Redemption in Payson

Oh, Sisters.

I'm so filled with the spirit of joy and thanksgiving that I'm ready to burst. I heard last week that we will be blessed with another temple in Utah county. This one will be in Payson and it will serve the beautiful worthy sisters in the south end of the county, and their worthy priesthood holders as well. I'm especially excited about this new temple, because, as a member of the Provo Temple View ward, I take great pride in being able to see the temple from my living room window. So many times in the past, the parking lot at the temple has been filled nearly half full with Ford Broncos and pickup trucks with gun racks in the back window. I know that our Heavenly Father's church has a place for everyone, but sometimes I wonder if our sisters from down south think about the message they are sending to our gentile neighbors when they come to the temple in the same vehicles that their priesthood leaders used on the deer hunt last month. I'm just so happy that they will have their own temple now that is only 10 minutes from their homes, instead of having to drive 30 or sometimes even 40 minutes to get to the House of the Lord. And I'm also elated that the lines will be shorter and the sessions smaller now so that I will be able to run to the temple between getting the kids off to school in the morning and volunteering in the reading program at the elementary school.

Oh, and maybe they can put some lovely new landscaping in the parking lot now that there are fewer patrons at the Provo Temple. I think that would enhance the spirit.

Will the Atonement be enough for Master Beta?

My dearest readers, I am most distraught today. Last night I was cleaning the water for my beloved beta (Master Beta) when he suddenly committed suicide. Yes, dear brothers and sisters, he jumped right from the fish bowl directly into the garbage disposal. There was no rescuing him. The thing is, I just don't understand it. Why would he do such a thing? I just don't know what was so wrong in his life that he would make such a choice. Was he too lonely? I got him a friend, and he ate it. Was life just to unfulfilling for him? I am so worried about his eternal salvation now. I mean, what will happen to him in the next life? Will I see him again? Will I have a chance to raise him to full Beta adulthood? I am grieving for him so at this point. I wonder if it was my fault, should I have protected him more? I just don't know. I have spent the day praying for his soul. I suppose there is a lesson for me here as well, I must be more vigilant when cleaning the bowl for the next Beta I get - I shall name him.......ummmmm how about Alpha Beta or maybe Beta Test.

The Wonder Hostess is NOT a Thrift Store (Isn't my face red!)

So today was the day that I had set aside to donate our collected collection of Twilight books to the local Wonder Hostess Thrift Store. So this morning, after personal prayer, family scripture study, family prayer, breakfast and getting the kids to school, I got down (or rather up off my knees) to the work of the day. I began by preparing a lovely lesson for the sisters to use in visiting teaching, then I wrote an inspirational update for the ward newsletter. And just for fun, I designed and crafted 3 dozen fellowshipping cards from my personal scrapbooking supply in the craft room, for our sisters to take to the less actives and apostates in the ward. I also crafted one special card that I myself will take to our dear Sister Jensen as I am deeply conderned about her becoming a full blown apostate. (I have reason to suspect her, you know!)

Then I remembered that I was supposed to take the "donated" books to the thrift store. So I loaded all 36 books into the Suburban and drove up to Orem to make our generous donation. Well, you can well imagine my surprise when I arrived and carried the first heavy box of books into the store and discovered that it's not really a thrift shop after all. IT'S A BAKERY! Okay not really a bakery, but they do have ONLY baked goods. How was I supposed to know?? It has the words Thrift Store right in the name. I did ask them if they would take the books, but they said no, they don't do that. (I was able to give one set to the cashier, which was okay because I could tell she was definitely not a member and therefore was already corrupted.) For a moment I just stood there not knowing what to do. But then I decided that as long as I was there, I might as well pick up a few loafs of Wonder Bread that I plan to donate to the Aaronic Priesthood on Sunday for use in the Sacrament. I mean, I'm sure they have some already, but this bread was just so White and Delightsome that I thought it would elevate the spiritual tone of Sacrament meeting.

So after I left the Wonder Hostess NOT-a-thrift-store I drove to the D.I. I know this was not an ideal place to leave the books, but I thought it was worth a shot. I spoke with a Sister Johansen there who could have been, quite frankly, a lot more polite. She simply refused to accept the books. I persisted and pointed out that this was really the sort of decision that should be made by the proper Priesthood authority. Then that little snit went and got her HUSBAND, and he told me that HE was the highest priesthood authority for donations and that he supported his wife's decision. I am trying to have charity in my heart for this dear missionary couple, but I have to say, it's probably going to require some more prayer. Brother Johansen told me that Deseret Industries cannot accept any books that Deseret Book has refused because the two names are too similar and they don't want to confuse the saints. That makes sense, so I guess I can't be too upset by the whole thing.

