Thoughts and stories, by Pal

This article may seem to apply only to the United States, but the principles Elder Oakes gives apply anywhere in the world, with the current culture of the world. NEWS STORY 13 SEPTEMBER 2016   -   PROVO, UTAH Elder Oaks Addresses Elections, Hope  and Freedom at BYU Students encouraged to be civil on social media “Today, I say that if the Church or its doctrines are attacked in blogs and other social media, contentious responses are not helpful. They disappoint our friends and provoke our adversaries,” said  Elder Dallin H. Oaks  of the  Quorum of the Twelve Apostles  of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints during an address to students at  Brigham Young University . The Mormon apostle was the devotional speaker in the Marriott Center on the Provo, Utah, campus Tuesday, September 13, 2016. Elder Oaks BYU Elder Oaks BYU Elder Oaks BYU Elder Oaks BYU Elder Oaks BYU   1   of   5 Elder Dall...

Coming Challenges to Religious Liberty: What’s on the Horizon? By Maurine Jensen Proctor  · September 13, 2016 This is an extremely important article that we hope you will share broadly. This article is based on Alexander Dusku’s talk of the same title from BYU Education Week. If there was an underlying theme to this year’s BYU Education Week—appearing again and again in talks–it was about threats to our religious freedom with LDS Public Affairs sponsoring 18 presentations on the subject. It was as if we didn’t get it the first time, we’d have multiple opportunities to be awakened—and alarmed. “Do you get it?” “Do you get it now?” This is not an area we can be in the least bit casual or think that it is somebody else’s problem or refuse to take the time to learn about. Alexander Dushku, an attorney for Kirton & McConkie that represents the Church in most of its legal affairs, said that there is a planetary clash—like two large bodi...

This has been a most inspiring Sabbath Day.  Early this morning, I went to a Sacrament Meeting in a town about 20 minutes away, with a young returned missionary with a wonderful bass voice, and his fiance'.  I played the piano while he sang "Savior, Redeemer of My Soul".  The senior couple who also talked have had amazing experiences, being on missions in Mongolia and also the Phillipines, and worked for the Church in Hong Kong, helping get land to build LDS Church buildings in many Far Eastern countries.  They related many exciting and inspirational experiences.   After the wife spoke, this young man, Caleb, sang his song, and really put a lot of feeling into it.  Then when we sat down, he was wiping tears from his eyes, and his chin was quivering.  I could see that just singing that beautiful song about the Savior had really touched his soul.  And it touched the congregation as well.  Then the husband of the couple spoke, and had some ...

This article has a lot of wisdom in it!  Some good ideas on how to not spoil children. A Recipe For Raising An Unspoiled Child By Nicholeen Peck  · August 24, 2016, in Meridian Magazine “Porter you are being whiny and you need to stop it.” my husband said in exasperation one evening after treating the children to a whole day of fun times, snacks, and even some souvenir t-shirts. Spencer, my husband, had had enough. The funny thing was that this whiny moment of Porter’s was the first occurrence of whininess and entitlement all day. I pondered the situation and realized that my husband had been set up to get to angry that night and Porter had been set up for whiny behavior too. He was behaving like children behave when they are spoiled and so was my husband. I started asking myself, “What could have changed this moment? Why are all of these normally self-governed people behaving this way?” How The Spoiling Happens No one wants to let their ...