Happy Halloween

Tonight my Mom is making homemade donuts and we're having friends over. Actually, I'm inviting one friend. The rest are Mom and Dad's. I'm hoping lots of people bail or get caught in a snowdrift so that I can eat all the donuts. Will take pictures!

We're prepared for the trick-or-treaters, but they'll have to be a hardy lot since there is snow on the ground and it's supposed to be really cold tonight. On Sunday it dumped 8 inches during the 2 hours we were in church. Madness. There is a ward trunk-or-treat and Halloween carnival at the church tonight, but the word on the street is that the Young Women (ages 12-18) aren't going to be helping out because they want to go trick-or-treating. Tell you what, I don't think I'll be giving candy to any 15-yr-olds. I wanted to get a bag of something gross like Tootsie Rolls or those awful pink blobs of bubble gum that taste like asphalt and come in the yellow & blue wrapper. Does anyone know what kind I'm talking about? Anyway, I would keep the crap candy available for people past the age of trick-or-treating.

Now I should confess my shameful secret: I'm totally into Christmas already. I know I shouldn't be, but it's been snowing and there are rosy-cheeked children sledding in the backyard and I've just burned all my mom's Christmas music and I am in The Zone. Plus I found this book at my notjob and had to bring it home with me.



Do any of you already know Robert Sabuda's stuff? I'd never heard of him but the man is pretty much a genius. Look at this! The pictures don't really do it justice. I had been looking for kids' Christmas books at Jenny's request and came across this one. As soon as I opened it I knew I wouldn't be giving this to small children. Ever. They can have board books like regular children-who-just-eat-their-books-anyway. Jenny thinks I'm a jerk for not giving it to her kids, or to her, but that's just because she thinks all presents should be for her. But to show her that I am a loving big sister I will let her look at it when her kids are asleep.

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Truth. The Absolute Truth.

Was bored, thus googled stuff on Marilyn Manson and Twiggy Ramirez, found this lines that I wanted to share with you, especially those bigotted ignorant people that included many parents.

[quote]

The bottom line is that Marilyn Manson are not infecting the children, they are informing them. The world is not a place conducive to naiveté. "Well, that's why parents get so angry at bands like us because we give away the big secret. You go and raise a child and you don't want them to know the truth, so you go and hide them and shelter from everything instead of helping them."

[/quote]

Think about it.

=)

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I love it when things are all about me

This last weekend was our stake conference, and Dad came home from the priesthood leadership session on Saturday afternoon with news. The word from Salt Lake is that this year one of the main focuses for the Church is going to be the Young Single Adults. Specifically it's going to be about finding them, re-activating them, and retaining them. The numbers say that of all the members aged 18-30 only about 30% are active. It's the most at-risk age bracket in the Church.

This, to me, makes sense. It's easy to fall through the cracks when you're away from home for the first time and trying to figure things out. Plus that's just a generally turbulent time--we've got school and jobs and relationships and growing up and all kinds of stuff. And it's likely the most nomadic time we'll ever have. With all that moving around, it's even easier to drop off when the wards you move to don't make you feel included and welcomed and needed.

Example: I moved to Loughborough last year as a university student and attended a family ward. After some initial standoffishness, the ward members made friends with me. I got a calling (working with the nursery kids). I got home teachers and visiting teachers. I was asked to speak in Church. I felt like I belonged there and I was sad to leave.

However, a friend of mine moved into a different ward in the same stake. Her experience was not good. No one tried to befriend her. She never got a calling even though she asked for one. I don't know if she ever got home teachers or visiting teachers. It was a 45-minute walk to church each week. She said when people talked to her it was usually to ask when she was leaving. She could so easily have stopped going, and it's possible that no one would have noticed.

Luckily, she was not a brand-new 18-yr-old away from home for the first time. She was older and had a strong testimony, and church attendance was important to her even if the other members ignored her. Plus she was only going to be there for a year. But what if she had been a brand-new 18-yr-old away from home for the first time? What if she had been feeling lonely and homesick and shaky in her testimony? Do you think she would actually stick that out for three years of college? I don't think so. She would be out of there--and if no one cared enough to go after her she might never come back.

So yes, that kind of junk needs to stop. We are worth being welcomed and fellowshipped and it's not fair to write off students or young single people as "temporary" members of the ward. Instead people need to recognize that by ignoring and failing us they are damaging the future of the Church. I hope my friend's experience is the exception rather than the rule, but that doesn't make it any less of a serious problem.

I'm encouraged to see that the Church's stated focus is on finding, reactivating and retaining the YSAs rather than just telling us to get married. Again. Some more. Yes, marriage is important and it needs to be emphasized, but if the YSAs start to feel like they don't belong unless they're married then they won't stay. I think the Church recognizes that and is trying to move the focus on what members have to offer as individuals, rather than trying to lump everyone into categories.

Dad said they also announced that no new singles wards or branches will be created. The ones that exist will stay, but that's it. I wonder if this is the beginning of the end of singles wards. That wouldn't bother me too much, actually. I don't think they could get rid of them in places like BYU or other universities where there is a huge LDS student population, but in other areas they could.

I guess my final thought here is that I'm glad to be a part of a Church that thinks about these things. The basic doctrines won't ever change, but the Church actively looks for ways to adapt to the needs of a rapidly-growing membership, of whom single people of all ages and circumstances make up a rapidly-growing segment.

There you have it.

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