The 2008 Timpanogos Storytelling Festival was a blast. For those of you who were not able to go here is a slideshow to give you an idea of what it is like, and hopefully tempt you to make time for it next year.
I don’t have any pictures of our Maxed Out Puppetry performance at the festival, but if I get a hold of some I will post them as well.
The annual Timpanogos Storytelling Festival is this Thursday, Friday, and Saturday in Orem, Utah. Woot!
If you have never attended this fabulous event, you really should check it out. My family and I have been attending every year for the last seven years or so and it is awesome. Many of the stories we have heard at past festivals have remained with us for years.
This year, the festival is featuring another great group of professional storytellers, including Kevin Kling, from NPR’s “All Things Considered.”
Among the local entertainers, my puppetry troupe, Maxed Out Pupptery will be performing again as the pre-show for the Friday evening “Bedtime Stories” event at the beautiful Mt. Timpanogos Park up provo Canyon from 5:30pm to 6:20pm.
I am pleased to announce a new LDS Blog Portal focusing on mainstream and orthodox LDS blogs and bloggers:
The Prophets of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have repeatedly emphasized the importance of Motherhood to both the stability and happiness of our earthly society as well as its central importance in the eternal plan for our salvation.
This month, Elder Henry B. Eyring reminds us again of the importance of motherhood in his message from the First Presidency of the Church :
In our own time we have been warned with counsel on where to find safety from sin and from sorrow. One of the keys to recognizing those warnings is that they are repeated. For instance, more than once in general conferences, you have heard our prophet say that he would quote a preceding prophet and would therefore be a second witness and sometimes even a third. Each of us old enough to listen heard President Spencer W. Kimball (1895–1985) give counsel on the importance of a mother in the home and then heard President Ezra Taft Benson (1899–1994) quote him, and we have heard President Gordon B. Hinckley (1910–2008) quote them both.
Following this counsel from the prophets represents a great sacrifice for many women and men. My own mother made that sacrifice, despite her disinclination toward those things often associated with motherhood, and endured the scorn of her own feminist generation for choosing to stay at home and be a mother. She has since testified that it was the right decision and she has been blessed for her humility.
There is a heartbreaking article by Rebecca Walker , who is the daughter of famed feminist icon and author of “The Color Purple” Alice Walker, where she discusses the damage caused by her mothers fanatical feminism. She says:
I have discussed and debated the Intelligent Design vs Evolution issues numerous times both online and in person, but I have not felt a need to broach the subject very much on this blog until now.
It is a complex debate and I have no illusions about easily resolving it for anyone else. Those of you who have discussed this issue with me before know that I lean strongly toward the Intelligent Design side of the controversy, though I have some reservations about a number of the political goals of the movement.
I do intend to go see the new documentary film Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, which opened last Friday, if I can make some time this week.
My thoughts here, however, were prompted by reading this blog post by BYU Professor Steven L. Peck . Brother Peck certainly has impressive credentials, and so I hesitate to respond to what he has written for the honest recognition that the topic may simply be beyond my skill and understanding. However, despite my worries, I will share my thoughts.
I have waited to comment on the situation down in Texas where the Texas government has removed over 400 children from their parents with allegations of abuse until there was more information available.
The situation distresses me for a number of reasons.
It wouldn’t be appropriate to go into details here on my blog, but a number of years ago I was involved in a brief legal struggle over some abused children. Having reported abuse to child protection services, I quickly discovered that unless there is physical evidence of abuse (bruises, dislocated or broken bones, etc.), the chances of getting abused children removed from their parents into the safety of state care are practically nil.
It is extremely frustrating and heartbreaking to talk to an abused child who has trusted you and to have to tell them that there is nothing you can do because they haven’t been hurt badly enough yet to deserve protection from the government’s Child Protection Services.
At the same time, through this process I did learn that there are very strong legal protections for parental rights in the United States, and that is something that I strongly support.
“The face of sin today often wears the Halloween mask of tolerance. Do not be deceived. Behind that facade is heartache, unhappiness, and pain. You know what is right and what is wrong, and no disguise, however appealing, can change that truth. The character of transgression remains the same. If your so called friends urge you to do anything you know to be wrong, you be the one to make a stand for right, even if you stand alone. Have the moral courage to be a light for others to follow. There’s no friendship more valuable than your own clear conscience, your own moral cleanliness…”President Thomas S. Monson
Priesthood Session, April 2008 Conference
In his first address as President of the LDS Church
Over the last few years in both public and private discussions about apostasy from the church, I have encountered an increasingly frequent complaint. It goes something like this:
“Practicing Mormons incorrectly attribute all apostasy to sin. There are many, many sinners in the church who do not leave. People leave the church for a variety of reasons, but it is not because they are sinners.”
In their own minds, they leave the church because they have discovered apparent incongruities that lead them to believe the Church is not true.
Of course everyone within and without the church sins. But when members say that people “leave the church because of sin” it is an idiomatic shorthand. What they mean is that people leave the church because they are unrepentant for their sin. We are all sinners, but we are not all penitent. Justification of sin eventually leads the unrepentant to leave the church.
The notion that those who reject the Gospel do so because of sin is not a just a cultural invention, it comes from the scriptures.
The President of the High Priesthood of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Prophet Gordon B. Hinckley, passed away last night.
The speed at which the news spread was phenomenal. Aided by technologies that were not yet available or wide spread when the previous prophet passed away in 1995, the news traveled quickly by word of mouth. Within an hour of his passing we had received Instant Messages, Text Messages, and Telephone calls from friends and relatives. Those whom we contacted many states away had already heard from others before two hours had passed since his death. Even friends who are lamentably no longer associated with the Church took the time to send email to pass the news along.
