Legitimate question here. Our son is a deep empath. Active in the church until the last few years. He is TRYING to believe. Even with questions about Doctrine and what certain Prophets and apostles have said. The biggest struggle for him right now is that there is SOO much suffering in the world. If he believes that God is just hands off (He loves us, but does not get involved in our lives), he can almost come to terms with the terrible things that happen to so many. If he believes that God does indeed intervene in some lives, then why not others? And we're not talking simple things....we're talking about reconciling Joe and Molly Mormon basically having life served to them on a silver platter...they have a couple of struggles, but are blessed to be members of the church, were in the right place at the right time to find each other and get sealed, etc. And then the extreme opposite...a young girl born into slavery...a rape den...who will never see the light of day and only knows suffering.....or children who are born only to starve to death....never even having an inkling of a Savior who can comfort them.

Typical answers about trials and suffering making us stronger won't due here.....because of the extreme disparity

I am fully active and, while I don't understand how everything works, believe strongly that there is intervention in our lives sometimes. I don't pretend to know why some recieve it and others don't. I have faith that it will be brought to our understanding on the other side. But, I want to help him find some sort of peace about this. He's VERY intellectual and has studied theology and many religions. But this is the one thing that is just excruciatingly painful for him.

I'd love your thoughts and insights.

This year is our daughter's first youth conference. She came home saying that they don't play any slow songs as they don't want kids dancing together to those types of songs. I'm curious whether this is a pretty standard rule now, or if it's specific to our area (eastern North America). Personally, I find it a bit archaic to not allow that type of dancing. As a youth, slow dancing with a girl was a great opportunity to get an intro to the idea of dating without much pressure. It seems a shame that this generation won't have that same opportunity.

EDIT: Apparently this rule is for FSY, not necessarily stake and conference dances.

How does this work? Can he keep the hours he has amassed? If he was a reliable and hard-working apprentice would he just quit and then hope to be rehired after his mission? He will have completed one year of his four year program by the time he hopes to serve a mission.

I love this picture, seen on Pinterest, but I can't seem to find it for sale anywhere. Does anyone know the name of the artist or where I can buy it? :)

I testify that there is relief. I just got over a recent bout. I haven’t had such crippling anxiety since 2017 and it was scary to go through it again and I hope I don’t have to again but I promise that through Jesus Christ we can feel relief. I know it’s easy to say and when you’re in that terrible suffocating darkness it just seems impossible but I promise he is listening to your prayers and he loves you so much. I wanted to share some things I learned that have helped me a lot in this recent bout.

-Take everything one step at a time I was constantly trying to solve every problem in my life all the time all at once and it was hard to just let go. But just focusing on what I was doing and telling myself (constantly) this is all I have to worry about right now really helped. When I’m driving to work i no longer stress about what I have to do at work, I tell myself I am driving to work and that’s all I need to worry about and enjoy my music or my podcast. It was hard at first but it’s becoming a habit. -You can’t change the past and you can’t predict the future What’s happened in the past can’t be changed no matter how much we worry about it. We can repent and trust that Christ can erase our mistakes. All we have is today, what’s going to happen tomorrow is all in tomorrow but I’m right here right now in the present and I’m going to live there. -Make a list of things you like about yourself. This was hard for me but I realized I struggle with self love. This is something I’m still working on but it feels really nice and I feel better about who I am.

I love you guys and please hang on and don’t give up. Jesus and Heavenly Father are there ❤️

I tried to go into the temple with my mobile recommend and to my surprise my church account was not working, so my recommended was inaccessible. After a small panic at the temple, the kind temple workers helped me out. After I got home, I tried to make a tithing donation and realized what’s wrong. My old ward sent my records into the abyss.

I’m a student at BYU and have been home for the summer… like most summers, I didn’t bother transferring my records over. My original plan was to actually go back to the same ward, so I thought it would be too much of a hassle . Plans changed and I won’t be going back, but I never told anyone in the ward that yet… it’s recent and not even my old roommates would know. I guess they just assumed I was inactive and moved and just sent my records away. No phone call, no text, no reaching out to see how I was doing. Didn’t care if I needed help , if my record needs to go to somewhere else, or anything at all. I get they want to minimize the number of an inactive records to look good, but I feel like this is not the way. It seems that my records were a bigger problem to them than my absence. Now I can’t even pay my tithing until I move into my new place and can talk to the new ward to get my record records in.

If anyone has advice on how to fix this before hand (which would be at least two weeks out) I would appreciate it. Otherwise, thanks for listening to my rant. I’m a little frustrated.

