Sacarament Meeting to remember

[Origami]

So today in SM we got to hear some real gems.

The theme of the meeting was missionary work. (same theme for the past 3 or 4 weeks, the rescue has been overdone here, people are burning out from it) I feel for the handful of poor non-members in my ward boundaries.

1st the joke:

Why do missionaries need to have big bladders?

They only get one pee day per week.

I laughed, loudly. Many did not…

2nd the reinforcement of prophetic infallibility from a conducting Bishopric member:

God is telling us to get out there and participate in the rescue effort through our inspired leaders. Prophets are always right and the BP is the prophet of our ward so we should be doing what he says.

No laughing this time….

3rd, This one really burned me:

A young man in my ward got sent home from a mission over a year ago to repent of some prior transgression. He is such a good kid, I respect him a bunch. He is going back out tomorrow to another mission to finish his time. I can’t imagine what he had to endure to get where he is today. His family is strict and over the top, he has been made to feel lower than dirt over what has happened. (I can relate my own parents are much the same) He made a tearful apology to the entire ward for embarrassing the ward and letting everyone down. His view of his own worth is so far off from what I think God would say about him it just makes me sad. I wanted to stand up and stop him in the middle of it. I’ll be writing him a letter as soon as I can.

I’m don’t normally share that much, but this was just too much today.

[Old-Timer]

It’s sad to hear of meetings like that. Normally, there is at least balance, but, sometimes, it simply is sad.

My heart goes out to that young man. I hope he is okay moving forward.

[DarkJedi]

Origami wrote:

So today in SM we got to hear some real gems.

2nd the reinforcement of prophetic infallibility from a conducting Bishopric member:

God is telling us to get out there and participate in the rescue effort through our inspired leaders. Prophets are always right and the BP is the prophet of our ward so we should be doing what he says.

Wow, prophet of our ward – never heard it put quite like that before – and from his counselor, no less.

I thought the joke was funny (told my about-to-leave-for- his-mission son, who also thought it was funny).

I, too, feel sorry for that young man. From a psychological standpoint he has a long road ahead of him and I wish him well.

[Roy]

Origami wrote:

A young man in my ward got sent home from a mission over a year ago to repent of some prior transgression. He is such a good kid, I respect him a bunch. He is going back out tomorrow to another mission to finish his time. I can’t imagine what he had to endure to get where he is today. His family is strict and over the top, he has been made to feel lower than dirt over what has happened. (I can relate my own parents are much the same) He made a tearful apology to the entire ward for embarrassing the ward and letting everyone down. His view of his own worth is so far off from what I think God would say about him it just makes me sad. I wanted to stand up and stop him in the middle of it. I’ll be writing him a letter as soon as I can.

I remember emailing my family during my mission. My sister who had gone to college back east said that I could come home if I wanted and that there was a big world out there that didn’t care about serving missions. Sure the world “out there” is pretty big, but my world is fairly small and cares quite a great deal over these kinds of things.

The ironic thing is that he could have done just fine if he didn’t have such a big and pure heart that drove him to confess. Reminds me of a quote that I heard: Two types of people are successful in the LDS church – the saints and the liars!

I hope he is a great missionary and he hopefully never has to talk about the year of eating crow again.

[nibbler]

I know it’s none of my business, just curious. Did you ever write that missionary?

Heck, I feel like I need to write to him. Sometimes events like this can lead people down a path of self-deprecation that is very difficult to come back from. I’m sure the poor guy felt judged by the entire ward. My heart goes out to him.

[SamBee]

nibbler wrote:

I know it’s none of my

business, just curious. Did you ever write that missionary?

Heck, I feel like I need to write to him. Sometimes events like this

can lead people down a path of self-deprecation that is very difficult

to come back from. I’m sure the poor guy felt judged by the entire

ward. My heart goes out to him.

Send them a PM

[GodisLove]

I was thinking about this yesterday and noticed someone had a new comment.

We did write a letter. Not sure how he felt about it, haven’t had a response but at least we said our piece. I threw in some ice cream money so at least he could get a shake? He is a GREAT kid from a really difficult family. He will always be less than he was supposed to be in his Dad’s eyes. Sad deal.

I also noticed the church has a new missionary adjustment manual. I was reading about it some on KSL.com yesterday and will try to find the link. The article was in Deseret News. Seems the church is realizing that when missionaries come home early it is ugly. I didn’t have time to dissect the article-some of you are so much better at than I am. It had some good stuff from a skimming.

Found it:

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865591983/LDS-missionaries-developing-strategies-to-cope-with-stress.html

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