After this second setback I put my shoulder to the wheel once more and finally found a charity willing to take these books of suspect content off my hands. I don't want to say the name of the charity, because I don't want to encourage members to donate outside of the churches well defined and authorized humanitarian aid system. I only persisted, because I felt like "the ox was in the mire". And believe me, I consulted with my dear husband and patriarch, Hyrum, before I made the final decision. So let me just say that the books have found a fitting home and we have built a small amount of Good Will with the ultimate recipients of the books.

This whole episode has been a bit trying and upsetting to me. I really shouldn't be writing this blog right now, because I would rather be doing some scripture study, but I felt like my stewardship required that I communicate today's events with all my dear sisters in the ward.

Now I'm off to begin my personal scripture study. Maybe I'll begin with a short prayer for inspiration on whether or not I should finish watching this season of Dancing with the Stars. I'll try to keep in mind that dear sister Marie Osmond did so well last season (or was it two seasons ago), and she can be an inspiration to us all. Please, dear sisters, pray for me tonight that I might receive the personal inspiration that I need so I can continue in my calling to serve you.

Lead Kindly Light

It's been a busy few days for the Relief Society Presidency and our sisters. Our collection drive for Twilight books has gone well. We've collected 28 books so far. We might have got a few more but a few of our sisters burned their copies when they heard the news that Deseret Books was banning them. I have to admire their willingness to avoid even the appearance of evil, but I'm not sure that was necessary. I will continue to collect for the next few days and then make the trip to The Wonder Hostess Thrift Store to donate these evil writings. I am so grateful to the sisters of our dear Provo Temple View Ward and their willingness to show such a great example to sisters everywhere concerning this turn of events. I am just hoping that our dear sister Stephenie Meyers has repented and will no longer write books that can lead to unpure thoughts in the sisters and youth throughout the church.

However, speaking of the appearance of evil, I was very disturbed to hear recently that one of the shining lights of Mormonism has fallen into inactivity, if not down right apostacy. I'm speaking, sadly, of Eliza Dushku. (I know, many of you have not heard of her before, but please don't get caught up in that old joke "Who? Dushku. Gesundheit!". It's undignified.) I was made aware that one of our Hollywood Mormon fellowshipping contingent, Sister Dushku, had appeared on Last Call with Carson Daly. I looked it up and watched it on Youtube, since the show is on much too late at night for me to watch it. Brother Smith and I usually go to bed half an hour after the children, at 9:00. But what I saw and heard on Last Call shocked and saddened me. It seems that Sister Dushku is not only inactive, but she has been seduced into appearing NUDE in Allure magazine. Nude, as in no clothes at all, in a VERY immodest pose. It is hard to believe that this sweet spirit is living a chaste life. Brother Smith saw a glimpse of the photo and he has been in the bedroom praying and showering for an hour now.

And as if it weren't shameful enough that Sister Dushku has appeared with all of her 'holy temple' bared for all the world to see, but she exposed a tattoo in the picture. I'm sure you all know what President Hinckley said about tattoos. But this story just keeps getting worse and worse. The words of the tattoo read "Lead Kindly Light". Forgive me. I'm overcome with sadness.

I was also made aware just tonight that there are other sisters that have been caught up in the lure of Hollywood. As I watched "Dancing With the Stars" my dearest daughter Sariah mentioned that Julianne Hough and Lacey Schwimmer were also Mormons that have gone astray. I was shocked and dismayed at the lack of clothing they were wearing while gyrating on the television screen for all the world to see. Tsk Tsk I say to them, you are NOT setting a good example of behavior and modesty for our vulnerable young women in the church. This also gets worse as I then discovered in my google search of sister Julianne Hough that she desicrated our own American flag last year when she posed wrapped in nothing but said flag. This has indeed been a very sad week for the church and the sisters in faith everywhere.

I realize that I may have overreacted to the Twilight scare, now that I have seen this shocking turn of events in Hollywood. If any of you are aware of any books that Sister Eliza Dushku, Sister Lacey Schwimmer, or Sister Julianne Hough have written, please let me know.

And Sisters, if your husbands are out of the room now, go ahead and scroll down to see these shocking pictures.

Twilight Eclipsed (Loss of my Vampire Love)

I was so upset today when Sister Benson called and told me the news. I guess that she heard from Sis. Jensen, that Deseret Book has pulled the Twilight series from all their stores. Now, I'm always suspicious of Sis. Jensen, so I checked it out for myself. Of course, I used http://www.onlymormon.com to search for Twilight and Deseret Book, and didn't find anything, so that made me feel better, but then I also heard from Sis. Beck that it was banned, so I looked at Mormon Times, and they had a story about how it has been pulled from the shelves at Deseret Book. (And I trust Sister Beck. She is a cousin to Sister Ann M. Dibb, who, of course, is the daughter of the prophet, so I'm certain she can be trusted.)

