I learned in church today

[Pheidippides]

I love it. Looks like Abe is fixing to punch someone.

Funny this is, no president has been accused of manipulating the constitution more than Lincoln.

Yeah, if great presidents are supposed to do what Honest Abe did, then no thank you. I prefer my writ of habeus corpus without suspension.

[dabrockster]

Wife told me about RS lesson yesterday. It was on Eternal Marriage..

The woman who taught made a belated entrance into the classroom in her Temple dress and slippers.. Then proceeded to teach. I think some of the new converts were a little perplexed by her attire but it made for a fun lesson..


I got a good laugh out of that one...

[NorthwestUteFan]

Youth speaker:
You get closer to God through "...prayer, reading scriptures, and watching BYU-TV".

Adult speaker:
"On my college application there was a question, 'What do you plan to do with your education?'. I answered, 'I want to be a mother'. My AP English teacher and guidance counselors told me that no respectable university would ever accept my based on that statement. But BYU accepted me immediately..."

(In her defense - and I have a great deal of respect for her, but this statement was pretty funny - she went on to explain that she has used her college education to become an EFFECTIVE mother, which is noble)

[TripletDaddy]

I'm really digging our new Obeesp.

At our recent Fathers/Sons outing, he and I were chatting and the topic of the ward X-mas party came up. He was soliciting input about food for the event.

In doing so, he shared with me the following philosophy: There are 2 things that will always ruin a ward party. Bad food and a scheduled program. He then went on to explain that people go to ward parties to socialize and have fun, not listen to talks or preaching.

Fight on, bishop!

[NorthwestUteFan]

Our Christmas party for the last umpteen decades has been an event with (excellent) food in the cultural hall, sitting around tables socializing, with a bit of music as a backdrop. Then a ~5 minute powerpoint presentation on all the fun activities during the year, followed by a closing prayer. Then Santa Claus pays a visit.

The RS Pres has vetoed ever having that type of Christmas party ever again.

This year we are doing "Back to Bethlehem". Surely some of the reader of this board are familiar with this one. I think I have participated in at least 7 over the years. Apparently it is a new idea out here, so it could be fun.

[Joe Public]

We had a lesson on obedience during the third hour (Gospel Principles lesson 35). I would share some of the specifics of our class discussion, but it was a little too specific to post to the entire Googling world. I thought we had a great discussion, though.

The lesson states, among other things, the following:

"It is better to obey the commandments because we fear punishment than not to obey them at all."

"Sometimes we do not know the reason for a particular commandment. However, we show our faith and trust in God when we obey Him without knowing why."

We didn't talk about those points in my class. Did anyone have the same lesson? If so, how - if at all - were those points addressed?

[Portland Ute]

Our Christmas party for the last umpteen decades has been an event with (excellent) food in the cultural hall, sitting around tables socializing, with a bit of music as a backdrop. Then a ~5 minute powerpoint presentation on all the fun activities during the year, followed by a closing prayer. Then Santa Claus pays a visit.

The RS Pres has vetoed ever having that type of Christmas party ever again.

This year we are doing "Back to Bethlehem". Surely some of the reader of this board are familiar with this one. I think I have participated in at least 7 over the years. Apparently it is a new idea out here, so it could be fun.

I am so sorry. We did this in our ward last year. I think the committees tried hard, but the whole thing sucked. From sitting on the floor on blankets to awful food (grapes, pita bread...some soup) and stuff getting spilled all over as kids ran across the blankets.

The Back to Bethlehem thing sucked big time.

The best Ward Xmas party in our current ward was just adults and they assigned several people to bring dishes from the countries where they served missions IN ADDITION to a standard dinner. The world dishes were like appetizers.

There was no formal program. Everyone had an enjoyable evening trying new foods, getting recipes, discussing their missions and a whole slew of things. No program. Good food.

[NorthwestUteFan]

The Back to Bethlehem thing sucked big time.

My experience with that as well, except for the first time when my mom planned it and I was ~15. But that was just a primary party and not for the whole ward. As a primary party is the best use of that particular party genre.

The best Ward Xmas party in our current ward was just adults and they assigned several people to bring dishes from the countries where they served missions IN ADDITION to a standard dinner. The world dishes were like appetizers.

That sounds fantastic. I am going to miss the ham/turkey dinner we used to have. Luckily I am no longer in the EQP, but unfortunately I can't influence the party selection at all. Our old Christmas party drew out most of the inactive members as well as a large number of investigators/neighbors. We routinely had 400-600 in attendance, while our ward has ~180 - 300 active members every week.

[Green Monstah]

Our Christmas party for the last umpteen decades has been an event with (excellent) food in the cultural hall, sitting around tables socializing, with a bit of music as a backdrop. Then a ~5 minute powerpoint presentation on all the fun activities during the year, followed by a closing prayer. Then Santa Claus pays a visit.

The RS Pres has vetoed ever having that type of Christmas party ever again.

This year we are doing "Back to Bethlehem". Surely some of the reader of this board are familiar with this one. I think I have participated in at least 7 over the years. Apparently it is a new idea out here, so it could be fun.

I'll play devil's advocate here.

We did this four years ago, and it was excellent. The program was spiritual more than social, but the decorations were extremely well done (there were gold coins in small burlap sacks which were traded for food, games, etc.; each booth was constructed with wood and decorated nicely). The nativity recreation was short, but nice.

If not so well organized, decorated and prepared, however, I can see how these type of events can go from pleasant to horrific fairly quickly.

[BigPiney]

I learned this week that you should not ask two historically unreliable people to speak on the same day. One may be ok, but not two. If you do then the Bishop will get a call at 6:30 in the morning from one speaker cancelling and the other will leave at message at the church. This will result in the bishop writing a 20 minute talk in 30 minutes over breakfast and asking the visiting member of the High Council to speak as well.

[Mormon Red Death]

I learned this week that you should not ask two historically unreliable people to speak on the same day. One may be ok, but not two. If you do then the Bishop will get a call at 6:30 in the morning from one speaker cancelling and the other will leave at message at the church. This will result in the bishop writing a 20 minute talk in 30 minutes over breakfast and asking the visiting member of the High Council to speak as well.

The bishop should have bore his testimony for 5 minutes then dismissed everyone from church.

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[Surfah]

The bishop should have bore his testimony for 5 minutes then dismissed everyone from church.

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Yeah what was that bishop thinking?

[Mormon Red Death]

Yeah what was that bishop thinking?

I would have done that. I guess that is why they won't call me to be bishop. Additionally I know who the bishop was in the story

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[dabrockster]

I learned this week that you should not ask two historically unreliable people to speak on the same day. One may be ok, but not two. If you do then the Bishop will get a call at 6:30 in the morning from one speaker cancelling and the other will leave at message at the church. This will result in the bishop writing a 20 minute talk in 30 minutes over breakfast and asking the visiting member of the High Council to speak as well.

Are you my Bishop????

Seriously. This happened in our Ward too..

[Jim Swarthout]

I learned in EQ this week that, according to the instructor, "Back in the day, women actually loved polygamy because it gave them someone to talk to -- their sister wives. Women weren't as isolated as they were before polygamy."