I made the badminton team! Hurray for me! They still only cut one person, and I knew it wasn't going to be me, but I'm still happy. The girl that got cut was my partner for most of the second try-out and... well... yeah. I'll leave it at that.
Oh, and I can't find my glasses. Kind of depressing. I've looked everywhere, and as far as I'm concerned I just took them off before going to bed, but they're nowhere in my bedroom. I can't find my old glasses either so I'm stuck wearing contacts whenever I want to see.
My nephew had a "sleep over" last night and convinved his mom to let him stay over night again which means he's coming to church with us tomorrow. I wouldn't be surprised if he just ends up following me around instead of going to primary.
I just got back from watching my nephew's Timbit hockey game. I have to say those five years olds could school me if I were on the ice. Not to mention they're too adorbale to take the puck away from.
After the game (we won - not that it matters with Timbits) my Dad, my sister, my two nephews and I went 5 pin bowling. I've never done 5 pin, and it's been a couple of years since I last bowled at all, so I only pulled a 123. I did get a strike on my first try though.
I have this weird beginners luck thing. I think I must have really good intuition because when I'm not thinking about something I do it really well, but then when I do well I start to think about how I did it and I almost always mess up the second time.
There was a dance last night. I went with my non-member friend but neither of us knew that it was Sunday dress, so we had to wait out in the hall for our parents to bring us skirts. Then she invited some guy who came wearing skinny jeans. He borrowed an extra button-up shirt and tie (which I had to show him how to do up) and he almost got kicked out because of his pants. It was kinda funny.
Apparently now they're going to make us bring dance cards. I've gone to about four dances and I've gotten in without one no problem. In fact I don't think I've ever even been asked for one. To be honest I don't know what one looks like, but I guess I should consider getting one if the stake leaders are serious about being more strict with letting people in.
I don't usually go to dances, simply because I can't dance and other than dancing the only thing to do is talk and that's kind of hard with the music and everything. It's been so long since I've been to one that the first time a guy asked me to dance I needed to think about which hand went on his shoulder.
I was kind of mad at all my friends because the only reason I went to this dance was because they all got upset when I said I probably wasn't going. So I gave in and said I'd go, but only one of them showed up. I still enjoyed myself though. The friend I brought moved last year, so we haven't seen each other since. We still talk on the phone, but I'm the most awkward person in the world when I'm on the phone. I don't know what it is, I feel like I'm missing a sense or something. It's like walking around the block with your eyes closed.
Anyways, that's what happened today and yesterday, in case you were wondering.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Talent Show and Christi Shrute.
Our ward recently started having an annual talent show and last year all the Young Woman did a sort of musical number. This didn't really require much talent, all we did was play Reach For The Stars by S Club 7 using a CD player, and mouth the words. The hardest part was coming up with a dance to do while "singing" it, which only took us about 3 hours to work out and memorize. My friend and I got to do this duet thing, then at the end the same friend and I jumped off the stage to dance the last verse. I have to say it was pretty pro.
So this year we're doing basically the same thing but with this snowman song. It's basically a couple of lines from a bunch of songs and the words are changed so that they relate to a snowman.
Like "Buddy you're some snow sitting in the back yard, gunna be a snow man some day, you got coal of your face, big disgrace ...something something... we will, we will melt you"
I thought it was kinda lame at first, but we came up with this awesome dance. We each take our turn having the spotlight every time the tune changes. I got "the final meltdown" I basically do the air guitar with one of those ribbonny things while everybody else does some free style with their ribbonny thingies.
We're also gunna put on white face paint, wear scarves, glove etc... and top hats. It's gunna be awesome.
This song was inspired by the Primary snowman song and that's how it starts and ends.
My favourite part is deffinently when Brooke goes gangster for her solo with the "we will melt you" part. She's so pro at stuff like that.
On a completely different note, my friend that went on the cruise came back insisting that she met a guy who is perfect for me. She does this ALL the time. She keeps on having "epiphanies" of me hooking up with random guys. It's quite annoying. I think she's tried to set me up with almost half the guys we know. This time it's some guy I've never met, but apparently he has a simular sense of humour and he's obsessed with the office.
Also, on that note, a while ago my sister and I found my dad's old glasses and we started trying to do impersonations of Dwight Shrute from the Office. I have to say, mine was pretty awesome. Then the next day I kept on saying stuf like...
"Question!... When somebody asks me what my favourite colour is, what is my response?"
*They answer*
"False, my favourite colours are black and white, but most people - the idiots- insist that neither are colours. I, of course disagree, but to avoid conflict I just say green,"
If you watch the office you're probably lying on the floor laughing. So anyways, here's a picture.
When my nephew saw this he looked at me and said "Oh, auntie Christi, you're not very pretty in this picture," and I think that sums it up. lol. I don't usually look this um... unattractive I swear. The combined force of the wet hair, parted bangs, glasses and fake double chin didn't compliment my eyes the way I thought they would...
So yeah, I've decided that next Halloween, I am totally being Dwight. It's gunna be awesome since I can act and look pretty much just like him. I only need to find a tanish button up shirt, something to make me look pot-bellied and I need to learn a bunch of random facts about stuff and question people on said facts. I don't think I have to worry much about that until it's a little closer to Halloween though.
Oh yeah, and a name tag so I won't get asked who I am ask much and some nerdy pants.
So this year we're doing basically the same thing but with this snowman song. It's basically a couple of lines from a bunch of songs and the words are changed so that they relate to a snowman.
Like "Buddy you're some snow sitting in the back yard, gunna be a snow man some day, you got coal of your face, big disgrace ...something something... we will, we will melt you"
I thought it was kinda lame at first, but we came up with this awesome dance. We each take our turn having the spotlight every time the tune changes. I got "the final meltdown" I basically do the air guitar with one of those ribbonny things while everybody else does some free style with their ribbonny thingies.
We're also gunna put on white face paint, wear scarves, glove etc... and top hats. It's gunna be awesome.
This song was inspired by the Primary snowman song and that's how it starts and ends.
My favourite part is deffinently when Brooke goes gangster for her solo with the "we will melt you" part. She's so pro at stuff like that.
On a completely different note, my friend that went on the cruise came back insisting that she met a guy who is perfect for me. She does this ALL the time. She keeps on having "epiphanies" of me hooking up with random guys. It's quite annoying. I think she's tried to set me up with almost half the guys we know. This time it's some guy I've never met, but apparently he has a simular sense of humour and he's obsessed with the office.
Also, on that note, a while ago my sister and I found my dad's old glasses and we started trying to do impersonations of Dwight Shrute from the Office. I have to say, mine was pretty awesome. Then the next day I kept on saying stuf like...
"Question!... When somebody asks me what my favourite colour is, what is my response?"
*They answer*
"False, my favourite colours are black and white, but most people - the idiots- insist that neither are colours. I, of course disagree, but to avoid conflict I just say green,"
If you watch the office you're probably lying on the floor laughing. So anyways, here's a picture.
When my nephew saw this he looked at me and said "Oh, auntie Christi, you're not very pretty in this picture," and I think that sums it up. lol. I don't usually look this um... unattractive I swear. The combined force of the wet hair, parted bangs, glasses and fake double chin didn't compliment my eyes the way I thought they would...
So yeah, I've decided that next Halloween, I am totally being Dwight. It's gunna be awesome since I can act and look pretty much just like him. I only need to find a tanish button up shirt, something to make me look pot-bellied and I need to learn a bunch of random facts about stuff and question people on said facts. I don't think I have to worry much about that until it's a little closer to Halloween though.