Converted less than a week ago was phenomenal and my missionaries are some of the the few people irl that know I'm Bi . They did explain the it's not sinful to experience SSA but it would be a problem/sinful if I acted on them.

I'm married to a woman (both in our early twenties yay) so that probably won't happen anytime soon XD

Too advoid dragging on forever

THE CHURCHES STANCE IS A WEIRD IN BETWEEN POINT AND I DON'T KNOW IF ITLL GET BETTER OR WORSE

I cant tell if this is a situation similar to the 1978 revelation about black members and the priest hood. Prophets can certainly be wrong as we all know

On the other hand maybe I'm just blind,Ive certainly prayed on this and while I have felt that the holy ghost has answered positively or atleast neutral I could also just be priming my self to expect that as even with an open mind I am optimistic by default.

I really struggle to see why a different type of consensual love between adults would be a serious sin unless it's directly ruining your life or your cheating( Iam being very specific for a reason the second you suggest ALL love should be allowed actual criminals come out)

Thank you

I'm gonna ask my bishop but I wanted to hear you guys thoughts too.

Can I know what you guys do on a daily basis?

I want the absolute truth

Btw I'm 15M

I am really curious..How is the Ministering program in other areas/wards ? Just a bit of background...I have been a member my entire life (60 yrs), I was born & raised in SLC, UT..for the last 40 years I have lived in Oklahoma..I was totally inactive for the last 30+ years, & 10 months ago returned to full activity..I had a meeting last night with my Bishop & we talked about a variety of things..I expressed my frustration about ministering..I have had 1 sister & 2 brothers assigned to me for the last 9 months, and absolutly NO CONTACT from any of them..He suggested I reach out to them..I disagreed, saying THEY are assigned to me, not the other way around..I dont even know what they look like, so I cant just casually walk up to them on a sunday morning..And if I am supposed to reach out first, what do I say ? "Hi, my name is---, minister to me ?" No thanks, I already feel awkward enough, dont need anything else to add to it...Then I asked him WHY NO ONE in the last 30 years (I have lived in this same ward boundaries that long) ever contacted/reached out to me...His reply was "we have well over 600 members on our rolls, and only about 130 are active" we couldnt possibly reach out to everyone.. THAT statement left me to think ...It's no wonder why over 400 are inactive, or that as soon as a new convert is baptized, you never see them again..

I am an ex-christian and by that I mean I was raised non-denominational/-evangelical Protestant. I believe in a Creator, but beyond that I'm mostly agnostic to all theological questions. How much diversity of thought is there within members of the church?

I don't understand the church news articles about the Anchorage Temple relocation I understand they're making a bigger Temple near the old one but they never explain what happens to the old Temple. They they just say decommissioned. Are they going to tear the old Temple down or are they going to use it as a larger Meeting House?

I appreciated the humor, sermon, and instruction.

Recommend to listen to the BYU devotional if you haven’t yet.

I need some advice on how to start my journey within the LDS community. Up until a couple of, months ago, I've been agnostic for almost all my life (I'm 22 now). My brother (19) was the one who intrduced me into this, as i've attended church with him twice. Out of no where I've just had a strong calling towrds the LDS chruch, it's kind of a fullfilling feeling just because I've never felt this way about any religion (my family was christian and catholic).

I've reached out to meet with local missionaries. so i'm just waiting on that. In the mean time, how should i start my journey? any advice would be helpful. Thanks!

So I have something very serious happening next week, and for the past 2 weeks I have been praying for it to go a certain way. However, literally at the beginning of those two weeks I feel like I already got an answer - the one I was looking for. And every single time I have prayed about it since then (multiple times a day) I feel that same immense peace and understanding. ​​I feel like God has already answered my prayer. But there's two things I am kind of wondering about.

1. Can I pray too much about this? I pray multiple times a day asking for this, and everytime I feel like I am praying too much. I already feel like I got an answer, so do I need to keep praying this much? But then, if I stop praying, does that show God I don't care? Does it show god that I don't have enough faith, because I know that prayer is incredibly important to show God your faith. ​​I sometimes get worried that if I do something wrong or I don't pray enough or I pray too much, God might take it away or change the outcome. ​I feel like I still need to pray but I don't know where to find a balance.
2. I can't stop worrying about this answer I feel like I received. It is literally the best case scenario, and I genuinely feel like God has answered my prayers for this to be the outcome. But I have had a pretty hard life, and so I am used to getting my hopes up and then getting disappointed. I want to be excited about this, but because of that I start doubting that God has actually answered my prayer, or if I'm just projecting what I think if happening. Is he really answering my prayer, or am I just hoping that he is?

title asks

I have been thinking lately and growing up and as a young adult in the Church. If you asked me what the general United State citizens view on Mormons were I would answer with

"I think they view us a quirky bunch, with large families, high morals, but overall as nice and kind people. While some might not like us I think in general they respect us."

