"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
--Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
--Yeats
“True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”
--John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell
I guess this belongs here.
Confessions Of A Non-Mormon
Thoughts on the Religion and Culture that Define Utah
http://theodysseyonline.com/george-f...-mormon/240561
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"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
--Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
--Yeats
“True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”
--John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell
3rd hour yesterday was combined Men,Women and youth.
The topic was 'The Book of Mormon' musical, which is coming to town in a few months.
Overall, I thought it was pretty good. The emphasis was on positive engagement with people who had questions. Seemed to be along the lines of "You've seen the musical, now read the book" ads the church is taking out in the playbill. So, it was better than I thought it would be.
The stake president was in attendance, and he said that the SPs in the area had discussed this with the AA in meetings recently. So, it's a coordinated effort for sure.
The one thing I would have done differently would have been to talk a little more about the musical itself. I haven't seen it, but have read a little about it. There were a lot of comments that it's just a joke, outrageous, vulgar, etc. There actually was a slide that listed all the awards it received. But there was an aire of liberal entertainment, make fun of Mitt and give it a bunch of awards, etc. etc. From what little I've read, the musical is about cultural colonialism. And it seems like it raises some very good points, vulgarity aside. Maybe even find some quotes that address this issue from GenConf. Then folks have a little more info to have an informed conversation with friends who will ask questions.
But it's probably good nobody asked me to do it.
Anyone else had these meetings?
I had four of Dave Rose's grand kids in my primary class yesterday. Had I attended Sacrament meeting, I would have witnessed DR in the circle of a baby blessing. The parents of the baby are not members of my ward. It was a very confusing class. I was able to sneak in a good Nick Emery joke though. Not that nine year olds find me funny.
Also, there was a charter bus in the parking lot when I left, so I guess the rest of the basketball team showed up for 11:00 church. It was a privilege to miss out on that circus again. Not sure why they always attend in our building.
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Last edited by Dwight Schr-Ute; 03-07-2016 at 03:28 PM.
That must have been frustrating, presuming you didn't bring any beer to church to pour on his grandkids (or if you did being beer that you had probably already drank all of it).
Maybe next time the Cougs are in you can put up the 'Stake Conference Today' signs and direct them to another building.
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Youth speaker on Mother's Day yesterday was interesting to say the least. He wasn't your stereotypical clean cut band geek -- cut more from the skateboarding culture -- tall frohawk, leisure clothes and started his talk with the word "Hey......" Spoke a bit about how appreciative he was that his mother loved him despite his "uniqueness". Ended the talk abruptly, but quickly jogged back to the podium to say "oh yeah, Amen." He clearly didn't buy into the generally accepted speaking practices of most members. Gotta give it to him, he's typically there for three full hours week in and week out and fulfilled what was asked of him that day.
“Children and dogs are as necessary to the welfare of the country as Wall Street and the railroads.” -- Harry S. Truman
"You never soar so high as when you stoop down to help a child or an animal." -- Jewish Proverb
"Three-time Pro Bowler Eric Weddle the most versatile, and maybe most intelligent, safety in the game." -- SI, 9/7/15, p. 107.
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
--Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
--Yeats
“True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”
--John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell
Attending the Manhattan First Ward today. It's always so interesting to be here. In summer, of course, there are a lot of visitors. The cultural hall was 2/3 full during sacrament meeting. It being fast Sunday there were testimonies -- many from people here on vacation or former ward members back for a visit -- with many reminiscences of their times here. But it wasn't bad.
One of the testimonies was by young man who seemed to be African, judging from his faint accent, but clearly had lived in the USA a long time. He bore a very detailed testimony about the restoration of the priesthood, including a visit he and his wife made last weekend to the recently dedicated church sites in Pennsylvania, commemorating those events. It was a fine testimony, heartfelt and lighthearted and articulate. He is probably a grad student or recent graduate, holding his toddler while he spoke. A totally normal testimony. It wasn't until he sat down that it occurred to me how normal that testimony was today, and how utterly remarkable it would have been 30+ years ago. That thought made me happy.