Oh yeah, and a name tag so I won't get asked who I am ask much and some nerdy pants.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Badminton Try-Outs and Blaire.
Okay, well I tried out for the Badminton team and there were eleven girls there. They're planning on taking in ten. Apparently it was even worse than that for turn out last year. They actually had an announcement saying something like; first three people to show up in the small gym tomorrow after school are on the badminton team.
Personally, I don't really think they should just cut one person, you know. I mean, two, that'd be okay, but wouldn't that be aweful? Seriously. they should give her the choice. She can stay as an alternate or she can just not be on the team.
I don't know how many of those ten are gunna be alternates and how many are gunna be actual players.
But, ugh! The small of my back hurts SO bad! It's an actual problem. When I was a kid I was twice the height of the other kids, so I just naturally slouched, so I gre into a natural slouching position. I corrected this by sitting up as straight as I could muster one day, then going back to my comfortable position the next. This got me looking like normal after a month, but you have to imagine, sitting as straight backed as you possibly can all freaking day long. And this isn't just arching your back, this is putting your shoulder blades back, making your neck go back as far as you can AND arching your back. It's heck I tell you! Try it sometimes. I'm used to it now of course, but my back gets way soarer, way faster than everybody else's. My back should stop hurting after a while, but for now I'm sucking it up and not mentioning it to either of the coaches unless they ask.
But yeah, you probably want to know how likely I am to make it. I'm not gunna let myself get too relaxed or anything, but I'm almost certain that I'm in the clear.
At the beginning I was diving all over the place with these killer reflexes that I have, but my reflexes usually told me to dive, and who am I to question them? Then I wouldn't recover from my dive fast enough and I would either miss the birdie once they hit it back or my shot would go high and they'd smash it at me.
I'd also return these crazy shots. You know, those ones where you look away 'cause there's no way the person's gunna get it. But yeah, I'd almost always get those, but then I'd fumble when it came to the basic stuff.
I've never been showed how to hit the birdie properly, so my form was horrible, but the coach showed me what to do once and I was perfect every time after that, which seemed to impress him.
I also got lots of opportunities to show my sense of humour and I had a good attitude the entire time, although I'm not somebody you'd call a team player. I'm patient whenever my partner sucks, because half the time I'm the sucky partner and I'm just a pretty patient person. I rarely ever just tell people "nice try" and "good job", I come up with creative or funny things to say.
Personally, whenever I have a super-jock partner who shows me up so bad I feel like nothing afterwards, I hate it when they keep on saying "nice try" and all that krap. To be honest with you it'd be way more effective if he yelled at me 'cause then my rebellious instincts would kick in and I'd spend the next match proving to this jerk that I'm just as good as him. But NO, I'm fine the way I'm playing even though we're loosing because of it.
So even though I know this is probably something uniquely me, I don't do it to other people just 'cause I dislike it so much. Although I do gain a lot of respect for a guy who could probably lift three of me and still play better than I am, but can still look a foot down at me, smile and say "good try".
Also, by the end I had improved so much I was amazed at myself and the coach who was helping the half of the gym I was always on seemed to like me. I don't know if the other one did, the only time he spent caring about me was when I was playing and I almost never even noticed him.
The only thing I'm unhappy about with the try-outs is that my hair is gunna be SO frizzy at the end of every practice. Maybe I'll find a style that'll keep it out of my eyes and not get too frizzy. I'll get back to you on it.
On a completely different note, my friend (Blaire, the one who said she wanted to be Mormon) is still interested in coming to an activity. I haven't been able to take her so far because two weeks ago was Standards Night, then last week we had a temple trip, then tomorrow we're practicing for a talent show. The week after that (hopefully) we should be doing something that she'd like to come to.
Smash - It's basically what a spike is in volleyball. Fast as an arrow and straight as a conservative Mormon.
Standards Night - It's a stake meeting of all the youth and their parents and we mostly talk about the church's standards. In our stake we almost always have floats after, it's pretty sweet. Floats (in case you don't know) are just ice cream and pop mixed together in a cup.
Personally, I don't really think they should just cut one person, you know. I mean, two, that'd be okay, but wouldn't that be aweful? Seriously. they should give her the choice. She can stay as an alternate or she can just not be on the team.
I don't know how many of those ten are gunna be alternates and how many are gunna be actual players.
But, ugh! The small of my back hurts SO bad! It's an actual problem. When I was a kid I was twice the height of the other kids, so I just naturally slouched, so I gre into a natural slouching position. I corrected this by sitting up as straight as I could muster one day, then going back to my comfortable position the next. This got me looking like normal after a month, but you have to imagine, sitting as straight backed as you possibly can all freaking day long. And this isn't just arching your back, this is putting your shoulder blades back, making your neck go back as far as you can AND arching your back. It's heck I tell you! Try it sometimes. I'm used to it now of course, but my back gets way soarer, way faster than everybody else's. My back should stop hurting after a while, but for now I'm sucking it up and not mentioning it to either of the coaches unless they ask.
But yeah, you probably want to know how likely I am to make it. I'm not gunna let myself get too relaxed or anything, but I'm almost certain that I'm in the clear.
At the beginning I was diving all over the place with these killer reflexes that I have, but my reflexes usually told me to dive, and who am I to question them? Then I wouldn't recover from my dive fast enough and I would either miss the birdie once they hit it back or my shot would go high and they'd smash it at me.
I'd also return these crazy shots. You know, those ones where you look away 'cause there's no way the person's gunna get it. But yeah, I'd almost always get those, but then I'd fumble when it came to the basic stuff.
I've never been showed how to hit the birdie properly, so my form was horrible, but the coach showed me what to do once and I was perfect every time after that, which seemed to impress him.
I also got lots of opportunities to show my sense of humour and I had a good attitude the entire time, although I'm not somebody you'd call a team player. I'm patient whenever my partner sucks, because half the time I'm the sucky partner and I'm just a pretty patient person. I rarely ever just tell people "nice try" and "good job", I come up with creative or funny things to say.
Personally, whenever I have a super-jock partner who shows me up so bad I feel like nothing afterwards, I hate it when they keep on saying "nice try" and all that krap. To be honest with you it'd be way more effective if he yelled at me 'cause then my rebellious instincts would kick in and I'd spend the next match proving to this jerk that I'm just as good as him. But NO, I'm fine the way I'm playing even though we're loosing because of it.
So even though I know this is probably something uniquely me, I don't do it to other people just 'cause I dislike it so much. Although I do gain a lot of respect for a guy who could probably lift three of me and still play better than I am, but can still look a foot down at me, smile and say "good try".
Also, by the end I had improved so much I was amazed at myself and the coach who was helping the half of the gym I was always on seemed to like me. I don't know if the other one did, the only time he spent caring about me was when I was playing and I almost never even noticed him.
The only thing I'm unhappy about with the try-outs is that my hair is gunna be SO frizzy at the end of every practice. Maybe I'll find a style that'll keep it out of my eyes and not get too frizzy. I'll get back to you on it.
On a completely different note, my friend (Blaire, the one who said she wanted to be Mormon) is still interested in coming to an activity. I haven't been able to take her so far because two weeks ago was Standards Night, then last week we had a temple trip, then tomorrow we're practicing for a talent show. The week after that (hopefully) we should be doing something that she'd like to come to.
Smash - It's basically what a spike is in volleyball. Fast as an arrow and straight as a conservative Mormon.
