RachelleDrew

Mystery Shopping is always easy, and fun. If you live in a rural area there isn't as much competition. If anybody wants more info on this just send me a message and i'll try and hook you up.

It's more like We promise to be kind to each other We promise to be honest We will be christ-like in our actions.....etc. It's typically like a paragraph or two long. I'll post mine up when we get done with it. A couple of families in my area do them and they sit down with their kids and talk about everything on it and have them sign it agreeing to keep the promises they have on the mission statement.

You can have a person represent you not as a lawyer, but as someone to speak on your behalf. If he's fighting accusations that are untrue, then I would certainly ask for someone to speak for me. If I agreed that the charges against my character were correct, I would simply approach it with a humble spirit and ask for forgiveness and take whatever discipline they gave me. As for the voting thing, it would be very stupid of the church to support a candidate officially. I believe they can lose their tax exempt status over that, can't they? Besides, the church isn't going to kick you out for voting differently than others in the congregation. So separation of church and state wouldn't matter really in that case.

My husband and I were thinking last night that perhaps we should create a family mission statement and print it out and frame it. For those of you that don't know what they are, these are simply a statement about your values and goals as a family that are meant to be used as a guideline for everyone in your home. Have any of you done this? Anybody thinking about doing this? What sort of things did you include?

As a convert it won't be a problem. I think the biggest thing we need to teach our children about intoxicated adults is A. Never get into a vehicle with someone who may be under the influence of drugs or alcohol. B. Try to avoid arguing or debating with someone who may be intoxicated. C. Avoid being alone with someone who may be intoxicated (especially our girls). D. Your gut instinct is usually right, if you are nervous or fearful about someone who is intoxicated, leave the situation immediately.

^That's really sad about girls who only go after RM's. Of course young men should go on a mission, but what does that have to do with anything? My best friend was like this, only wanting to date RM's. She learned her lesson when she looked over a really sweet guy who was infatuated with her, but could not go on his mission due to an illness. She instead became engaged to the first RM who showed interest in her. He was a total jerk to her and was even ex'ed because he beat her and cheated on her with another girl in the ward. Luckily she broke off the engagement, but by the time she realized the guy who loved her was somebody of great value he was already married. She and I discuss her regret about this a lot. Girls need to realize that while having a man who served a mission is a great blessing to their potential family, it's not everything. Back on topic, I am a convert and my husband was born and raised in the church. I have a very sordid past, and while sometimes it's difficult for him to look past it for fear of it reappearing, he never seemed to have an issue with dating me as a convert. I am afterall, a new creation in Christ. : ) To be honest, I think that's what he likes about me a little. He has mentioned that because i've been in the lowest of low and really hit rock bottom in life, I can better appreciate following the WoW and other obligations as I know what can happen when you don't.

Wow, that's horribly cruel. I'm glad you aren't on governmental assistance, I don't think I would want to feed you and your family if you ever came into need. My brother and his wife have to be on government assistance and they both work two jobs. I'd say they work just as hard as you do to support your children. I know a lot of people who use those programs, and i'd say that 3/4 of them have jobs. Hard, dirty, exhausting jobs that you probably wouldn't do if your life depended on it. Just about everyone who holds a job pays taxes, so really they are paying for those programs too. Why not use them if their tax money is supporting them? Sheesh.

I don't care about Flora or Carolyn's current status against the church. They are quite What I care about is what happened to get Warren Jeffs in prison in the first place. The fact that this woman committed adultery has nothing to do with the matter at hand. If the church at any point in time told her that she needed to marry her first cousin and have sex with him then they are in the wrong. Period. I love how if you have a negative view about the FLDS then you are obviously just bitter apostates and all allegations of abuse are automatically invalid. You are every bit as rash at your judgement making as you claim me to be. Jeffs is not in prison for no reason. Get over it.

Oh please. The bible teaches us to obey the law. If the law tells us that we shouldn't marry someone under a certain age, then we shouldn't do it. This isn't brain surgery. You know, for someone who is so adamant that our judicial system isn't harsh enough on criminals, you sure seem to support the rights of sex offenders to break the law. On another note, if Isaac came to me to ask for my ten year old's hand in marriage I would kick him in the groin. Nice to know you would offer yours up though.

Warren Jeffs is sitting in prison for forcing a girl to do so. He has admitted to it, how am I propagating lies again?

It would be so much easier if it was considered logical to proclaim that anything difficult to understand must be evil. I could claim a moral objection to my linear algebra professor.

In my mind there is a big difference between parents telling their young teenage daughters that they must marry and bed a 50 year old man in order to reach the Celestial kingdom, and a couple of 14 year olds sneaking into a theater to see the latest R-rated movie. I agree with your point, I just fail to see how it has anything to do with the YFZ ranch and their reported activities. Could you maybe rephrase your question?

I'm really iffy on the subject of the death penalty. But this guy seriously needs to never see the light of day again, whatever way the court deems fit to accommodate that. Poor girl, that's terrible.

Cool! It's now on my favorites list.

No, if you don't want a woman it either makes you: A. A woman, which is evil Or B. A homosexual, which is.....and i'm not going to say it. I'm joking obviously. I swear I don't hate gay people!

