So you agreed with what I said until you found out I was a Mormon?:001_smile: Yep, that's right I saw your little "I agree" sign. :lol: Feel free to carry on, Carol. I think everyone can see your true colors. (and btw, having met Veritaserum and having read several of her posts, that is not her "raging" and "getting mad as all Hades".

Mine was super late to the party. Drats! I didn't even remember to add other men who have received visions.:lol:

Yes anyone can say they had a vision. Many have. Joseph Smith himself said, " I don’t blame any one for not believing my history. If I had not experienced what I have, I would not have believed it myself." We understand that it's a hard story to swallow so there are a few things that help us believe. First, the scriptures in Matthew 7 help (sorry, I copied them from the LDS website, but I don't know how to get rid of the links) 15 ¶Beware of afalse prophets, which come to you in bsheep’s clothing, but cinwardly they are ravening dwolves. 16 Ye shall aknow them by their bfruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? 17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth agood bfruit; but a ccorrupt tree bringeth forth devil fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good afruit is bhewn down, and cast into the fire. 20 Wherefore by their afruits ye shall know them. We believe that there are many who say they are prophets and claim to have been called by God, but they do evil things. So we believe that things like the Book of Mormon and temples and eternal marriages are some of the good fruits that came about from Joseph's ministry. We believe God revealed to him those particular fruits. Also, there is a promise at the end of the Book of Mormon to pray about what you have read and ask whether or not it's true. The entire verse is (again, sorry for the links): 4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would aask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not btrue; and if ye shall ask with a csincere heart, with dreal intent, having efaith in Christ, he will fmanifest the gtruth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost. We don't believe these things because one man said they were true. We believe these things because we've asked God if they were true and He said yes. We believe in continual revelation. We believe our current prophet has been called of God and we don't just take it at his word that God called him. We ask God if President Monson (our current prophet) is the true prophet of God and we believe God said yes.

:001_rolleyes:

Like Dangermom said, we don't really know that much about her, but in our religion husband and wife are equal marriage partners, so it is pretty safe to assume that she is God's equal too.

I don't know if it's possible to change and like it. I know for me, going to bed at 930 is pure torture. Getting up at 7 is still torture. But it's the only way I can stay sane. With baby girl waking 5 times a night, I don't get enough sleep otherwise. When I was a Mary Kay consultant, I went to a conference and a guy talked about how if you don't like to do something, learn to find the joy in the results. So for me, I absolutely hate doing dishes, but I love having all of them clean when I need them and I love having a clean sink. So I focus on the result and not how much I hate the actual doing. Same is true for going to bed early. I hate going to bed early, but I like not yelling at my children and I like not being grumpy all day and I like being able to get out of bed when they wake up instead of trying to bribe them to go back to sleep.

you can PM me And if anyone else would like an invite, feel free to PM me

PM me your email and I'll send you an invite

I have yet to see anyone whose face looks better because of piercings. I wouldn't say they look awful, but I've never seen one and thought the person looked better because of it. Doesn't really bug me though.

When DH and I were engaged, I had to go to Victoria Secret to get a bustier. All the salespeople completely ignored me and I was convinced it was because they thought I was ugly and/or fat (and back then, my weight was considered average, not even fat like I am now). I honestly have no idea if anyone was really thinking all that about me. Since then, I've given a whole lot less thought about my appearance; I'm just too tired to care. I can't say that I've noticed people judging me. Who knows, maybe I'm too tired to be paying attention there too! I've never noticed a man talking to my chest (well, other than DH :tongue_smilie:but that's to be expected.) I'm so sorry Nakia, what a terrible way to be treated.

The toughest lady I know is my MIL. Pregnant at 14, had DH at 15. Went to live with her father and stepmother, but became self sufficient as soon as possible. Lived in a trailer with DH without running water or electricity, went to college to become a head start teacher so she could be self sufficient. It's not much compared to a lot of people, but it was tough for her and she beat a lot of odds to provide a good home for her and her son.

I wouldn't worry too much about it. "Not a lot of kissing" sounds like there was at least some going on ;) and I can't imagine doing that with just friends, but I'm sure there are Mormons out there who do. In my opinion, it seems like he has just moved on. She's got a serious boyfriend, he doesn't want to mess with that. Maybe he is offended, but that would be his problem, not hers. I don't think any of her actions were offensive. Were they ever talking marriage before he left? Mormon boys are usually fully aware that when they leave girlfriends behind for two years, they probably won't be available when the boy gets back. I really don't think your friend should be worried. Sure he might be hurt, but he will get over it. Maybe he's just busy. You never know.

Yes, overprotective. When I was 19, I went with two friends to a Matchbox 20 concert in downtown Denver. We rode the light rail in. When the concert was over, it was so crowded. We weren't traveling alone in the dark by ourselves.

We got a Vitamix. I had been wanting one for years, but DH wasn't convinced on the $400 price tag until he saw it in action at Costco. If you're killing your blender, it's probably because there's too much frozen to liquid ratio. Whether it's ice or fruit doesn't matter, regular blenders need more liquid in order to blend up that much solid matter. I just use frozen fruit for my smoothies, no ice. My favorite green smoothie recipe is to take about 1 cup of apple juice (the sweetener), two quartered apples (seeds still in, the Vitamix can handle it) and filled with spinach. I liquify all of that then I add two bananas for creamy, smooth texture, and two cups of Costco's frozen blueberry, blackberry, raspberry blend and two cups of Costco's frozen mango, papaya, pineapple and strawberry blend. I love that the Vitamix will liquify all the seeds from the berries, nothing more annoying than raspberry and blackberry seeds getting stuck in your teeth. My husbands favorite smoothie is to take two peeled oranges and a carrot and liquify them, add two bananas and some frozen fruit blend. He made add some apple juice or milk if it's too thick.