"It's men in shorts." -- Rick Majerus
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
--Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
--Yeats
“True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”
--John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell
It gets better. The HP group leader is a Harvard-educated 35 year-old from Central West Africa who led a great discussion. Incredibly impressive young guy. Look for him to be a GA in a few years.
I didn't want to leave after the meeting ended. The ward is full of impressive, insightful and spiritual people, most of them young.
As for the church 38 years ago (wow, it'll be 40 years in 2018) maybe it's time to give those folks a break. My guess is that nobody under 45-50 years of age remembers that era. It's slipping into history like BYU's 1984 #1 ranking.
Last edited by LA Ute; 06-05-2016 at 06:17 PM.
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
--Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
--Yeats
“True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”
--John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell
Today I walked in to the library to get chalk and eraser for my lesson in the teacher's quorum. These two librarians, both older guys, have made a giant pile of chalk and erasers and also scriptures on the front counter. There were also some dvds sitting there. They were both ducking down in the back of the library, playing on their phones. (for most people, their hiding place would have been fine, but at 6'6, I could easily look down into their little fort and see them).
I am not suggesting that anything inappropriate or creepy was happening at all. I have seen (and been guilty myself!) of laziness in a church calling, but this takes the cake.
My son is the first counselor in the deacon's quorum. The president and him are friends but they don't hang out (he is a grade ahead).
We get a message on our home phone from the deacon's quorum president for my son to call him back. My wife says, "That is weird, those two don't hang out, I wonder why he is calling." I state that he is probably calling to do important quorum stuff.
So my son calls him back, he chats with him for about 20 seconds with a confused look on his face and then hangs up.
We ask him what he wanted and he says, "I don't know, he just said to me that I was his first counselor and so if his brother or parents called him he needed to tell them he was at our house all afternoon."
Providing alibis - the new role of a counselor in the church.
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We had a strange sacrament meeting today. There was not one pioneer song or talk on the pioneers at all. Instead it was a "Lets have the moms of missionaries talk" day.
After two speakers and a rest hymn, a mom got up to talk about her missionary son. He is autistic. She spoke about the intial diagnosis and not knowing anything about it. She talked about how one day he approached her and her husband and said he wanted to serve a mission. It just so happened that the bishop had just been to a meeting about young men and women who were unable to serve a "regular" mission could apply to serve at the Mill in Kaysville. So now he spends 40 hours a week down there. You could tell how truly grateful she was. As a mom, she had always planned on her oldest son not going on a mission, and now he had the chance to do so.
I am not doing it justice at all, unfortunately, but it was one of the top 5 talks ive ever heard in Sacrament meeting.
I subbed in nursery today. Found a dead mouse in the middle of the room. I threw it away. I think it came from the toy box. I plan to bring Lysol next week to spray on the toys.
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I left my Sunday School class feeling so good about the LDS youth today. I teach the 13 year olds and leave every week just amazed at them.
You ever teach 5th sunday lesson to adults and feel like when you were done that you just wasted 30 minutes of everyones life.
As it went on I felt like it was getting less and less effective. I pulled the ripcorp 10 minutes early.
Yeah that was me on Sunday.
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
--Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
--Yeats
“True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”
--John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell
interesting thing is, i felt prepared. I had path laid out to get some info out the bishop wanted to talk about. I had a plan to get from a to b to c.
When it was over we got there but not how i had it running through my head when i started.
I hope it helped someone. My other hope is that i didnt make poeple not want to attend 5th sunday lessons. Sometimes they are worth it.
I asked an old guy at church yesterday if I could borrow his pen. He felt around in his pocket for a minute and then said, "What did the proctologist say when he pulled a thermometer out of his pocket?"
"What?"
"Some bum has my pen."
An old lady, who I don't know well at all, spoke about her addiction to pain pills a few years back, and how she struggled to overcome, but eventually did.
It was real, raw and very nice.
“To me there is no dishonor in being wrong and learning. There is dishonor in willful ignorance and there is dishonor in disrespect.” James Hatch, former Navy Seal and current Yale student.
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
--Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
--Yeats
“True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”
--John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell