choir singers. We sang some Sally Deford stuff at ward conference and it was SOOOOOOO awesome. I just love the feeling of standing in front of a bunch of untrained singers and the most beautiful sound comes out

I'm a music major, so I LOVE music, I love participating in music of any kind. But this organ/piano/music thing has been the source of all my problems in this ward. After I was released from playing the organ, people complained about not having an organist. After the primary program a few months ago the bishopric member conducting the meeting praised the pianist by saying how great it was that she was doing everything and how it was a shame that we didn't have very much music talent. That kinda bothered me so I said something to him about having a lot of musical talent in the ward, and he replied with "But we don't have any pianists! We don't have a RS pianist" (yes we do, that's me) "Show me the person who can give Sis. A a break! Show that person to me!" That sent me home crying. I was SOOOOOO upset because the bishopric was OBVIOUSLY so desperate for an organist, and here I am BEGGING for a calling. Literally begging, for months. And don't get me started on how the music chairman treated me. I could type it for an hour. It got to the point where I told the Bishop I was not willing to do anything involved with music in the ward, period end of story.

It depends on the person. Some people in the church are weird about pre mission boys having girlfriends..... It's kindof a sore spot for me because I had a boyfriend who went on a mission, and his parents ignored me..... It made it even harder. No I didn't wait for him, but my sister's "missionary" just got home, and they're probably going to get married. A girlfriend can be a distraction or a help for a missionary, it depends how both parties handle it. Sometimes people don't get that. His Bishop could go either way. While the Bishop *IS* inspired and I would NEVER recommend ANYBODY go against what the Bishop says, you don't have to blindly follow his advice. Ultimately, it is a decision that you and your boyfriend have to make with God. What WOULD recommend is if he says you should break up, go and talk to him. My daddy is a Bishop, and when I have had problems with mine his advice has always been "go talk to him again" and it's always been worked out. The Bishop can help you understand why he says what he says, and if he thinks its OK for you to stay together he can give advice on how to make it the best for both of you. Bottom line, I've always found that Bishops are VERY VERY VERY smart And you should do your best to work with him.

Your Bishop is the only one who has the authority to help you through the confession and repentance process.

I don't really play the piano. I took 2 years of lessons when I was in middle school, and I kindof kept it up because I'm a singer, but I'm not good enough to play the full hymns. However, our ward has hardly any pianists. So I was called to play the organ, in primary, and I sub for RS a lot. Not all at the same time tho. In RS and on the organ I would play the simplified hymns, but even so I needed 2 weeks to practice them for the organ, but the sister providing me the hymn numbers did not understand that. In RS it was usually a last minute thing, so they just had to take what they could get. Althought I would take BOTH of those over primary, because the primary pianist, tho not really harder (yes some accompaniments are trickier but they have the chords written in that makes it a LOT easier to play), sits behind the piano for 2 hours not really talking to anybody. No interaction. Pretty much complete isolation. I HATED that, especially since I was already in a ward that didn't really talk to me.