Wow. Thank goodness the court wasn't so flippant about the ages of children when Warren Jeffs was convicted of FORCING A 14 YEAR OLD TO MARRY HER COUSIN. Come on now people, lets use some common sense here. Jeffs is a child predator and abuser, period. Time used to defend his honor is time wasted. Back on topic, i'm glad the children were returned. I'm sure there is abuse going on in some of those homes, but I highly doubt every adult in that compound is guilty of it. It's too bad that they were treated as guilty when only a select few are or were. On another note, the men gave a tour through the ranch to Larry King's show.I don't understand why they still have pictures of Jeffs all over the inside of their compound buildings. He admitted to his brother on camera that he lied about being the prophet. So why do they still hold him as such?

Honey, ANY money you give to god is acceptable. Don't be embarrassed to give smaller amounts than other members. Think about it, if you've got 100 a month in income, your tithe would be ten dollars. It may not seem like much, but that's ten dollars that the church could use to feed someone who is starving, or pay for a missionary's car gas, or pay for the paper to make our weekly bulletins. You wouldn't be the first poor college student to be a member of the Chuch of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. That ten percent is important to heavenly father otherwise he wouldn't command us to give it!

A farmer? Are you going to grow a wife in a test tube or something? Lol.

An EXTREMELY small percentage of celebrities have the right idea about heavenly father's existence, yet we all jump on Oprah of all people? Sheesh. Is she misguided? Sure. However, she's donated far more money and time to the needs of others than I ever have, so you won't find me trying to make her out to be a heathen over some sensationalist youtube video. With the exception of the Weather Channel, all television is utter tripe. Oprah isn't any better or worse than any television personality out there. If you are going to complain about Oprah's values, you are better off giving up television altogether because I can only think of a handful of famous people who share our values, and half of them have the last name "Osmond".

I have to say that i'm very happy about your willingness to help her. It truly is our responsibility to help our brothers and sisters when they are in need. Sometimes when there are so many who need assistance a few can fall through the cracks. To start I echo others in this thread who have said to go to your RS leaders as well as even your bishop. They wouldn't have these positions if they didn't care about their members. Going straight to the top of your authorities may be the best way to get the ball rolling, as I think members would be more likely to listen to their call for action. If she has four children and is suffering from PPD then her situation is more dire than it may even appear. That is a LOT of stress and it could begin to negatively affect her children. I hate to be hysterical but sometimes situations like that even leads to abuse. In the case of her depression, sometimes just talking to an adult as opposed to children all day can help. For those who perhaps cannot commit to making meals and driving her to appointments, perhaps they could make an effort to call her often and swing by, even if it's just to chat for a minute. It may not seem like much, but it makes all the difference in the world. This is something that you could even get the youth involved with. I don't see why the YW couldn't make freezeable meals for her to pop in the oven, or why some of the scouts couldn't mow the lawn or something. It's important to try and get everyone involved, because if RS was the only group that did service to it's members then nothing would get done. I know ours is always overloaded with projects and sometimes those ladies just can't possibly get to everything and everyone. Prayers are always helpful. This board can help in that department. Hehe. : )

It was the other way around for me, my husband is def. the "good one" while i'm always trying to play catch-up spiritual maturity wise. I'm well aware that there are good, worthy LDS men out there. I've got one of them. If somebody is "screwing up" in our relationship onlookers usually deduct that it's me. I would drive most men nuts, but the thing that makes us work is that i'm always quick to admit fault, and my husband is always quick to forgive. One thing i've noticed with LDS men is that they were kind of allowed to slip up more when they were children. I'm sure this isn't true of every place, but in my ward the young girls are constantly held to a higher standard than the boys are spiritually. So I think the girls are exposed to discipline concerning faith more often in their youth. While the parents in my ward just take an "oh well, boys will be boys" approach whenever their sons misbehave in church, the girls get taken more seriously. Just from what i've noticed...

I think Fiannan mentioned in a previous post that his fear was that the children would be "de-programmed" in such a way that would pit them against the LDS faith as a whole. I must admit, as much as I want those people to be safe from abuse I was scared of that too. However, I saw something in the paper that made me feel better. One of the local churches donated an organ for the mothers and children who are still being housed by the government so they could have music for their church services while away from their home. This leads me to the belief that they are being allowed to worship as they please. I didn't expect that at all. Thus far i've been pleased at the way the media has handled this. I really figured they would make no difference between the FLDS and the more modern Mormon churches, and lead the public to believe that all LDS are cultish. So far I haven't witnessed that, but of course i'm sure there are some who go out of their way to smear the church's name.

All I can say about this is good! Get those poor girls out of there, and I hope the people in that compound are served their due. I don't care if consenting adults want to marry four or five of each other at a time. You can marry 80 women for all I care, just so long as there is consent and you treat them right. But when you start "re-assigning" women to different husbands against their will, and begin forcing girls who are barely teenagers to marry and birth children that's where I get really upset. I don't care if only a few of the leaders in that community made the decisions, ALL of the adults who still posses free will in that compound are responsible because they let it happen. Every time I see Warren Jeffs on the tv I feel awfully un-Christian. I just want to smack him.

Even Wal-Mart carries straight up NASTY clothing for little girls. My dad is quite lenient, but even he would have died if he had seen me in some of the stuff they are passing off as "clothing" for children. My guy and I are glad our first child is a boy. Lol, so we can push off the fun that comes with clothing a girl. I'm giggling at the thought of the first time hearing "but MOM, everyone else is wearing this! Why can't I???"

That's so sweet! You know, there was a time when I visited my grandfather's gravesite a lot. I was quite young when I did this, so I couldn't afford to put flowers on his grave. If I had come to his grave and seen flowers there I would have been so grateful. You've got an awesome boy.