I'm not the OP, but thank you everyone for sharing your experiences. They make me cry and help me feel not alone. Erin's experience seems mostly to relate to my own. I've known all my life that my father was a hypocrite and the only things he loved in this world were money and himself. When my parents divorced, it was painful because we're LDS and families are supposed to be eternal. I could have dealt with that well enough, because I thought it would be best if my mother got away from the verbal and emotional abuse. But it wasn't just a divorce, then walk away. He got nasty. Really, really nasty. I am convinced that he has some kind of undiagnosed mental illness, but NPD doesn't quite fit. Anyways, to me he's all kinds of evil and I have no desire to be around him. The last phone call I had with him, I didn't want to get into blaming him for everything terrible he's done. I knew it would be of no use with him. In his world he has never, ever been wrong. I had the phone on speaker phone and my husband heard him cast blame at everyone, including myself. My husband gave me the strength to let the relationship go. He sends birthday cards and Christmas cards and a card when I had baby girl. Each time it rips a new hole in my heart because I know he's still a hypocrite. He's still threatening and dragging my mother into court and lying and being a donkey yet he deludes himself into thinking I'm going to come visit him? No chance in h*ll. For me, I seem to be stuck in the anger and depression stages of mourning. It's been three years since I found out they were going to divorce and two years since it was finalized. I don't know when I'll move on or how. Just a side note: I watched an early episode of Dancing With The Stars. When Chynna Phillips had to tell her story, she talked about how she wrote the song, "Hold On" to deal with the pain and anger of her father abandoning her. And if you know anything about her dad, you know he wasn't really a good man. Yet, she still mourned for what she could have had but didn't. One day, she realized enough was enough and she wasn't going to let him affect her anymore. Since I saw that clip, the song has taken on new meaning to me. And every time I think of my father, I just start singing the song in my head and it gives me strength. It may seem silly or cliche, but it helps to know that there was someone out there who felt the same hurt and found the strength to overcome it.

I like to add bananas to mine to help with the texture. It seems creamier. I use apple juice as my liquid sweetener. Sometimes I'll do milk or yogurt too.

Yup, go ahead and address them Elder Lastname. It's not offensive or anything to ask or know their first name, but that is how we address them. Sometimes when they speak to each other they just say, "Elder" and it becomes like their new first name :D

Well obviously you only need to be able to read and write, but not necessarily have it make grammatical sense :lol:

I am not a big water drinker, but I am convinced it's necessary. I have spent most of my life partially dehydrated because I hate water. It wasn't until I was pregnant with my second and doing all the pee tests and my midwife discovered protein in the urine and told me I was killing my kidneys that I actually started to care. The more you drink on a consistent basis the thirstier you are. If you are used to a little, your body seems to get used to it. I'm too young to be killing any part of me. Your body needs water to function properly.

Toilets!!

I am painfully shy in groups of people. I only do well one on one. Pigby was painfully shy, as in covering his face and not talking to Grammy. With practice, he has made lots of practice, but still has a ways to go. We practice with him in private, not in front of the people. And I dont tell him it's rude not to respond, I say It's polite to answer someone when they're talking to you. I have to reinforce looking at the person you're talking to and speaking loud and clear enough so they can hear you. We only work this in baby steps. I don't think this is too overwhelming for him. It's taken a few years, but he is getting better and doesn't seem to be scared by it and I've never put him down because of it. I have stopped using, "He's shy" as a reason to let him get out of talking with people who are talking to him. Now I just coach him through it and figure with practice, he'll keep making prigress

I'm sorry, I think I'm being confusing or something. To me, my statement matches what Diane said. I agree with it 100%. I don't know what exactly you think are the differences in the statements. I'm sorry if I'm being unclear at all. They usually stay in an apartment in the area. Depending on how many missionaries there are in that area, they might share the apartment with them. For money, each month parents put a set amount of money in the mission fund (I think it's about $450/month right now). Every month the church puts some of that money into a bank account for each missionary. They spend it at their discretion. I think the mission office takes care of rent, utilities, etc. (Someone who's been on a mission can correct me if that is wrong.) Once a week they are able to go grocery shopping, do laundry, run some errands, email their families, etc. They try to set up appointments with people in the area for meals. If they don't have any, they're on their own. Some missionaries ride bikes, some have cars provided by the mission office. For clothing, they usually wear suits, but they might have a few pieces of everyday wear. Not much, since they're moving all the time, they usually have about two suitcases worth of stuff.

Natasha!!! How the heck are you? I was thinking about you the other day, will PM you now :D

This is one of our very basic and very precious beliefs: 11 We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may. (Article of Faith 11) I wouldn't worry about them being overly enthusiastic. Most aren't. If they are, it's usually someone who's a little socially awkward. Most will be happy to serve you and do some good. Because really, it beats getting doors slammed in their face and dogs set on them. And heck, if you're giving them food, so much the better! ETA: sorry for the links. I copied it off the LDS website and don't know how to get rid of them

Just to clarify, LDS believe that it is through works AND faith that we are saved. We do all we can, but know that we are imperfect and know that with faith, Christ will make up the difference.