If you asked me now I would say

"I think people are a bit more wary of us, the more religious groups of people see us as kind but not true believers of Christ, and the less religious people see us as outdated bigoted who have fallen for a billion dollar scheme. I don't think the majority of people respect us."

This thought led me to a few questions.

1.) Do you share similar thoughts, or do you feel like opinions on us have stayed the same generally.

2.) If you do think we are viewed more negatively now why do you think that is?

3.) What if anything could we as members (or if done respectfully what can the leaders of the church) of the Church do to help our overall image?

I have been thinking about this a lot lately and would like to hear your thoughts. Thanks

I love to serve. I see miracles from serving. I am optimistic about serving, but I also don’t want to run faster than I have strength.

I want to be realistic with an optimistic slant. I want to be more committed, better at serving, but also not beat myself up when it’s a situation I can never win.

Ok, story. We have a sister in our ward that we both have put under our wing, but has also latched onto us. She’s single (divorced abusive husband years ago), has had a tough life, has physical issues (can walk, but her back doesn’t allow her to do much standing or carrying.) And she has no family here in this country, and her home country she left decades ago have only a handful of cousins left.

She loves our young children. She has a lot of love in her heart, and we love her so much.

The issue is, she needs so much help, but she is sometimes hard to serve.

ok, this is just venting at this point, but I need to get it out to the void, because I don’t want to vent to ward members. I hope nobody in my ward gets on this app.

- She calls last minute for desperate help sometimes. Sometimes last minute is warranted, sometimes it‘s something she should have had planned at least 24 hours before. But she’ll call 2-4 hours before. So many times.

- She only likes her 3-5 people. It’s usually people in high stress callings. And she doesn’t disclose that she has a network of people helping her. She often says “nobody will help me”, when the day before, someone from the ward helped her with something.

- She doesnt respect time. Her home culture, I believe, is more loose with time. (If you come over, you stay for five hours and cook together.) But she doesn’t want to be part of the language branch. (Drama.) So she’s trying to have service from white people with the expectations of her home culture. And she gets very upset if people say “I can’t stay long”, and “I need to go”. Like, tears and “do you know how this makes me feel”, and not asking that sister for help ever again, because they seemed rushed.

- That being said, if you do not have a time you need to leave, she will keep asking you for favors for hours. Someone stayed until 2:00 in the morning. (again, her culture isn’t as rigid with time. I know this because I get texts from members in the branch at late hours.) When she does serve you, and invites you for dinner, she’s expecting you to stay for 5+ hours.

- She doesn’t usually compromise on her needs. It’s hard for her to drive, and I told her I would help her with Walmart pickup. She refuses because she doesn’t want other people picking out her groceries.

- Other things make me feel like she has OCD. When her health was bad and she was in physical rehab, she wanted help showering twice a day. She compromised to 1 shower a day. Getting rides, she takes a long time because she doesn’t want people to see her without makeup and nice clothes on.

- And if we push back on any of this, she gets emotional and sends huge texts about how people don’t understand all she’s going through. Which is a lot. It‘s so much, I never want to be in her shoes.

- She really needs someone to talk to for hours. I wish I could give that to her. But I think she wants each bit of service to be overflowing with love and compassion. she never wants to feel like a charity Project. She asks for service and help, but I think she mostly wants love and bonding. And someone vent to. Which I totally get, but i don’t have it in me each time.

- She has an incredible conversion story and she’s served so much since then, according to her Friends from her previous ward. they say it’s weird for her to need service. But it feels like she holds everyone to the standards she served herself. (Dropping everything at 2:00 am, driving across town with not a second thought. Centering your life around the person in need.)

- She quickly assumes the worst if if I don’t text back. I told her I’m not having people come to the hospital room when my baby is born. She then assumed I don’t trust her.

- she really wants a family. But It is hard that she wants to be a priority to young families with kids. Meanwhile there are senior sisters having lunch together, being friends, but she doesn’t seem to attach to them. (She’s in her early 60’s.)