Standards Night - It's a stake meeting of all the youth and their parents and we mostly talk about the church's standards. In our stake we almost always have floats after, it's pretty sweet. Floats (in case you don't know) are just ice cream and pop mixed together in a cup.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Mall Cop, different church, cruise... You know, the usual stuff.
Sorry for not writing, nothing interesting has happened to me lately. I'm just writing so that my blog doens't look abandoned.
Well, I went to see Mall Cop with a friend yesterday. It wasn't as funny as I thought it would be, but I have to say that Paul Blart was adorable. I don't know what other word I could use, but he had that kind of innocent, child-like humour.
Also, in case you care I can still put on earings, my ears haven't grown over, even though I haven't worn earings in a couple of weeks.
My sister and her husband are both giving talks in their ward and they need a ride out to where their church is, so I'm going to church with them, along with my dad.
I'm a little sad that I won't be seeing my friend who went on the cruise (she's supposed to be back by now). She's always so pale so I want to see her with a tan, but it might still be there for our activity on Tuesday. She's infamous for not being able to hold onto a tan at all, it's crazy. Maybe I'll get to see pictures...
Ward - Since there is a usually a large amount of Mormons in a city, we are divided up into Stakes and then Wards. Each stake goes to one building, but each ward has different church times. So you only go to church with your ward.
Activity - LDS Young Women and Young Men have weekly activities that we go to. Sometimes we're divided by gender and sometimes not.
Well, I went to see Mall Cop with a friend yesterday. It wasn't as funny as I thought it would be, but I have to say that Paul Blart was adorable. I don't know what other word I could use, but he had that kind of innocent, child-like humour.
Also, in case you care I can still put on earings, my ears haven't grown over, even though I haven't worn earings in a couple of weeks.
My sister and her husband are both giving talks in their ward and they need a ride out to where their church is, so I'm going to church with them, along with my dad.
I'm a little sad that I won't be seeing my friend who went on the cruise (she's supposed to be back by now). She's always so pale so I want to see her with a tan, but it might still be there for our activity on Tuesday. She's infamous for not being able to hold onto a tan at all, it's crazy. Maybe I'll get to see pictures...
Ward - Since there is a usually a large amount of Mormons in a city, we are divided up into Stakes and then Wards. Each stake goes to one building, but each ward has different church times. So you only go to church with your ward.
Activity - LDS Young Women and Young Men have weekly activities that we go to. Sometimes we're divided by gender and sometimes not.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Valentines Day
Most people think of Valentines Day either as the greatest day of the year or as "Annual Single Reminders Day". I however think of it as the annual I'm-going-to-pretend-this-is-just-another-normal-day-and-hopefully-it-will-be day. And hallelujah, for the most part it was just another day.
For Valentines Day, our school had this thing set up where you could buy a rose for somebody. My friend bought one for me and some other people. Her and the rest of an after school musical group went to California for a week so she wasn't here on the 14th and won't be back until the end of Reading Week. She asked me to drop anything (particularily flowers) that she received off at her house, so needless to say she was expecting something; if not from a loser in tin foil than at least from a friend.
Nothing came for her however and I felt the majority of the guilt for that. I didn't want to get her a flower because it would be jealous of her beauty, or so I told her. I really just forgot to bring money to school the entire week the flowers were for sale.
I felt kind of bad that she didn't get anything, so I decided that I would drop something off at her house. Exactly what I wasn't sure at first.
I started out with the envelope, then added a heart shaped sucker that I got from seminary. Next I looked up a bunch up pick-up lines and put them on recipe cards. If you're a constant watcher of 'The Office' like we are you'd get that.
I decided that that wasn't enough so I also wrote her a love poem. You're probably thinking I'm absolutely crazy, either that or a very confused young woman, but I know her well enough to know that she'll find it hilarious. I also made it very clear that it was from me so she doesn't think it's from some anonymus guy.
After that (not being the most romantic person in the world) I couldn't think of anything else to give her so I sealed the envelope and today I walked over to her house and left it in the mailbox. On the front I put that it was 'to Alexa from Christi' but I can't help but worry that one of her brothers (or worse her parents) will open it and think we're lesbians or something.
And man did I ever have fun finding the stupidest pick-up lines ever. My favourite was "I have three months to live..." followed closely by "So... you're a girl huh?"
Oh, and I also found the perfect song for my wedding. I swear this is the only planning for my wedding I've ever made and although I would go through with this it's a total joke.
My Best Friend - Weezer
There aren't any good videos, but this'll at least let you know what it sounds like.
For Valentines Day, our school had this thing set up where you could buy a rose for somebody. My friend bought one for me and some other people. Her and the rest of an after school musical group went to California for a week so she wasn't here on the 14th and won't be back until the end of Reading Week. She asked me to drop anything (particularily flowers) that she received off at her house, so needless to say she was expecting something; if not from a loser in tin foil than at least from a friend.
Nothing came for her however and I felt the majority of the guilt for that. I didn't want to get her a flower because it would be jealous of her beauty, or so I told her. I really just forgot to bring money to school the entire week the flowers were for sale.
I felt kind of bad that she didn't get anything, so I decided that I would drop something off at her house. Exactly what I wasn't sure at first.
I started out with the envelope, then added a heart shaped sucker that I got from seminary. Next I looked up a bunch up pick-up lines and put them on recipe cards. If you're a constant watcher of 'The Office' like we are you'd get that.
I decided that that wasn't enough so I also wrote her a love poem. You're probably thinking I'm absolutely crazy, either that or a very confused young woman, but I know her well enough to know that she'll find it hilarious. I also made it very clear that it was from me so she doesn't think it's from some anonymus guy.
After that (not being the most romantic person in the world) I couldn't think of anything else to give her so I sealed the envelope and today I walked over to her house and left it in the mailbox. On the front I put that it was 'to Alexa from Christi' but I can't help but worry that one of her brothers (or worse her parents) will open it and think we're lesbians or something.
And man did I ever have fun finding the stupidest pick-up lines ever. My favourite was "I have three months to live..." followed closely by "So... you're a girl huh?"
Oh, and I also found the perfect song for my wedding. I swear this is the only planning for my wedding I've ever made and although I would go through with this it's a total joke.
My Best Friend - Weezer
There aren't any good videos, but this'll at least let you know what it sounds like.
Alma 32 - If you have faith in the Lord he can turn the most dier of situations into the cause for your salvation.
I don't think I'll ever understand why, but when I read a scripture or hear a quote I almost always get something completely different out of it than everybody else. I like to think of it as listening to the Holy Ghost on a whole nother level or something, as apposed to everybody else's theory that I'm just weird. Which I'm not disagreeing with. Everybody's weird, I'm just the only one who has the guts to admit it.
So anyways, if I dare stay on track, what I was talking about was how I always get something different out of scriptures than everybody else. My favourite chapter in the Book of Mormon is Alma 32. This chapter is basically all about faith, but that's not why I love it. I mean yeah, the whole knowing isn't believing and faith is like unto a seed stuff is awesome too, but what makes it my favourite chapter is the story behind the metaphor.
The chapter basically starts out with Alma (who for simplicity's sake I'll just say is a missionary) going into a city and trying to preach the gospel, as missionaries often do. After a while he finds that nobody will listen to him. House after house he is turned away by the pride of whoever happens to open the door. After a long while of this (I'm not sure how long, could be all day could be all month, I don't think it says) he comes to the poorer part of town, having so far no success at all. He finds that the less wealthy people have been humbled by their poverty and are more open to the gospel.
This city did have a church, but the poor people weren't allowed in it because they were not dressed well enough. A principle taught by Alma through response to this is that anybody, anywhere can worship God as long as they are doing their best.