I'm really torn up about this. On the one hand, I LOOOVVE Edward Cullen. I really think that I'm a lot like Bella too, so I kind of feel like this book was written for me. But I'm really bothered that Deseret Book would ban it, because I know that they wouldn't do that without a really good reason. They said that it was because it wasn't selling very well, or it had bad reviews or something that I didn't really understand. I guess there are some things that we aren't meant to know in this life. I guess this is just a test of my faith, to see if I will do the right thing when I am presented with temptations.

So as hard as it will be, tomorrow I'll get all my Twilight books together and take them down to the Wonder Hostess Thrift store (I thought about taking them to the Deseret Industries, but since most of the shoppers there are our own faithful brothers and sisters, I was worried that I would contribute to them reading something that must be bad). I think that's the best solution. That way, they won't be in my house any more, and the Wonder Hostess Thrift store can sell them to non-members, make a few dollars off them that they can give to the homeless shelter. OMGosh - I just realized how very provident that is - We will take them to the Wonder Hostess Thrift store and it must be the right and true place for them to go because Stephenie's other book is called "The Host" - WOW! I just got chills! Now that I think about it, I should probably take the DVD to the Wonder Hostess Thrift store too. Better safe than sorry. And now that I've thought about it a little more, I think I should write a note to all my precious Relief Society sisters to warn them. I think I may even offer to collect all the books from the sisters so we can save on gas taking them to the Wonder Hostess Thrift store. This will also make sure that no sisters accidently donate their books to the Deseret Industries where they could fall into the hands of one of our dear young women. (We certainly don't want them thinking unvirtuous thougts.) It'll be interesting to see if Sis. Jensen gives hers away too because I think she loves Edward more than I do. A little TOO much, if you know what I mean.

I'm really too upset about this whole Twilight thing to write about it any more, but I mentioned http://ww.onlymormon.com and I wanted to say a little bit more about that. They say on their sight "This search engine removes all the Mormon tabloid websites (sites that exist to sensationalize and misrepresent LDS beliefs) and lets users easily access the information they want. All included sites are hand picked and reviewed." I think this is another wonderful example of what Elder Ballard wants us to do to use New Media to spread the gospel. I really feel the spirit when I use this search engine. I know that sounds kinda corny, but it's true. Anyway, I encourage everyone to use http://www.onlymormon.com/, because it's a real help when you are preparing a lesson, and you don't have to worry about accidentally landing on some liberal mormon or anti-mormon website like http://feministmormonhousewives.org/ or http://newordermormon.com. Those things are just like pornography websites. They pop up when you don't want them and you can't do anything about them. Until now. Arm yourself with a gospel based search engine and bring yourself closer to the church.

My Introduction

Please allow me to introduce myself. I am Sister Mary Ellen Smith of the Provo Temple View Ward. I have served as the Relief Society President to 138 truly wonderful and precious sisters for the past year and hope to continue to magnify my calling for as long as Hevenly Father and the Bishop deem me worthy. My previous callings have included 1st counselor in the Relief Society Presidency, 2nd counselor in the Relief Society Presidency, Primary President, and special domestic assistant to the Elders Quorum President (my dear husband Hyrum who magnifies his priesthood daily!)

The Lord has blessed us with 5 beautiful perfect and faithful children - 3 virtuous and lovely girls (and you should see their good report cards - just spectacular!), and 2 handsome, Eagle Scout, priesthood holders. (We were a little nervous Moroni would not reach Eagle Scout, when at age 14 he was only a Life Scout. But through my faithful efforts and a 'broken' Play Station he has achieved that blessed of all mission prerequisites.) Ephraim, our eldest is currently serving a mission in the Buenos Aries North, Argentina mission, and has had much success bringing many Buenos Arians into the fold. We are so blessed to have such a valiant and faithful son. His Mission president has told us many times that he is serving the Church so well.

My eternal mate and I have been married for 21 wonderful years and are looking forward to being together for time and all eternity. I have even encouraged my dear husband to keep his eyes open for my sister-wives that we will surely share in the Celestial Kingdom. I hope he does find at least one that enjoys cooking and one who has a talent for family home evening lessons. Sister Jensen says she doesn't really believe that we will have sister-wives in the next life, but I think she is secretly an apostate. I have reason to be suspicious.

Elder Russell M. Ballard has counseled us to use new media to reach out to other saints and support the work of the church, so I have committed to using my spare time between morning scripture study and morning prayer to reach out the the lost sheep wandering this lone and dreary world in general and Provo in particular through this most amazing technology, the internet. And verily, how great shall be my joy at the return of just one lost sheep.