Well I chose believer with excellent knowledge but I am finishing a degree in Theology so I may have a leg up on others.

good for them!!!

So we want to get this game for christmas but when I looked it up online there are a million different versions and I am totally confused!!! Where do I start?

:party:

Thanks!!

nope. :D

I am interested in having my ds take this test in March. I have been over the website and the only question I cannot get an answer to is this: can you take more than one level at one time? I am pretty sure I will apply for the Latin I but ds never took the Intro to Latin. Is there a reason for him to take this one too? Aren't there other exams as well (I heard about a mythology exam?). TIA!!

Where are you doing your degree? This sounds like the kind of "useful" degree I would love (as I am about to finish my master's in theology for no particular reason :D).

My parents stayed to gether for financial reasons my whole life. They divorced when all 3 kids were grown and gone. But they fought and cheated and fought some more. It was awful. I know LOTS and LOTS of people who stay married for financial reasons or because they don't want to be away from their kids, etc. In fact, I probably know more people who stay together for every reason conceivable EXCEPT love than I do couples who ARE in love. I just realized that. wow. very sad.

me!

The debate was so much fun but totally nerve-wracking! And I won!! Well, I mean my partner and I won but honestly, it was kind of close. :D From what the judges said, the other team lost because instead of tearing down our arguments (since they were the negative side) they just built new arguments to support their view. Even though those arguments were good, they did not discredit OUR arguments which were good. It was a great learning experience for me and good practice for the debate team. I am thnking of traveling with them to watch the competition because it was so fascinating. And now that I have studied on debate formats a bit, I am looking forward to the next time there is a presidential debate!!

:iagree: I love her and her posts. And I love Nakia...defender of us all!!!

You know what? You are right. I came here asking if I needed an attitude adjustment. Do you know why? Because I have been fundraising for missions and giving to missions my whole life and I have friends who are missionaries and I had NO IDEA that abuses like this existed and I REALLY AND TRULY HOPED that I was wrong about what I was seeing. Well I did some digging today and I now I am almost sorry I did. I found out that not only are my worst fears true...it is worse than my own my worst fears. The abuses are nauseating. I cannot give details because that WOULD "out" people but let's just say that I got an attitude adjustment all right...and now my attitude is worse. I am so disillusioned right now I could cry. Call me judgmental, or a gossip, or whatever you want... but I cared enough to question it, to look into and now I know the truth. Maybe ignorance is bliss after all.

Now who is judging? People question ALL KINDS OF THINGS on this board. I am sorry if MY PARTICULAR question is one people don't want to face. I am TRULY concerned (but thanks again for the judgment) or I wouldn't be bringing it up and for the record...I have a meeting with the school leadership team in 45 minutes and I am going to speak out for reform... I am going to suggest that missionaries must PROVE they are missionaries and that they NEED the 50% discount we give them. Right now all they have to do is check a box. I think our discounts should go to people with financial hardship not just anyone who says they are a missionary. AND I am contacting the headquarters of the mission organization that seems to have the most offenders is this area to voice my concerns. I hope this satisifies all of you who think I have no right to even ask the question.

Thank you! I feel better now.

Yep. This is exactly how it is here. Malaysia LOVES the money coming in...the country is thriving on it. They even have programs now encouraging foreigners to retire here...knowing full well the majority of them are not muslim. The whole "secret" part of it is not as secret as I thought it was when I first got here. Our school database actually lists people as "mission" or "business". They know we are a christian school...we have been on this island for 40 years. We even have muslim students that attend our school openly and I am going to a huge party at one of their houses tomorrow. I swear the more I find out the more I think it is all a big scam. The native Malays are forbidden by law to convert from Islam and the rest of the people they don't really care about...be whatever you want...just spend your money here. Perhaps what mission organizations should really do is send missionaries where thay are actually NEEDED...where there are no churches, where they don't know of Jesus, etc. Because there are hundreds of christian churches here and christian book stores, etc. Doesn't seem like quite the "mission" field I thought it was. And for the record...I am NOT discouraging mission work. I think missions is wonderful. I AM discouraging this KIND of mission work as it gives real missionaries a bad name. So please let me encourage all of you to give to missions...just know WHO you are giving to.

