: do not give in to evil but proceed ever more boldly against it :

RM Guide Chapter 5 - Social and Family Transitions

As an RM, your transition back into your family is often the most difficult, so we’ll start with it. Sometimes family members just don’t quite understand that you are a different person than you were when you left. But you are a different person. You have grown up. You are independent. You can cook for yourself, clean for yourself, motivate yourself and most importantly think and act for yourself. Still, at times it may feel like your family still sees you as a wide-eyed 19-year-old kid. They have not watched you change and grow up, so they may treat you as if you have not.

“When I came home, my parents still tried to tell me what to do, what to study, what to wear, and even what to eat. They constantly asked me where I was going and what time I would be home. While I appreciated their concern, I felt like a little kid again. Almost like they didn’t trust me.”
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November 19, 2005 | Filed Under Religion 

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RM Guide Chapter 4 - Courtship and Marriage

Some RMs feel pressured to marry soon after they return home. Sadly, we’ve a few of our own friends rush into hasty post-mission marriages (temple marriages) that resulted in years of bitterness and even resulted in divorce because the couples rushed into a decision without appropriate thought or prayerfulness. On one occasion a friend of mine was engaged just three weeks after returning home and married soon thereafter. When he finally came down off his post-mission “high”, he said to me, “It’s not that I don’t love my wife, I do. I just wonder if I made the right decision. I didn’t even know who I was. I came home from my mission feeling invincible and decided that I’d marry right away. I met the girl, felt pretty good, and just went for it. But then the realities of life hit me in the face. Marriage is so stifling sometimes. I sometimes wish I was single, like you.” Whoa! That’s NOT the way it’s supposed to happen.
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November 11, 2005 | Filed Under Religion 

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The Easter Bunny and Religion

People do stupid things.

Last week a friend and I were discussing some people close to him and their recent decisions to relax their behavioral code because they no longer believed the origins of the religious tenants that required of them the behaviors. The odd thing is that the behaviors were those that science has also declared to be good. Read more

November 8, 2005 | Filed Under Misc 

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The Kite Runner

Tonight I finished the book “The Kite Runner.” Porter, it was every bit as good as you said it was. A truly good book. And by good, I mean “good”. Not entertaining (though it was). Not riveting (though it was). Not moving (thought it was). But good. I felt like a better person for having read it, and I felt like being a better person for having read it. Truly inspiring. (Though I would not recommend it to many people - especially those who are already blessed with a sensitivity and who are disturbed by depictions of savage brutality.)

It’s hitting the Recommended Reading list . . . now updated with a few more titles.

November 8, 2005 | Filed Under Books 

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RM Guide - Chapter 3 (Dating)

Many returned missionaries struggle with dating issues. One minute they aren’t allowed to look at members of the opposite sex, the next minute not only are they are allowed to look at them, they’re supposed to look at them, flirt with them, and even marry them. Talk about an abrupt change! For some, the transition into dating is a very difficult one and it takes them years to even get up the courage or desire to date. For others, the transition is not difficult, but they may be looking for the “mister” or “missus” the moment they get released from duty, then are disappointed when a serious relationship of marriage opportunity doesn’t immediately materialize. Often, these RMs manage to turn off most every unmarried member of the opposite sex with their overzealous pursuits. Some RMs easily into dating, meet great girls or guys they manage to not bore or offend, propose marriage successfully, and then are married without too much drama in the interim. Lucky them.
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November 6, 2005 | Filed Under Religion 

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