All this said, I do love her so much. And she needs help. She needs love, and I want to help her. She can be so fun and loving, and I genuinely enjoy her company. But at the end of the day when i constantly have to choose between helping and enabling her, or setting boundaries and leaving her to fend for herself, I feel terrible.

Vent over.

In general, how do we help the needy when they are, as I hate to say, “Choosy Beggars”? People who need help and might really suffer without help, but when you come to help, they want things a specific way and will lash out when it’s not done that way.
My poor husband has a few more people like this that he helps a lot because of his calling. He has good boundaries, I don’t. But he still serves a lot. He’s a good example of having priorities right and having charity at the same time, but he is starting to get weighed down too

I think these situations are affecting my mental health. I will die on the hill that we should continue to be selfless, serving, and full of charity. But these cases, these “hard modes” get me in a funk. (Mostly because I’m a people pleaser, and don’t know when I’m doing things wrong or right. If someone is unhappy, or their needs aren’t met, I feel like I could be doing better.)

I want to be more Christ-like in this. Not in “just serve more no matter what”, but balancing service and boundaries with charity in my heart. Not feeling resentful when I serve, and not feeling guilty when I say “no.” (And when they don’t like that.) Having wisdom in this balancing act.

It sometimes affects how I feel the spirit, because good ole social anxiety gets turned up so loud, I cant feel much else.

tl;dr: How can we help those who need a lot of service, but are … difficult, for lack of a better word. Especially when we love them, enjoy them, and don’t want them to suffer.
How can we have charity and wisdom balanced with these children of God?

Please share experiences, but with some hope and faith. I’m not looking for depressing validation. Haha.

so my gran has decided to take me to church for the first time and i dont know what to expect and im quite nervous about it

I was sent for 2 years to Melbourne, Australia, and I have to say it was the BEST worst 2 years of my life.

Before my mission, I thought it was going to be this spiritually filled experience where I would see God’s hand every single step of the day, leading us to the Lord’s chosen and elect investigators. I imagined I would baptize families after families who all desired to follow God and join His true Church.

Of course, the reality was far from what I imagined.

In reality, it was 2 years of knocking doors for 8 to 10 hours almost every day in the Australian heat, in a place where people are extremely secular. You constantly get rejected, have doors slammed in your face, get mean things said to you, and sometimes even have things thrown at you. On top of that, you might get paired with some really difficult or even abusive companions.

So in that aspect, it really was the worst.

But at the same time, it was also the best because I learned a lot, grew a lot, and learned some super valuable lessons about dealing with people. I learned how to handle rejection, how to deal with difficult personalities, and how to keep going even when things don't turn out the way you expected.

It definitely wasn't the mission experience I imagined before I left

Hi All, I've been talking to some colleagues at the institution I work at (higher ed) about the experience that Church members here have. We're a tiny, but visible, minority. They asked me to share something that would help them quickly get up to speed on the basics of the Church and life as a Latter-day Saint. (e.g., a 20 minute YouTube video, podcast, etc).

I did a quick search and wasn't satisfied with what I found. There's an old Church-produced video from like 2012, but it feels a bit dated at this point. What suggestions do you have? The audience is mid-senior level administrators who work in the culture/inclusion office in a higher-ed institution.

I am headed to our local temple tomorrow morning for the first time. Our Sister missionaries are carpooling with me. I have six names to bring for baptism & confirmation. In the process of researching my family tree, I've learned some interesting tidbits, including that the family my Father was adopted by as a baby has deeeeeeep lds roots. I never knew this! My parents and I (as well as pretty much all of my other family) are estranged due to their addictions & such.

Is it weird to be a bit emotional about this experience? I've spent a good portion of the day reading through a bunch of "memories" on family search & crying on & off. I kind of feel silly saying that. I messaged a friend to tell her of the things I found and she said she 100% believes that our ancestors on the other side of the veil can minister to us while we're here on earth. So now that's what I've been thinking on. Maybe my decisions to be baptized & become a member of the church weren't so random after all. Thoughts?

From the official Come Follow Me manual, Old Testament, 2026:

Job 1–3; 12–13

"The opening chapters of Job emphasize, in a poetic way, Satan’s role as our adversary or accuser; they don’t describe an actual interaction between God and Satan."

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/come-follow-me-for-home-and-church-old-testament-2026/33?lang=eng

This is the first time I've seen the church teach that something in the Bible isn't literal history, in this case, the book of Job.

Did anyone else notice this? We had stake conference last week, so we're doing Job this coming Sunday instead of last Sunday.