President Hinckley presided over so many sweeping changes to the Church’s structure and policy:
This is an entry in an ongoing, periodic series I call “An LDS Lexicon.” Each entry in my LDS Lexicon series contains etymology, etymologically related words, some information about the Hebrew and Greek terms from which the word is translated in the Bible (if applicable), and some personal insights about the word.
The views expressed here and in other entries in this series are my own and should not be construed to represent the official doctrine of the LDS Church. They are subject to change and amendment.
You may view all entries in this series: An LDS Lexicon
SACRAMENT
Merry belated Christmas and Happy belated New Year to everyone. I would have posted something at the appropriate time, but our family got Viral Influenza for Christmas and I am just getting over it (today is my first day back to work since the day after Christmas).
We were most concerned about our 10-month old son, who sustained a fever, vomiting, and serious coughing for five days. The first doctor we saw misdiagnosed him with ear infections and bronchitis. When the prescribed antibiotic had no effect, a return visit and a blood test identified our illness as the Influenza virus. Influenza can be very serious for young children because it can develop into pneumonia fairly easily. And because it is a viral and not a bacterial infection, it is not easily treated. Fortunately he has been slowly, but surely recovering. His cough has improved, has only had a mild fever at night, and is not longer vomiting.
Many people more qualified than I have commented on why the war in Iraq has been such a hard slog. I know honest people who believe that the war was at best a terrible mistake and at worst an evil conspiracy. However, I do not believe that the war was a mistake. I still think it was the right course of action. I was in favor of the war before it began and I had no illusions at that time that it would be easy, short, or wildly successful.
Aside from the debate over the motivation and justification for the war, there has been plenty of criticism about how the war has been conducted. Certainly there have been plenty of mistakes and bad decisions. However, realistically there is no such thing as a strategy or plan that can guarantee victory from the outset. Enemies are not automatons whose reactions can be perfectly calculated, anticipated, and prepared for. They are intelligent, creative people who are unexpectedly inventive and cleaver.
Winning a war is in some ways like writing a computer program. No matter how well you think you know the parameters from the outset, it is an ongoing iterative process of constant adjustment, learning, refactoring, rethinking—and it usually takes longer than you expect.
Many Latter-day Saints aren’t particularly adventuresome when it comes to serving drinks at mormon get-togethers. If you go to a mormon party you will often find that there isn’t much of a variety when it comes to beverages. It is likely that you will have to choose between the most inexpensive generic band of Rootbeer, Lemon-Lime soda, Orange soda, or if it is the season, Steven’s Hot Chocolate.
Faithful members of the church live by a dietary law called “The Word of Wisdom” which prohibits drinking Cofee, Tea, and Alcoholic beverages. Many also avoid drinks containing Caffeine, though it is not explicitly required (the church owned Brigham Young University does not sell cafinated drinks on campus).
Latter-day Saints are also often quit frugal, and this also affects what they drink. I attended a Mormon “bachelor” party recently in a beautiful, multi-million dollar home. What did they have to drink? Generic-brand Rootbeer, Sprite, and water.
So, this holiday season, I thought it would be fun to compile a list of Mormon Friendly beverages that one might consider serving at party for a little more variety. By Mormon friendly I mean drinks that not only strictly comply with the official Word of Wisdom restrictions, but drinks that could easily be stocked and sold at the Creamery on BYU campus—no caffeine; drinks that shouldn’t give even the more fastidious Word-of-Wisdom-Czar any reason to worry.
Here are a few of my favorites, most of which are currently available at the BYU Creamery or Church-owned Deseret Bookstore. They should all be served cold:
Apple Beer
http://www.applebeer.com
Recently, Apple Beer has become my favorite Mormon-Friendly soda. It is not too strong and has a nice subtle flavor and after-taste. It bills itself as the “Soft Drink with a Head.” Get it in the bottles if you can, the flavor is much better that way.
The LDS Church Newsroom is highlighting a speech given by Elder Russel M. Ballard, one of the Twelve Apostles of the Church, at the graduation ceremony of BYU-Hawaii on Friday, December 15th, in which he encouraged students to embrace the “New Media,” including blogging, as a way to share the gospel and support the kingdom.
You can read the full text of the speech:
Using New Media to Support the Work of the Church
This is very exciting news! Blogging is a wonderful tool for all the reasons Elder Ballard enumerates and I hope to see increasing numbers of faithful Latter-day Saints blogging about the gospel.
However, to all of you who are just beginning to discover and explore Mormon blogs, I feel compelled to post a Caveat Lector:
Elder Ballard endorsed LDS Blogging, but he did not necessarily endorse the existing LDS Blogging community known as “The Bloggernacle.”
As a kind of a follow up to my previous post on the family, I wanted to share a story about our children that occurred yesterday.
First, a little background:
A few years back, the Marriage and Family class at our LDS church was taught by sister Williams, who is a professional psychiatrist working with young, recently married couples at BYU. She had lots of wonderful insights, both as a marriage dynamics professional and a gospel instructor, that have stuck with me ever since.
Among the many topics she presented, one discussed studies that indicated that some parents were enforcing the virtue of “sharing” upon their children so much that their children were growing up with a deficient, warped, or even nonexistent concept of personal property. As a result, these children who lacked a sense of property were less likely to respect the property of others and more likely to steal or vandalize.
My own parents had been careful about how much we were forced to “share” our toys.
With our own children, we have tried to teach that their belongings really do belong to them, and that, while sharing is the right thing to do, we will not force them to share against their will. After all, what virtue is there in sharing unless you have the choice not to share? And if no property is ever your own to withhold, then what beneficence is there in giving?
