Oh. My. God. That is awful.
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In 1984 I was an office missionary in Cochabamba, Bolivia. I thought life was good, but rereading my journal entry from Christmas just depresses the hell out of me. Christmas time was approaching, and I was buried in office work. My companion was the financial secretary, and his job often required him to work late into the night. Invariably, toward the end of the month, he would be busy balan
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I'm sure it was the same incident, and he was indeed pissed.
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On the first week I skipped church, my bishop sent to me A home teacher preaching to me. On the second week I skipped church, my bishop sent to me Two visiting teachers, And a home teacher preaching to me. On the third week I skipped church, my bishop sent to me Three emails, Two visiting teachers, And a home teacher preaching to me. On the fourth week I skipped church, my bish
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I call it the "passive triplet," and it was intentional. Good catch. :)
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Yes, I did. That was back in the day when I had a family who was angry about my posting here.
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I've told this story before, but it bears repeating because it's such a wonderful example of poetic justice. Every year we would have a Christmas banquet on the 25th floor, where they would usually serve stuff leftover from the building cafeteria (one year they had more fried stuffed jalapenos than I've ever seen). The GAs in charge of each department attended the banquet. The food was good,
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(To the tune of "The Christmas Shoes") It was almost Christmas time, struggling with another line Tryin' to write that last article or two, not really in the Christmas mood Standing right in front of me was a little boy waiting anxiously Pacing 'round like little boys do And in his hands he held a manuscript His hands were stained with ink, there was panic in his eyes And when
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Repost for Christmas: Researchers for the Foundation for Arctic, Reindeer, and Magical Snowmen say that, despite the claims of skeptics, more and more evidence supports the belief that Frosty the Snowman really did come to life that day. Food Sciences professor and FARMS president J. Wallace Gitt summarized discoveries in 2008 as “very promising and encouraging, indeed. For more than half a
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It really depends on the local leaders. Some bishops give out assistance as a way to get people to come back to church, and others just give assistance because they know people need it. As an institution, however, the church always has the goal of self-promotion. I saw that over and over when I worked for the church, and when I helped clean up after two hurricanes. We were always told that our
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You've been here for me when I needed it. Thank you, wcg. You are a wonderful person.
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Great post, anagrammy. It does take a long time to work through the damage done to us; sometimes I think I will never fully work through everything. And yet they tell us we should just shut up and move on. I think I've made a lot of progress despite having to deal with Mormonism every single day because my family is still heavily involved. But to some Mormons, I'm just a bitter soul clinging
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It depends on the local leaders, members, and missionaries. My previous bishop loved to shame me in front of my kids and ward members, as if embarrassing me would get me back to church. My current bishop knows where I stand and has said that he'll leave me alone; if I want to talk to him, I can contact him.
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It goes without saying that I am, indeed, a dick. At least I can be sometimes.
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Where and when? I can probably come at 12:30 or so. I just found out last week that I'm getting laid off the first of February. It's a massive layoff, more than 30%, so it's just as well that I'm getting it over with instead of waiting for the next one.
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From my blog: About Me I grew up never knowing my real father. Sure, the man who raised me and taught me his trade (carpentry) was a good enough guy, but there was always something missing in my life. Sometimes I felt like a burden, like my parents didn’t really want me around. Once they left me at the temple and forgot all about me for a couple of days. Needless to say, I had self-esteem
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I took a software documentation class in grad school as a favor to a friend who was teaching it. I realized I enjoyed it and was good at it, so after I was done with my coursework, I applied for a local job and got it. Been writing and editing ever since. Some jobs have been fun, others not so much. What bugs me is that I like this job and I like the people I work with. Poor management has the
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I still struggle with this issue. When I was on my mission, I finally felt like I was doing everything I should--until a general authority came to rail on us and tell us how lazy and uncommitted we were. I think at that time I finally internalized the belief that nothing I did was ever going to be good enough. That is the one thing I have residual anger about. The church messed me up but good.
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We had a mandatory meeting this morning with 45 minutes' notice this morning, and to no one's surprise, they laid off about a third of the employees here, including yours truly. So, as of February 1, I will not be working here. I'm not worried about finding work, but I'm annoyed that I have to go back out and do the whole interview stuff. If nothing else, it would be nice to leave Utah for a
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I'll be there.
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Sorry I didn't make it. DW is ill, so I took her to the doctor.
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Rapidly aging guy with glasses wearing a Houston Astros t-shirt.
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Excellent. I may be a few minutes late, but I'll be there. Can't wait to see you all again.
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My son is doing a report about our pioneer ancestors, and DW decided that it would be good to watch "17 Miracles," which is about the Willie-Martin handcart disaster. Leaving aside the cynicism of the church in making something faith-promoting out of a cost-cutting measure that killed people, it hit me that none of this would have happened had a slick con man not decided to venture i
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I'd love to come, but I can't get there before 12:30 or so.
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When I was at BYU in the late 80s, we were told not to put off having kids for any reason, but especially not for financial reasons. We were told that birth control was selfish. I don't remember any mixed messages at all.
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When I was a kid, President Kimball would refer to vasectomies as "mutilation" and a dreadful sin. Not so much anymore. After my wife's last pregnancy, which was difficult and led to a pretty dicey delivery, we decided to get a vasectomy. It never occurred to either of us to talk to the bishop about it. The church has pretty much left that to couples, which is a positive development.
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This is from my blog. It's one of the few things left from the church that still hurts: I’ve told this story before, but it’s a reminder to me of the importance of giving and sharing without being judgmental. My father told me this story about 3 years ago. I had never heard any of this, and it still hurts to think about it. When my mother became pregnant with me, my father was a Ph.D
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My wife said I was imagining things until it happened right in front of her.
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I'm sorry if I misread it, but that's how it read to me. I'm pretty sure you didn't mean it to come across that way, but that's how it came across. And no, I'm not mad at you. I just wanted to be clear where I stand.
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