The government knows they are here. It is legal to be a missionary, you just can't evangelize to muslims legally. Hindus, buddhists and the undecided is fine. There are tons of christian churches here. It is not hidden. They were playing Chris Tomlin over head at the mall the other day. :D

I just love you Dayle. Thank you for being so honest AND for being so conscientious about the money people give to your mission. People like YOU make me still have faith in missionary work. As if all this is not enough to bum me out...tonight I found out about another avenue...something called "business as missions"...from a family at a school event this evening. Apparently it goes like this: people come to a country like this and open a business (which is a smart thing to do since Malaysia is growing like crazy). Then they use the money (so I am told) to do mission work here on the side (although the type of mission work is quite nebulous). These people are all quite well off. But they have a business and earn their money. Good for them. But what chaps me? They apply to our school as missionaries and get a 50% discount when they are MORE than able to afford the full rate. It is because we offer mission discounts to half of our student population that my teachers make such low salaries ... barely enough to get by. Maybe it is just "disillusion Heather week" and no one told me...sigh.

My ds 12 was diagnosed with tourettes about 3 months ago. HIs has motor tics and they change up periodically. He is on meds now and they are better but not gone. His doctor says that they get worse during puberty but should ease up after that. They drive HIM crazy!

You've already received good advice. I just wanted to say how sorry I am your ds had to go through that and for you as well. I would be a wreck. :grouphug:

SO Natalie is now 10.5 months old. She is walking all over the place (started walking the day before she turned 10 months old)...she babbles...she is starting to drink from a sippy cup pretty well, etc. But she has NO teeth. She doesn't even seem to be "teething"...no fever, no slobbering, no crankiness, no chewing on things. No sign of teeth whatsoever. So is this normal? Both of my boys had teeth by 7 months.

Dayle, I was hoping you would chime in! This describes the situation I witness here. These missionaries are with large organizations that pay for everything...they do NOT go church to church raising their own funds. However, the funds for the huge mission organizations DO come from churches...from people giving money to the fund. Please understand...I am NOT saying that missionaries should live in poverty or even at the same standard of those they minister to. However, I AM saying they should NOT be living FAR ABOVE the standard of the people back in the U.S. that are sending them the money. THAT is what bothers me. Dh and I are not called to be missionaries per se. Neither of us are pastors/preachers or have skills that would help like doctor/dentist/engineer. But I did read a study a few years back that said one of the main reasons that missionaries leave the field is because they can't get a good education for their kids. So I thought, That's how I can help!!! I came here thinking I would be helping missionaries out, making it easier for them to do their work without having to worry about no education for their kids. Imagine my surprise when I got here and saw what "missionary" life is like here. I am suddenly part of this affluent community that is head and shoulders above the rest of the island and there are PLENTY of educational options here for missionaries INCLUDING homeschooling. Instead I see missionary wives going to starbucks and the gym and the mall all day in their brand new cars while I work for a FRACTION of what I was getting paid in the states to "help them be able to stay in the field"... and while people back in the U.S. struggle to make ends meet and yet put money in the missionary offering every month. And that is supposed to NOT bother me?

No need to be rude. I don't think comparing Bill Gates to your everyday family is a fair comparison. My kids go to the school because it is part of my salary and benefits as the principal...and my salary is MUCH MUCH lower than it should be because the school loses revenue every year giving 50% discounts to missionary families (who are all living better than ANY of the teachers at the school whose low salaries are subsidizing that discount).

As I mentioned in my first post, I know not all missionaries live like that. I have good friends who are missionaries in Papua New Guinea who cook over a wood stove and others in Honduras who sometimes can't reach a store for weeks during the rainy season. So I get it. I do. But that is not the case here. And again, it's not that I think it is somehow more righteous if you suffer more...it's just the disparity I see in the lifestyles of the people SUPPORTING the missionaries and the missionaries themselves. I'm even struggling with the mission of our school. Sure we offer a christian education in a muslim nation...but only to the wealthy. I am not sure why this all bothers me so much. But it does.