Everybody else who reads this chapter kind of skims over this part and rarely pays any attention to it, going on to the majority of the chapter which is based on faith.
The part that I found significant though was that at first glance, the poor people were kind of being screwed over. I mean, they were poor ad not well dressed. They were the base of the hierarchy and they weren't even allowed in the synagogues (churches, of sorts), which - may I add - they did build in the first place. Although I should have known better than to think such mundane trials would prevent any decent, humble people from happiness. As Alma said '... their afflictions had truly humbled them, and that they were in preperation to hear the word.' (Alma 32: 6).
Because these people weren't so obsessed with earthly treasures they more easily opened their hearts to the treasures of the spirit (that is to say the gospel). This reminds me of another scripture (yeah I know, I'm a little scripture obsessed for my age)
3 Nephi 13: 19-21
'Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth currupt, and theives break through and steal;
But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust corrupt, and where theives do not break through and steal.
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.'
Although at first glance the rich people may have seemed to have it good, their joy was only temporary.
The real gifts given to us by God are the trials. It is in these that we find ourselves, find our path and find our happiness. Without pain you cannot know joy and in the end it really comes down to having faith that whatever happens happens because it was meant to happen and it will make the world a better place. God would never give anybody a trial that he didn't think they could conquer and learn from.
So yeah, long story short:
What everybody else got out of Alma 32 - Faith is a seed, if planted and cared for it will grow.
What I got from it - If you have faith in the Lord he can turn the most dier of situations into the cause for your salvation.
Hey cool! That totally rhymes. Now you have to remember it!
Scriptures - this is what we call the Bible, The book of Mormon, The Pearl of Great Price and The Doctrine and Covenants. Believe me when I say it's just better this way.
So anyways, if I dare stay on track, what I was talking about was how I always get something different out of scriptures than everybody else. My favourite chapter in the Book of Mormon is Alma 32. This chapter is basically all about faith, but that's not why I love it. I mean yeah, the whole knowing isn't believing and faith is like unto a seed stuff is awesome too, but what makes it my favourite chapter is the story behind the metaphor.
The chapter basically starts out with Alma (who for simplicity's sake I'll just say is a missionary) going into a city and trying to preach the gospel, as missionaries often do. After a while he finds that nobody will listen to him. House after house he is turned away by the pride of whoever happens to open the door. After a long while of this (I'm not sure how long, could be all day could be all month, I don't think it says) he comes to the poorer part of town, having so far no success at all. He finds that the less wealthy people have been humbled by their poverty and are more open to the gospel.
This city did have a church, but the poor people weren't allowed in it because they were not dressed well enough. A principle taught by Alma through response to this is that anybody, anywhere can worship God as long as they are doing their best.
Everybody else who reads this chapter kind of skims over this part and rarely pays any attention to it, going on to the majority of the chapter which is based on faith.
The part that I found significant though was that at first glance, the poor people were kind of being screwed over. I mean, they were poor ad not well dressed. They were the base of the hierarchy and they weren't even allowed in the synagogues (churches, of sorts), which - may I add - they did build in the first place. Although I should have known better than to think such mundane trials would prevent any decent, humble people from happiness. As Alma said '... their afflictions had truly humbled them, and that they were in preperation to hear the word.' (Alma 32: 6).
Because these people weren't so obsessed with earthly treasures they more easily opened their hearts to the treasures of the spirit (that is to say the gospel). This reminds me of another scripture (yeah I know, I'm a little scripture obsessed for my age)
3 Nephi 13: 19-21
'Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth currupt, and theives break through and steal;
But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust corrupt, and where theives do not break through and steal.
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.'
Although at first glance the rich people may have seemed to have it good, their joy was only temporary.
The real gifts given to us by God are the trials. It is in these that we find ourselves, find our path and find our happiness. Without pain you cannot know joy and in the end it really comes down to having faith that whatever happens happens because it was meant to happen and it will make the world a better place. God would never give anybody a trial that he didn't think they could conquer and learn from.
So yeah, long story short:
What everybody else got out of Alma 32 - Faith is a seed, if planted and cared for it will grow.
What I got from it - If you have faith in the Lord he can turn the most dier of situations into the cause for your salvation.
Hey cool! That totally rhymes. Now you have to remember it!
Scriptures - this is what we call the Bible, The book of Mormon, The Pearl of Great Price and The Doctrine and Covenants. Believe me when I say it's just better this way.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Just a Bunch of Little Things
A bunch of little things (hence the title) have happened lately or are going to happen soon.
It's reading week, which means I don't have to go to school un the 23rd. I find it funny that they tried to make it look educational by calling it reading week. Come on, like anybody but me is going to read anything but text messages in the next nine days.
Two families in our ward teamed up and are on a cruise to Florida right now, which means half the youth are missing. Well, half the YW anyways, I guess only three young men are gone. I have to admit I'm a little jealous, I kind of wish I were on a cruise right now. This isn't helped by the fact that it started snowing again. Gosh! I swear it hasn't gone above zero for the past four months.
Over the break I'm planning on finally getting my license. I've been pretty chill about when I'm getting it, but I'm having my brithday in a couple of months so I need to get going. I don't know why it's such a big deal, I just don't want to be 17 and without a license.
My borther in law offered to let me drive his truck on some uninhabited roads by the highway once I get my license. That should be fun - no sarcasm intended. If it's unihabitted then I won't hurt anybody, except for my brother, but he can get over it. He was the one who offered.
I've always been terrified that I'm going to hurt somebody when I'md riving. I swear I can paralyze myself for life and total the car, but as long as I don't hit anybody else I'm okay.
I'm also considering getting a job at the hockey arena. I have a friend who's been working there for a while and says that it's good, as far as minimum wage jobs go anyways.
February 9th was national pizza day so my friend and I went to Boston Pizza for... pizza. While we were there (I can't remember how this came up) but we were talking about me being the only "good" Mormon in our grade last year and she randomly blurted out that she wished she were Mormon. And quite frankly, this is ever Mormons dream! I stayed pretty calm and asked her why and then invited her to one of our activities, but inside I was screaming something like. 'Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh! I've been waiting my entire life for somebody to say that!'. I'll let you know how that goes. The way she said it kind of made it seem like she'd been wanting to say it for a while and it didn't sound like a random thing. She seemed pretty serious. I'm pretty sure of this because I asked her if she was serious several times before inviting her to an activity.
On a completely unrelated note, I took my earings out and plan on keeping them out. I hope they grow over, which they probably will. Quite frankly I'm tired of having a metal rod through the lobe of my ear. 'Cause yeah, that's just how I roll.
Rugby and Badminton try-outs are coming up soon. I'm excited for both and seriously hope I make both. I'm gunna need to start jogging again. The fact that I stay thin no matter how much I eat has me in the illusion that I'm in good shape. Ha, yeah no.
I think I've so far failed to mention this, but I'm writing a novel. Well, trying to anyways. I should probably put some of it on here. Just a little, so you can grasp an opinion on good or bad of a writer I am.
It's an intermediate science fiction about a girl who thinks she's from Mars. At the beginning you don't know whether or not she is, especially since I've casually mentioned that she has all the symptoms of schizophrenia.
So anyway, I've written 20 000 words now. I get excited every 5000 words to be honest, but 20 000 just seems like a noteworthy amount so I'm mentioning it.
And yeah, I think that pretty much brings this blog up-to-date.
