Should you find yourself en route to the Hill Cumorah Pageant this year, I thought I might lend you my local expertise:
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We have this little pecularity in the English language when it comes to the names we use for our parents. As nouns, Mother and Father are equals and partners. Mother and Father appear to be on par with each other and, without specific information, we would assume they have similar commitments to their family roles. But look what happens when we turn these into verbs: Read more »

The countdown has begun: my son has one more month before entering the golden age of Nursery. I have served in the nursery before, and I want my kids to be Nursery ready. So far, my son has a few skills under his belt that will serve him well:

1–Clean-up. He is great at picking stuff up and has pretty good aim at getting it in the desired basket.
2–Sit on demand. He doesn’t always STAY seated, but he will sit when you tell him to, in basically the right area, oriented in the correct direction 80% of the time.
3–(Most importantly) Fake eating. My son has perfected fake eating wherin he brings fake or imaginary food near (but not to) his mouth and makes eating mouth motions and sounds.

He isn’t as verbal as I would like, but I think he is headed in the right direction. What are other important nursery skills you think kids need to be successful?

I guess I better gear myself up for a return to Sunday School.

I rode the bus from one city to another. When we boarded in the capital, one young woman got on in extremely “liberated” attire for that country: she wore tight pants, a revealing tank top, and had long extensions braided into her hair.

As soon as the bus got going, she started her transformation

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When I served in Japan 10 years ago, there was a well-known Japan-Payson connection. I only had one Paysonite companion, but there were five (5) Paysonite elders in my MTC district and many more in my mission. Read more »

Some time ago my little branch got a new leader. He was, in my opinion, an unlikely suspect, but frankly the likely suspects had already taken their turns.

Soon after he became branch president, this man spoke of a rash of near misses. Most of these included recreational vehicles and, ahem, stupidity Read more »

Paying taxes has never been particularly painful to me. I believe this puts me in the minority, but there it is. My basic approach to money is “easy come, easy go.” Read more »

I have often thought that hospitals should retain a Baby Name Consultant on their staff. So many drugs in a new mom’s system (including the oxitocyn!) really makes naming a baby dangerous. Please know that I recognize naming to be a VERY subjective endeavor—no two families are going to agree exactly. If you dislike any of my ideas, know that you are not alone and comment, please.
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I am uniquly qualified to help the new parents of the world because I see a lot of baby announcements (dozens of cousins, many other friends, former companions, and colleagues in child-bearing prime time) and I am opinionated. If you also fit my definition of uniquely qualified, then please comment for the benefit of the sleep-deprived and proud about to announce the presence of a new stranger to the world. Read more »

Did you have the pleasure of attending the General Young Women’s Broadcast last Saturday? I did. In the middle of the speakers, they did one of those hip new video segments. When it was anounced, I imagined maybe it would be a montage of young women performing good works all around the world with some stirring music. Or maybe young women bearing their testimonies of Christ in various mothertongues. What it actually was, I really could not have imagined. Read more »

I have been on the fringes of Primary for years, so the policy that men ought not be teaching Primary classes alone make some sense–personally, I think we should be two deep regardless of gender. Obviously, we want our children to be safe.

Yet, if I were a man, I think I would have a hard time with this as that gender has been singled-out as dangerous. Read more »

Put away your Peeps. I have no interest in your chocolate oranges. Candy corn is downright disgusting. If you hurry, you may be able to find a few more bags of the candy of the ages Read more »

“Well, they noticed that most Africans were going to hell because they could not accept the true religion because it was being taught by foreigners. So, Jesus accepted to be reborn as an African and teach us in a way that we can understand. Now we can be taught the gospel through our culture and not go to hell.”

— My colleague explaining his religion, Legio Maria

The sect is based on the idea that Jesus was reborn as Simeo Odeto, probably in the 1940s. His mother is reputed to be a virgin and the young Simeo is said to have made animals out of mud that then turned into real livestock. When Simeo, by then known as Baba Messiah, died, his followers awaited his resurrection. They are still waiting.

I understand making Christ over in our own image. Read more »

You may have noticed that there are not too many Mormon Peace Corps volunteers out there. When people from Church find out about that particular aspect of my past, I get a few standard reactions:

1. “Yeah, well I served a mission…” Read more »

When I was newly entrenched in my house in the middle of nowhere, Africa, a young man came to visit me. He had a lot of questions about America and alluded to a great divide in American society. I was curious about this, as I can think of many real chasms: rich/poor, black/white, urban/rural, etc. But what would a young man with no access to TV, movies, or books know about American society? The divide and conflict he identified: East Coast/West Coast. Read more »

After reading this post, I really want to read a different one. I think that post was fine for what it was–it pretty accurately reflects influence on the Church as a whole, but it does little to reflect my experience of Church–the one I work in and attend weekly. Perhaps the crowning indignation for me was that the only woman included on the list was one who had left the Church whereas my Church experience from week to week is almost entirely feminine.

I really want someone smarter than myself (that is you, dear reader) to make a list of the least influential Mormons of the Twentieth Century. Go:

Since I am particularly good at not writing in my journal, I am in a great position to criticize others’ writing. Today, I would like to focus on one particularly bad habit: weather reporting. Don’t do it. Read more »

At a gathering of LDS women from the midwest and eastern United States I attended in the fall, I was struck with how many women introduced themselves using three names: first name, maiden name, surname. While I have used that form professionally (in an effort to demonstrate that the credentials gained under my maiden name are mine), I don’t think I have ever verbally introduced myself as such. Yet, it occurred to me, many Mormon women do. Why?

While some may be asserting their independence Hillary Rodham Clinton style, I think Mormons have a much less feminist reason for doing so. Read more »

I would guess most of us have heard or been a part of awkward conversations at church in which we are trying to suss out a new-to-us persons’ membership status. More often than not, someone might come on out and ask “Are you a member?” This goes OK for people who are, but wouldn’t it be awkward to be labeled a “non-member. ” How welcome do you feel at a church where everyone smiles, insists they are glad you are there, but persist in referring to you as a “non-member”?

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As I left the house this Friday morning, the temperature was just below freezing, which is expected to be the high. The snow has started again and the wind should be icy by this evening.
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