It's reading week, which means I don't have to go to school un the 23rd. I find it funny that they tried to make it look educational by calling it reading week. Come on, like anybody but me is going to read anything but text messages in the next nine days.
Two families in our ward teamed up and are on a cruise to Florida right now, which means half the youth are missing. Well, half the YW anyways, I guess only three young men are gone. I have to admit I'm a little jealous, I kind of wish I were on a cruise right now. This isn't helped by the fact that it started snowing again. Gosh! I swear it hasn't gone above zero for the past four months.
Over the break I'm planning on finally getting my license. I've been pretty chill about when I'm getting it, but I'm having my brithday in a couple of months so I need to get going. I don't know why it's such a big deal, I just don't want to be 17 and without a license.
My borther in law offered to let me drive his truck on some uninhabited roads by the highway once I get my license. That should be fun - no sarcasm intended. If it's unihabitted then I won't hurt anybody, except for my brother, but he can get over it. He was the one who offered.
I've always been terrified that I'm going to hurt somebody when I'md riving. I swear I can paralyze myself for life and total the car, but as long as I don't hit anybody else I'm okay.
I'm also considering getting a job at the hockey arena. I have a friend who's been working there for a while and says that it's good, as far as minimum wage jobs go anyways.
February 9th was national pizza day so my friend and I went to Boston Pizza for... pizza. While we were there (I can't remember how this came up) but we were talking about me being the only "good" Mormon in our grade last year and she randomly blurted out that she wished she were Mormon. And quite frankly, this is ever Mormons dream! I stayed pretty calm and asked her why and then invited her to one of our activities, but inside I was screaming something like. 'Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh! I've been waiting my entire life for somebody to say that!'. I'll let you know how that goes. The way she said it kind of made it seem like she'd been wanting to say it for a while and it didn't sound like a random thing. She seemed pretty serious. I'm pretty sure of this because I asked her if she was serious several times before inviting her to an activity.
On a completely unrelated note, I took my earings out and plan on keeping them out. I hope they grow over, which they probably will. Quite frankly I'm tired of having a metal rod through the lobe of my ear. 'Cause yeah, that's just how I roll.
Rugby and Badminton try-outs are coming up soon. I'm excited for both and seriously hope I make both. I'm gunna need to start jogging again. The fact that I stay thin no matter how much I eat has me in the illusion that I'm in good shape. Ha, yeah no.
I think I've so far failed to mention this, but I'm writing a novel. Well, trying to anyways. I should probably put some of it on here. Just a little, so you can grasp an opinion on good or bad of a writer I am.
It's an intermediate science fiction about a girl who thinks she's from Mars. At the beginning you don't know whether or not she is, especially since I've casually mentioned that she has all the symptoms of schizophrenia.
So anyway, I've written 20 000 words now. I get excited every 5000 words to be honest, but 20 000 just seems like a noteworthy amount so I'm mentioning it.
And yeah, I think that pretty much brings this blog up-to-date.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
"Ask a Mormon" #1
So none of my friends are Mormon except for the ones I see at youth activities and on Sunday. Because of this I'm constantly surrounded by people who don't understand my religion and have been getting their questions answed incorrectly from either Anti-Mormons or people who are too stupid to realize that we don't practice human sacrifices in our temples. Because of this I'm constantly needing to clear up misconceptions and I figured it'd be a good idea to put the questions my friends ask me followed by my answers. Today I'm only answering one question since it has a very long explanation.
What makes you different from other Christians, like Catholics?
I can't pretend to be an expert on other religions, so I wouldn't feel right comparing us if I'm ignorant of their beliefs. I do, however know a decent amount about the Catholic religion, since my entire Dad's side is Catholic and I've attended their church a decent amount of times.
First off, do not think that I am, in any way, attacking the Catholic religion. Personally I think that there's nothing wrong with a church as long as it teaches it's members to be better people. I'm only comparing the LDS church to the Catholic Church because it's the only other religion I know enough about.
So here we go.
There are endless differences between the Catholic Church and The Mormon Church. One main one is our perception of God.
Mormons usually referre to God as Heavenly Father and to ourselves as Children of God, and this demonstrates how he think of him quite well. We think of him kind of as an all-knowing loving Father who - if we listen to his guidance - will lead us down the path that is best for us to travel. We believe that like any good Father he has to use discipline sometimes. We don't believe that he punishes people out of rath, but because if he let us run wild we'd probably get ourselves blown up, like any child.
We also believe that Heaven Father and Jesus Christ are two completely seperate people. They have different personality traits and two different bodies as you'd expect from any two different people. We believe this because when Joseph Smith experienced the First Vision he saw "two personages" God pointed to Christ and said "this is my beloved Son, hear him". Information on the First vision can be found in Joseph Smith History, Chapter one.
The Catholics beleive that Christ was merely God's mundane form, sent to Earth to conquer both life and death. I don't want to expand on this much, because I don't want to misinform you. It's also my understand that Catholics believe that God punishes people for being bad, which we do believe in to a certain degree. This doesn't really work all the time though because "bad things happen to good people". I'll get into the LDS veiw on the next time I do one of these.
Another major difference between The LDS Church and the Catholic church is that Catholics believe that all God has needed to say to mankind has been said in the bible, we do not believe that. Although we do still believe in the Bible and are taught about it in Church and Seminary.
Our belief that God has more to say to us in modern day is expressed through several different things.
The first is that we receive modern revalation through our Prophet (currently Thomas S. Monson). This means that he receives present-day instruction from God through the Spirit (I'll explain who the Spirit is in a later question).
We also (of course) have and believe in The Book of Mormon, The Doctrine and Covenants and The Pearl of Great Price. The Book of Mormon and Pearl of Great Price were both translated by Joseph Smith, and the Doctrine and Covenants were written by God through Joseph Smith. That is to say by revelation.
We also believe in something you can't understand unless you've experienced it; personal revelation. This is when (often through prayer and/or scripture study) we recieve instruction from God through the Holy Ghost (AKA the Spirit). This is for things relating to the individual and not everybody as a whole.
Another, more obvious difference between Catholics and Mormons is that we have different "rules".
Catholics beleive that (more or less) to avoid going to Hell (we call it Outer Darkness usually) you simply must obey the Ten Commandments.
We, on the other hand follow many rules, so many nobody's ever bothered to number any of them. Of course we do follow the Ten Commandments, but those are merely the beginning for us.
We don't consume addictive substances (alchohol, drugs, coffee etc...) and we don't swear or wear immodest clothing. There are many more, but basically we can't do anything that is likely to interfere with our health, harm others or ourself or get us into undesirable situations.
People constantly ask me why our church has set up so many rules. At first I wasn't completely sure, but now I know. It's becuase the members of the Church have a duty to uphold the light of Christ, and in order to do this we cannot be the same as everybody else. We need to be stronger, have more integredity and have a better peace-of-mind.
Next I'm usually asked why I personally follow all of these rules. I always answer simply that "I believe in my religion,". If they ask me to expand I do, but that's usually enough of an answer for them, whether they think I'm crazy or not.
So yeah, I'm pretty sure I've covered the major differences, if you have any questions you can ask me or go to FAIR.
http://www.fairlds.org/
What makes you different from other Christians, like Catholics?
I can't pretend to be an expert on other religions, so I wouldn't feel right comparing us if I'm ignorant of their beliefs. I do, however know a decent amount about the Catholic religion, since my entire Dad's side is Catholic and I've attended their church a decent amount of times.
First off, do not think that I am, in any way, attacking the Catholic religion. Personally I think that there's nothing wrong with a church as long as it teaches it's members to be better people. I'm only comparing the LDS church to the Catholic Church because it's the only other religion I know enough about.
So here we go.
There are endless differences between the Catholic Church and The Mormon Church. One main one is our perception of God.
Mormons usually referre to God as Heavenly Father and to ourselves as Children of God, and this demonstrates how he think of him quite well. We think of him kind of as an all-knowing loving Father who - if we listen to his guidance - will lead us down the path that is best for us to travel. We believe that like any good Father he has to use discipline sometimes. We don't believe that he punishes people out of rath, but because if he let us run wild we'd probably get ourselves blown up, like any child.
We also believe that Heaven Father and Jesus Christ are two completely seperate people. They have different personality traits and two different bodies as you'd expect from any two different people. We believe this because when Joseph Smith experienced the First Vision he saw "two personages" God pointed to Christ and said "this is my beloved Son, hear him". Information on the First vision can be found in Joseph Smith History, Chapter one.
The Catholics beleive that Christ was merely God's mundane form, sent to Earth to conquer both life and death. I don't want to expand on this much, because I don't want to misinform you. It's also my understand that Catholics believe that God punishes people for being bad, which we do believe in to a certain degree. This doesn't really work all the time though because "bad things happen to good people". I'll get into the LDS veiw on the next time I do one of these.
Another major difference between The LDS Church and the Catholic church is that Catholics believe that all God has needed to say to mankind has been said in the bible, we do not believe that. Although we do still believe in the Bible and are taught about it in Church and Seminary.
Our belief that God has more to say to us in modern day is expressed through several different things.
The first is that we receive modern revalation through our Prophet (currently Thomas S. Monson). This means that he receives present-day instruction from God through the Spirit (I'll explain who the Spirit is in a later question).
We also (of course) have and believe in The Book of Mormon, The Doctrine and Covenants and The Pearl of Great Price. The Book of Mormon and Pearl of Great Price were both translated by Joseph Smith, and the Doctrine and Covenants were written by God through Joseph Smith. That is to say by revelation.
We also believe in something you can't understand unless you've experienced it; personal revelation. This is when (often through prayer and/or scripture study) we recieve instruction from God through the Holy Ghost (AKA the Spirit). This is for things relating to the individual and not everybody as a whole.
Another, more obvious difference between Catholics and Mormons is that we have different "rules".
Catholics beleive that (more or less) to avoid going to Hell (we call it Outer Darkness usually) you simply must obey the Ten Commandments.
We, on the other hand follow many rules, so many nobody's ever bothered to number any of them. Of course we do follow the Ten Commandments, but those are merely the beginning for us.
We don't consume addictive substances (alchohol, drugs, coffee etc...) and we don't swear or wear immodest clothing. There are many more, but basically we can't do anything that is likely to interfere with our health, harm others or ourself or get us into undesirable situations.
People constantly ask me why our church has set up so many rules. At first I wasn't completely sure, but now I know. It's becuase the members of the Church have a duty to uphold the light of Christ, and in order to do this we cannot be the same as everybody else. We need to be stronger, have more integredity and have a better peace-of-mind.
Next I'm usually asked why I personally follow all of these rules. I always answer simply that "I believe in my religion,". If they ask me to expand I do, but that's usually enough of an answer for them, whether they think I'm crazy or not.
So yeah, I'm pretty sure I've covered the major differences, if you have any questions you can ask me or go to FAIR.
http://www.fairlds.org/
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
EFY
I'm really excited for EFY. I'm going to the second session with a friend from B.C. We registered a couple of weeks ago, but I just thought about it. I'm hoping this year will be better than last because last time I didn't have a roomie since I don't know any Mormon girls my age. I do now, obviously, but back then I only knew the girls in my ward and none of them are my age.
So because I didn't request a roomie they chose one for me. I'm not a loser, this is perfectly common; just in case you were wondering. Okay, so I got there about an hour earlier than my roomie and I didn't want to wander around for fear of getting lost (I have a horrible sense of direction) so I just entertained myself in the dorm until she got there. For a little while I was SO nervous about meeting my roomie, since I'm a little awkward around people I don't know, so if my roomie was shy we'd both be screwed. After a while though I decided no matter who my roomie was or what she was like I'd suck it up and be her best friend for the next five days.
So she shows up (finally) and we find that we have a lot in common, the only difference being why we were there.
Most girls go to EFY mostly because of the boys. Ha, yeah I know right. I was going to have fun with whoever was in my group - although the funniest guy in the world ended up taking me to banquet :). Of course I also went for the spiritual progress.
So when she warned me that she was a little boy crazy I wasn't too surprised, I mean most girls get crazy when at EFY. I didn't think much about that, but after when met the guys in our group it took her a total of five seconds before she fell in love with one of them. I was getting a little worried then, I didn't want my roomie to be insane the entire time. It only got worse when she admitted to me that night that she'd spent most of her free time that day following him around and spying on him. I didn't really know what to say to this, except that I'd been wondering where she was the entire time. Then of course there were the several times I walked into the dorm to find her crying because this guy would barely even look at her.
I felt bad, but she didn't seem to want me to share in her misery so I ended up not even seeing her except for when we were sleeping. I befriended some other people so I still ended up enjoying myself.
I wasn't mad at her, I just felt guilty. I'm one of those people that if somebody's sad I get more upset about it than they do, which is odd because I never get upset about things that happen to me. Thinking back I should have done more than calmed her down when she was crying, but she didn't want me around. I guess it's for the better, she would have just taken me to stalk this guy around.
Now that I know I'm going to be friends with my roomate the only problem I have with EFY really is the guys. It's just that I'm not one for dating or relationships or whatever - probably because I don't like getting my emotions mixed up in something that's likely to end badly. Usually this isn't too much of a problem, because in "real" life guys advance slowly so I have plenty of time to hint that I'm not interested in anything but random hang-outs, but at EFY they don't give you any time. You only have five days to get to know each other so you have to act fast and most guys are too stupid to pick up on my hints with so little time.
A little note to guys, when a girl mentions that she doesn't want to get married until she's 30, it usually means she's not guy-crazed like all the other Mormon girls, which means don't assume that she's thrilled by you escorting her everywhere she goes.
I didn't really like the escorting at first, in fact I hated it and it took all my strength not to roll my eyes every time a guy asked to escort me. Of course I couldn't say no, that'd hurt his feelings. By the end I got used to it though.
Just so you know, I'm not a jerk, I just don't like unexpected touching. I'm fine if I'm the one touching the other person, but if they're touching me then I can't stand it.
The thing I liked most about the guy who took me to banquet (besides that he was hilarious) was that he understood that I wasn't into the whole C.O.W. thing (crush of the week) and that I didn't want to "pair" up with somebody. Instead of linking arms with me to escort me he just walked beside me and started up a conversation. I don't know how he knew I hated the elbow contact (I hope it wasn't that noticable) but I really appreciated it. He even (not happily) let me clear my own dishes after banquet - which a Mormon guys will rarely let you do. I told anybody who asked that I threatened to punch him in the throat if he dared to clear my plate so he didn't look impolite. I was prepared to tell him that though, keep in mind.
A lot of people wonder why I'm like that, and to be honest I don't know. I know there's nothing wrong with me. I guess it's just how I roll. I guess I just don't want to be one of those Mormon girls who doesn't know what they'd do if they don't get married at 18 and who day-dream about their weddings and all that stuff.
People always tell me my very pronounced lack of interest in guys scares them off. Whenever somebody tells me this they assume tha tI secretly care, but I really don't. People also always assume this means I don't want to get married, this isn't the truth. I just only need one guy to love me to get married, so what's the point in trying to get more?
So anyways, now that I've weirded you out with my odd opinions on whatever I've just been talking about, I have to leave.
So yeah, hopefully this EFY turns out as awesome as I'm threatening it to be.
EFY - Especially For Youth. The only way I can explain it is that for 5 days Mormon youth get together over the summer and have one gigantic, spiritual Mormon party. We have lessons and dances and meals and everything. Considered by many to be the best part of the year.
So because I didn't request a roomie they chose one for me. I'm not a loser, this is perfectly common; just in case you were wondering. Okay, so I got there about an hour earlier than my roomie and I didn't want to wander around for fear of getting lost (I have a horrible sense of direction) so I just entertained myself in the dorm until she got there. For a little while I was SO nervous about meeting my roomie, since I'm a little awkward around people I don't know, so if my roomie was shy we'd both be screwed. After a while though I decided no matter who my roomie was or what she was like I'd suck it up and be her best friend for the next five days.
So she shows up (finally) and we find that we have a lot in common, the only difference being why we were there.
Most girls go to EFY mostly because of the boys. Ha, yeah I know right. I was going to have fun with whoever was in my group - although the funniest guy in the world ended up taking me to banquet :). Of course I also went for the spiritual progress.
So when she warned me that she was a little boy crazy I wasn't too surprised, I mean most girls get crazy when at EFY. I didn't think much about that, but after when met the guys in our group it took her a total of five seconds before she fell in love with one of them. I was getting a little worried then, I didn't want my roomie to be insane the entire time. It only got worse when she admitted to me that night that she'd spent most of her free time that day following him around and spying on him. I didn't really know what to say to this, except that I'd been wondering where she was the entire time. Then of course there were the several times I walked into the dorm to find her crying because this guy would barely even look at her.
I felt bad, but she didn't seem to want me to share in her misery so I ended up not even seeing her except for when we were sleeping. I befriended some other people so I still ended up enjoying myself.
I wasn't mad at her, I just felt guilty. I'm one of those people that if somebody's sad I get more upset about it than they do, which is odd because I never get upset about things that happen to me. Thinking back I should have done more than calmed her down when she was crying, but she didn't want me around. I guess it's for the better, she would have just taken me to stalk this guy around.
Now that I know I'm going to be friends with my roomate the only problem I have with EFY really is the guys. It's just that I'm not one for dating or relationships or whatever - probably because I don't like getting my emotions mixed up in something that's likely to end badly. Usually this isn't too much of a problem, because in "real" life guys advance slowly so I have plenty of time to hint that I'm not interested in anything but random hang-outs, but at EFY they don't give you any time. You only have five days to get to know each other so you have to act fast and most guys are too stupid to pick up on my hints with so little time.
A little note to guys, when a girl mentions that she doesn't want to get married until she's 30, it usually means she's not guy-crazed like all the other Mormon girls, which means don't assume that she's thrilled by you escorting her everywhere she goes.
I didn't really like the escorting at first, in fact I hated it and it took all my strength not to roll my eyes every time a guy asked to escort me. Of course I couldn't say no, that'd hurt his feelings. By the end I got used to it though.
Just so you know, I'm not a jerk, I just don't like unexpected touching. I'm fine if I'm the one touching the other person, but if they're touching me then I can't stand it.
The thing I liked most about the guy who took me to banquet (besides that he was hilarious) was that he understood that I wasn't into the whole C.O.W. thing (crush of the week) and that I didn't want to "pair" up with somebody. Instead of linking arms with me to escort me he just walked beside me and started up a conversation. I don't know how he knew I hated the elbow contact (I hope it wasn't that noticable) but I really appreciated it. He even (not happily) let me clear my own dishes after banquet - which a Mormon guys will rarely let you do. I told anybody who asked that I threatened to punch him in the throat if he dared to clear my plate so he didn't look impolite. I was prepared to tell him that though, keep in mind.
A lot of people wonder why I'm like that, and to be honest I don't know. I know there's nothing wrong with me. I guess it's just how I roll. I guess I just don't want to be one of those Mormon girls who doesn't know what they'd do if they don't get married at 18 and who day-dream about their weddings and all that stuff.
People always tell me my very pronounced lack of interest in guys scares them off. Whenever somebody tells me this they assume tha tI secretly care, but I really don't. People also always assume this means I don't want to get married, this isn't the truth. I just only need one guy to love me to get married, so what's the point in trying to get more?
So anyways, now that I've weirded you out with my odd opinions on whatever I've just been talking about, I have to leave.
So yeah, hopefully this EFY turns out as awesome as I'm threatening it to be.
EFY - Especially For Youth. The only way I can explain it is that for 5 days Mormon youth get together over the summer and have one gigantic, spiritual Mormon party. We have lessons and dances and meals and everything. Considered by many to be the best part of the year.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
YFAIR's mission statement
This is our new mission statement. It explains the purpose of YFAIR. Figured I should post it.
YFAIR's mission is to bear witness of Jesus Christ and His restored Church while helping strengthen and defend the testimonies in the hearts of youth everywhere. To this end, we will assist other youth in understanding the doctrines and practices of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. We will support them in this capacity with media and information that will develop comprehension and testimony, and we will do it in a style that is both logical and inspirational.
YFAIR's mission is to bear witness of Jesus Christ and His restored Church while helping strengthen and defend the testimonies in the hearts of youth everywhere. To this end, we will assist other youth in understanding the doctrines and practices of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. We will support them in this capacity with media and information that will develop comprehension and testimony, and we will do it in a style that is both logical and inspirational.
Teaching Primary.
Okay, I've realized that once I get some followers, this is probably going to be read by a mixture of Mormons and non-mormons alike. That being said I understand that most non-mormons will have difficulty understand many of the terms or words that I use, but I don't want to constantly be explaining things in my entries. So, I've decided to put definitions of church lingo at the bottom of each post. As far as I'm concerned this is an awesome idea, but if you have suggestions go ahead and tell me.
I don't remember exactly why, but all the Relief Society members had to abandon their callings today for church. I think they were having a special meeting or something that everybody had to go to. This meant that the Young Women had to teach all the Primary lessons. We've done this before, but last time we were each paired up with a Young Man. Our Young Women's president kept on saying it was a good thing we didn't have to babysit the Young Men this time. Whenever she said this we all laughed politely, but once she was gone we confessed that we would've liked it better if we'd had a partner like last time.
Of course none of the Young Men actually helped at all, from what I heard. I was lucky, I got the only one that actually did anything. I did all of the preparing but he did a good share of the teaching. He's way better with kids than I am. Don't get me wrong, I love kids, I actually admire them for their innocence and the fact that they're not ashamed of showing emotion. However, I find them kind of intimidating in large numbers since I'm really awkward and out-of-place in a situation where logic is practically useless.
Last time I suggested to my partner that we just play hangman the entire time, but he thought I was kidding and didn't consider it. With him out of the picture this time I really was severely tempted to just bring in a board game or something. I could've told anybody who asked that I'd modified it to be spiritual, but I ended up thinking I may as well just teach the lesson.
The lesson was on Joseph Smith's first vision, and it surprised me how little the kids knew. I don't remember being that ignorant when I was seven, but oh well. I finished the planned stuff early. I think I was about half an hour too fast, so I had to improvise. I looked through my scripture case and realized with great relief that I had enough paper for all the kids and the penicl crayons I use for marking scriptures.
I distributed these out and despite complaints that "trees aren't supposed to be purple!" (I couldn't give them all the green one) they each drew their idea of what the Sacred grove looks like.
After they had finished their drawings they got a little out of control, but I guess it could have gone worse.
My favourite part was when the only girl in the class of seven randomly decided it would be a good time to tell me who she was "in love" with in the middle of me explaining to them what it meant to "lack wisdom". This was even more humourous once I realized the boy she loved was sitting right next to her. He seemed to take it pretty well though, and I suppose there were worse things he could have said than "I heard that!".
So yeah, not that that whole thing wasn't enjoyable, but I've decided I REALLY hope I don't get called as a primary teacher. I don't think I could take it. I need intellectual socializing otherwise I tend to start calling everybody idiots and saying more sarcastic remarks than what's necissary. Kind of like that dim-wad from 'Get Smart'.
On a simular note, I decided a while ago that unlike all the other Young Women (who want to work witht he nursery, Young Womens or pirmary) that I hope I get called to teach Sunday school for the Young men and Women. I think I'd also enjoy teaching seminary.
We just switched times, so now we have church at 9 in the morning instead of noon. It's a huge change and quite frankly I hate it, but church seems to go by three times as fast. I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing. Since it doesn't feel as boring or long I pay better attention, but I also don't get that I-just-went-to-church kind of satisfaction when it's over in what seems like an hour and a half.
So here are my first sent of explanations, I hope I've made this a little less confusing...
Relief Society - It's what the adult women go to instead of Preisthood (which is for men), Young Womans (girls 12-17) or Primary (kids 4-11)
Callings - These are different positions that are given to people in the church, like teacher, pianist or Relief Society president which has certain responsibilities that person is responsible to take care of. These are reserved for adults who are capable of baring them, but there are also callings inside of Young Womens and Young Mens like secretary.
Joseph Smith - The 'Founder' of the LDS church. He's the one who restored the gospel (our church's beliefs) through the direction of God and translated the Book of Mormon.
The First Vision - This is how we referre to when Joseph Smith was fourteen and he went into a forest near his house to pray about which church he should join. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ both appeared to him and told him that the true church of God was no longer on the Earth. This was the beginning of the restoration of the Gospel, although Joseph Smith didn't actually start reforming the church until a much later time when he was ready.
The Sacred Grove - this is the name we've given the place where Joseph Smith has the First Vision.
When I said that I was explaining what it meant to "lack wisdom" I was referring to the scripture (James 1:5 'If any of ye lack wisdom, let him ask of God...') which encouraged Joseph Smith to ask God what church to join.
Seminary - This is a sort of class that Mormons go to, usually in the morning before school. There are "release time" classes we can take in our spares, but most of us choose to go to the early morning ones. We study the scriptures (both of LDS origin and the Bible) and it really is in a class format. There are desks and lessons, you take notes and you CAN fail (although you really just need decent attendance for that). The classes are about the same size as your regular school class and we're with people who are in the same grade as us. The only exceptions are usually if you're in a small or rural community that doens't have enough Mormons to have a proper set-up.
I don't remember exactly why, but all the Relief Society members had to abandon their callings today for church. I think they were having a special meeting or something that everybody had to go to. This meant that the Young Women had to teach all the Primary lessons. We've done this before, but last time we were each paired up with a Young Man. Our Young Women's president kept on saying it was a good thing we didn't have to babysit the Young Men this time. Whenever she said this we all laughed politely, but once she was gone we confessed that we would've liked it better if we'd had a partner like last time.
Of course none of the Young Men actually helped at all, from what I heard. I was lucky, I got the only one that actually did anything. I did all of the preparing but he did a good share of the teaching. He's way better with kids than I am. Don't get me wrong, I love kids, I actually admire them for their innocence and the fact that they're not ashamed of showing emotion. However, I find them kind of intimidating in large numbers since I'm really awkward and out-of-place in a situation where logic is practically useless.
Last time I suggested to my partner that we just play hangman the entire time, but he thought I was kidding and didn't consider it. With him out of the picture this time I really was severely tempted to just bring in a board game or something. I could've told anybody who asked that I'd modified it to be spiritual, but I ended up thinking I may as well just teach the lesson.
The lesson was on Joseph Smith's first vision, and it surprised me how little the kids knew. I don't remember being that ignorant when I was seven, but oh well. I finished the planned stuff early. I think I was about half an hour too fast, so I had to improvise. I looked through my scripture case and realized with great relief that I had enough paper for all the kids and the penicl crayons I use for marking scriptures.
I distributed these out and despite complaints that "trees aren't supposed to be purple!" (I couldn't give them all the green one) they each drew their idea of what the Sacred grove looks like.
After they had finished their drawings they got a little out of control, but I guess it could have gone worse.
My favourite part was when the only girl in the class of seven randomly decided it would be a good time to tell me who she was "in love" with in the middle of me explaining to them what it meant to "lack wisdom". This was even more humourous once I realized the boy she loved was sitting right next to her. He seemed to take it pretty well though, and I suppose there were worse things he could have said than "I heard that!".
So yeah, not that that whole thing wasn't enjoyable, but I've decided I REALLY hope I don't get called as a primary teacher. I don't think I could take it. I need intellectual socializing otherwise I tend to start calling everybody idiots and saying more sarcastic remarks than what's necissary. Kind of like that dim-wad from 'Get Smart'.
On a simular note, I decided a while ago that unlike all the other Young Women (who want to work witht he nursery, Young Womens or pirmary) that I hope I get called to teach Sunday school for the Young men and Women. I think I'd also enjoy teaching seminary.
We just switched times, so now we have church at 9 in the morning instead of noon. It's a huge change and quite frankly I hate it, but church seems to go by three times as fast. I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing. Since it doesn't feel as boring or long I pay better attention, but I also don't get that I-just-went-to-church kind of satisfaction when it's over in what seems like an hour and a half.
So here are my first sent of explanations, I hope I've made this a little less confusing...
Relief Society - It's what the adult women go to instead of Preisthood (which is for men), Young Womans (girls 12-17) or Primary (kids 4-11)
Callings - These are different positions that are given to people in the church, like teacher, pianist or Relief Society president which has certain responsibilities that person is responsible to take care of. These are reserved for adults who are capable of baring them, but there are also callings inside of Young Womens and Young Mens like secretary.
Joseph Smith - The 'Founder' of the LDS church. He's the one who restored the gospel (our church's beliefs) through the direction of God and translated the Book of Mormon.
The First Vision - This is how we referre to when Joseph Smith was fourteen and he went into a forest near his house to pray about which church he should join. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ both appeared to him and told him that the true church of God was no longer on the Earth. This was the beginning of the restoration of the Gospel, although Joseph Smith didn't actually start reforming the church until a much later time when he was ready.
The Sacred Grove - this is the name we've given the place where Joseph Smith has the First Vision.
When I said that I was explaining what it meant to "lack wisdom" I was referring to the scripture (James 1:5 'If any of ye lack wisdom, let him ask of God...') which encouraged Joseph Smith to ask God what church to join.
Seminary - This is a sort of class that Mormons go to, usually in the morning before school. There are "release time" classes we can take in our spares, but most of us choose to go to the early morning ones. We study the scriptures (both of LDS origin and the Bible) and it really is in a class format. There are desks and lessons, you take notes and you CAN fail (although you really just need decent attendance for that). The classes are about the same size as your regular school class and we're with people who are in the same grade as us. The only exceptions are usually if you're in a small or rural community that doens't have enough Mormons to have a proper set-up.
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