Mormon Church

Mormon girls ages twelve to eighteen have a special program called Personal Progress. Similar to a Scouting program, it teaches girls to prepare for life in whatever form their society requires without taking from them their femininity and their place as a daughter of God. They learn they can get a good education and prepare for a career, but still plan to become traditional wives and mothers, whose educations will either prepare them to support a family if they must, or allow them to share their knowledge with their children. They can live in a world that celebrates immorality, but hold on to virtue as a guiding principle, supported by other girls and women who share their values. Mormon girls aren’t tucked away in a sheltered community, but are part of their world, but on their own terms.

This year, the program for the Young Women has been given a modern make-over. The new book that guides them is pink, to remind them to celebrate their femininity and to help them hold onto their sacred roles as daughters of God.

“We are excited about the color of pink, because we think these young women are pink. They resonate to the softness and the femininity of that color. We want them to understand that they are soft, they are unique, they are feminine and that they don’t have to be like the boys,” explained Elaine Dalton, who leads the Young Women’s program for the entire church (Weaver, Sarah Jane. “LDS Church News – Fostering spiritual growth among Latter-day Saint young women.” LDS Church News – Authorized News Web site of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Jan. 2010. http://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/58379/Fostering-spiritual-growth-among-Latter-day-Saint-young-women.html.

The girls work throughout their teenaged years on a series of values the Church wants to them live and achieve throughout their lives. These values are faith, divine nature, individual worth, knowledge, choice and accountability, good works, integrity and virtue. Virtue was added last year, in response to the increasing lack of respect for morality in our world.

Girls develop leadership by completing several ten hour service projects, which they plan and carry out. They may invite others to join them, but they are in charge. They also assist other girls with their own projects. Through this they learn to serve others, lead, and follow responsible leaders. Adult program leaders, parents, and other mentors guide them and monitor their progress, but the girls are essentially responsible for pacing themselves, deciding how to complete the program, and making sure they set and meet their goals. This helps them learn to be responsible adults who will continually progress throughout life. It prepares them for college, careers, and parenthood as well.

Because the program is now open to women of all ages, girls may work on the program with their mothers, even approving and signing off each other’s accomplishments. This allows girls to develop a closer relationship with their mothers and to be influenced as they watch their mothers strive for improvement.

Teenage girls are divided into three classes. Twelve and thirteen year olds are known as Beehives. Their class symbol is now a beehive, representing harmony, cooperation, and hard work, all skills they need to develop as they move into a more adult life. Fourteen and fifteen year old girls are known as Mia Maids. In the past, the program for all teenagers was known as MIA, standing for Mutual Improvement Association. Today, it is generally referred to as Mutual. The symbol for this class is the rose, representing love, purity, and faith. The oldest girls are called Laurels. A laurel wreath represents this class and stands for honor and accomplishment.

Girls earn ribbons for each value they complete, which can then be used as bookmarks in their scriptures. They also receive a certificate each time they advance to a new class.

Throughout the program, girls keep a journal that is provided to them. They record what they are learning and how it impacts their testimony and personal growth.

Girls work on the goals of the program throughout their teen years. If they complete the program early, they can serve as mentors to other girls. By mentoring others, reading scriptures again, and doing additional service for others, they can earn an award called the Honor Bee.

When the program is completed, girls receive a medallion that has the class symbols and the temple on it. The rose from the Mia Maid program has a ruby in the center, taken from Proverbs 31:10 (Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.)

The entire program is focused around the temple. Adult Mormons may receive permission to enter temples and the teen years are important to the preparation for that experience. The temple is an appropriate symbol for the youth program, because only worthy adults may enter. (Teens may enter only limited portions of the building after they turn fourteen.) The requirements to enter the temple are those they learn in their youth program. They must live a moral and virtuous life to qualify, upholding standards of purity, modesty, honesty, service, and obedience to the commandments of God.

Leaders remind the girls that the program isn’t an isolated part of their life—it is their life. The assignments for the program encompass the ordinary threads of daily life—schoolwork, socialization, church work, family life, and gospel living. When they sit down to work on the program, they will quickly realize they are already doing many of the things required. The goals they set are not separate from their lives. They work to improve their study habits, for instance, or investigate career possibilities. They learn to cook, to manage money, and to do other tasks they will need as adults. They read good literature and select good music. The program serves as a guide for gathering all the pieces of a teenager’s life and incorporating it into a Christ-like life that brings them closer to the Savior and helps them to live as He taught them to live.

The program also helps them to select and follow quality role models. Instead of modeling their lives after their favorite movie star, they work closely with adult women, including their mothers, who are living successful and moral lives. As they get to know these women as real people, and have glimpses into their lives and insights, they can begin to decide what type of adult they want to become, and to start making the changes and developing the skills necessary to do so.

The Young Women’s program serves as a guide for life, and the make-over is not a substantial change in content, but merely a modernizing and focusing change, to be certain girls understand the ultimate goal of becoming more like the Savior.

God never promised life would be easy. In fact, trials are one reason we were sent here to live on earth. Through our trials, we learn to trust God and to

 turn to Him for comfort and hope. A new website by the Mormons offers counsel and inspiration for those seeking to hold on to hope in the most difficult of circumstances.

Finding Hope offers this promise to visitors:

Finding hope in Jesus Christ sustains us through times of difficulty and despair, teaching us there is reason to rejoice even when darkness seems to surround us.

The website opens with a video of a talk given by Dieter F. Uchtdorf, an apostle of the Lord and a counselor to the Mormon prophet, called The Infinite Power of Hope. He teaches that we learn to have faith and hope gradually, a step at a time. We can learn to trust that our prayers will be answered. He reminds us that the atonement of Jesus Christ offers hope to even the bleakest moments, and can bring us joy.

President Uchtdorf understands the power of hope. He began his life in Czechoslovakia near the end of the Second World War. His father was drafted into the German army when President Uchtdorf was only three, and his mother was left to do the best she could with a young family. The children and their mother were often hungry and afraid. Finally, his mother decided to flee to Germany, where her family lived, crossing war zones and enduring hunger. President Uchtdorf notes that his mother did not sit back in fear. She acted in faith.

Another video offers to story of Victor Guzmon, a survivor of the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center. He talks about his struggles after the attacks, and how the Gospel of Jesus Christ helped him to find peace and acceptance.

Further down the page, you’ll find personal stories from real people, sharing how they learned to allow Jesus Christ to bring peace into their challenging lives. In these stories, you’ll discover tools you can use to find your own peace.

On the right hand side are three questions site visitors might have about hope: What is hope? How can hope help me? What do I need to do to find hope? Clicking on these questions will take you to brief explanations of the answers, and links to further resources.

Hope is defined as trusting God. God is our Father in Heaven and He loves us completely and unconditionally. He knows us better than anyone else and He knows what the future holds. He can guide us to make the right choices if we allow Him to do so. In time, we can learn that even our trials can become blessings as they help us to grow and mature. We can choose to be afraid or to let those trials destroy us, or we can choose to strengthen our relationship with God and let them become blessings. As we have to make choices during our trials, we can turn to God in prayer to receive perfect guidance. God can’t end all our trials, or prevent them in the first place, because they are often helpful to us. Some trials impact others. Some are caused by the agency of others, or our own agency. However, He can give us the strength to get through them and He can help us learn the purpose of each trial and how to use it to better our lives and the lives of others.

Would you like to teach others, including your children to have hope? Organize a family night with your children and prepare a brief lesson on hope and how it can help them. Just below the links discussed above are links to other resources. One of them takes you to media that can be used to teach others, including children. There are coloring pages of Jesus Christ and other hope-related topics, puzzles, games, and activities that can be printed off. The same section of links also takes you to beautiful music about hope you can listen to or sing with your family.

Images of hope is one of my favorite pages on the site. It contains paintings of the life of Jesus Christ. Through the eyes of great artists, we can view the birth, childhood, ministry, death, and resurrection of the Savior.

The final link in this section takes you to a list of scriptures about hope. Read what the Bible says about the subject and learn how we can apply them to our own lives.

Thomas S. Monson, the Mormon prophet, teaches: “Faith and doubt cannot exist in the same mind at the same time, for one will dispel the other.” (See Thomas S. Monson, “Come unto Him in Prayer and Faith,” Ensign, Mar 2009, 4–9. When we increase our faith, our ability to hope also grows.

The Book of Mormon is a book of scripture the Mormons use in addition to the Bible. It states: “And now as I said concerning faith—faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true (Alma 32:21). From this scripture in the Book of Mormon, we learn we don’t have to have perfect faith in order to have hope and comfort. If we had a perfect knowledge, it wouldn’t be faith. We can begin to develop our faith in God in small ways, gradually increasing our ability to trust God and to act on that trust.

In the strictest sense, the word exmormon simply refers to someone who chose to end his membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Members of the Church are sometimes referred to informally as Mormons, and so an ex-mormon is a former Mormon. However, the term is more commonly used to refer not to people who simply left and moved on, but to those who then devote themselves to attacking the church.

There are many reasons a person might do this. While most people who leave a religion—any religion—simply join a new one or abandon organized religion and go about their new lives quietly, a few feel a need to attack and to demonstrate hatred for the life they left behind. Some who do this had a disagreement with another member or with a leader. Some objected to counsel given to them by a leader. These people find themselves unable or unwilling to forgive or to resolve the matter in an amicable and Christ-like manner and as a result, organize their new life around a pattern of revenge. Some are unhappy at the church’s unwillingness to let fads and fashion dictate truth, and are resentful that the Church has chosen not to make their favorite sins acceptable. Others feel uncertain about their decision and feel the only way to justify their choice is to “prove” the church is untrue. They feel if they can find or invent enough negatives and convince others to agree with them, it will help to justify their actions, even though the only people they need to convince are themselves and God.

Frequently their behavior demonstrates itself in repeating very old and usually disproven arguments to those who have not taken the time to research them, in hopes of bringing other religious people into their fold. They sometimes hold the Book of Mormon to a different standard than they hold the Bible. For instance, they write long papers on the lack of scientific evidence for horses in the Americas in ancient times, while ignoring the  lack of scientific evidence for lions in the Biblical lands. These arguments frequently confuse faith and science. Generally, the arguments developed, with minor tweaks, back in the early days of the church and regenerate each generation.

The majority of religious people are not especially interested in attacking Mormons and so these numbers, while working hard to maintain a loud presence, really make up a very small segment of the religious population or even the former Mormon population.

There is a story in the Book of Mormon about a prophet named Lehi and his son Nephi, who also became a prophet. Lehi saw a vision that was later shown to Nephi, who recorded it in the early chapters of the book. In this vision, there was a beautiful tree. Lehi understood the tree’s fruit was highly desirable and eating it will bring great joy. He invited his family to eat the fruit, and the righteous family members did, but the unrighteous chose not to partake.

There is a river running toward the tree, and a straight and narrow path beside it. Along the path is an iron rod. As multitudes of people strove to reach the tree, a mist of darkness arose, making it difficult for people to see how to reach the tree. However, those who held onto the rod—which represents God’s word—reached the tree safely. Those who did not were lost.

Some ignored the rod or got tired of holding on and let go; these fell away and were lost. Others held onto the rod and reached the tree. They tasted it, but were unable somehow to experience the joy others felt upon tasting it. This is because they looked around to see how others were reacting to all this. Those people noted a large and spacious building nearby, filled with people in expensive, elegant clothing. The people in the building were laughing, mocking, and harassing those who ate the fruit. Of course, some were secure enough to trust their own judgment and wisdom and they ignored the mockers, enjoying the full benefits of the fruit, which represented God’s love. Others, though, could not tune out the mockers. These people were embarrassed at being laughed at, and listened to the words of the mockers. They wandered off the path and went back to their former lives or chose new ones, forgetting or ignoring the goal they had once worked to achieve. However, some simply could not just move on. They went to the building and joined the mockers in a life filled with the emptiness of contention and anger.

This is, in many ways, representative of the exmormon world. Mormons feel sorrow for those who leave. They are Mormons because they believe it is the straight and narrow road to Christ. Those who leave are not usually overwhelmingly obsessed with what they left behind, although they often have a sense of what they have lost if they have maintained contact with the Spirit. Most Christians are too busy living lives of Christian service and sharing their own beliefs to worry too much about the teachings of others. Those who abandoned religion completely generally just move on to a secular life.

It is those who hang out in the great and spacious building and devote their lives to mocking and attacking who generally receive the title of exmormon. Rather than focusing on the love and service Christ taught us to live by, they remain trapped in a world of anger and contention. Paul warned:

8 This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men.

  9 But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain. (See Titus 3)

The Church hopes former members will allow healing to enter into their hearts and longs for their return.

In 1985, at Christmas time, the leaders of the church prepared a special invitation to those who had left the Church. It read in part:

We are aware of some who are inactive, of others who have become critical and are prone to find fault, and of those who have been disfellowshipped or excommunicated because of serious transgressions.

To all such we reach out in love. We are anxious to forgive in the spirit of Him who said: “I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men.” (D&C 64:10.)

We encourage Church members to forgive those who may have wronged them. To those who have ceased activity and to those who have become critical, we say, “Come back. Come back and feast at the table of the Lord, and taste again the sweet and satisfying fruits of fellowship with the Saints.”

We are confident that many have longed to return, but have felt awkward about doing so. We assure you that you will find open arms to receive you and willing hands to assist you. (See News of the Church,” Ensign, Mar 1986, 82–88.)

The Mormons are sometimes seen as having a great many restrictive rules. Mormons themselves know that within the rules are many opportunities for freedom, and that these rules actually make them freer than those with no rules.

An often-used example of freedom within structure is the sonnet. A sonnet is a poem with very strict rules.

Shakespeare’s sonnets each contained fourteen lines. Every line had ten syllables written in iambic pentameter. Despite this very strict structure, Shakespeare managed to come up with 154 sonnets, all different, and many other people have also created sonnets based on this formula. The structure does not prevent people from being creative and writing something close to their heart. Rather, it actually frees the author. By having the structure in place, the poet is free to focus all his attention on the message and wording of the poem, which, after all, is the point of a poem.

In the same way, a Mormon is free to live a life of great variety without breaking any  commandments. Mormons are found in many different careers living very different lifestyles and fitting well into the good parts of their cultures and neighborhoods. They do have similarities, because they have certain values and practices in common, but there are thousands of life patterns within that structure.

The structure provided them by the teachings of the church allow them a greater freedom than is possible for most people. It is a great deal of work to have to decide for oneself what is right or wrong, studying it out, analyzing, and researching and then constantly making course corrections to fit into society’s changing norms. Mormons, although taught to study issues for themselves, know they can turn to God for a final answer, rather than constantly, throughout their lives, having to monitor their choices against the priorities of ever-changing fads and values found in the world.

Truth is unchanging, and once a Mormon has determined what is true, he is free to move on and focus on other aspects of his life, such as building a strong family and serving others. The priorities have been set and they can then structure their lives accordingly. This may be one reason Mormons are often in the forefront of many important movements and services. They have time to do them because they aren’t constantly rebuilding their foundations.

N. Eldon Tanner said:

We must know and understand the doctrines in order to be obedient, and we must be obedient in order to be free. This applies to the laws of God and the laws of the land. Too often we think of freedom only as the quality or state of being free from external restraint or compulsion, and not subject to the will of another, where we have the power of choice with every person free to “do his own thing,” regardless of its effect on him or others.

Brigham Young made this statement:

“There is not a man of us but what is willing to acknowledge at once that God demands strict obedience to his requirements. But in rendering that strict obedience, are we made slaves? No, it is the only way on the face of the earth for you and me to become free, and we shall become slaves of our own passions, and of the wicked one, … and servants to the devil, if we take any other course.” (Journal of Discourses, 18:246.)

N. Eldon Tanner, “‘Ye Shall Know the Truth’,” Ensign, May 1978, 14

A Mormon makes one important choice and that allows some other choices to fall into place. At some point in their lives, whether they are converts or have been attending church all their lives, they each take the time to decide for themselves that the church is true and that God has restored his gospel and provided a prophet to guide us. This is not blind faith, because they have gone to the only source of truth to learn whether or not they are following someone who is receiving his instructions from God. They need not trust the prophet’s word that he is the prophet until God has agreed. At any time in the future, a Mormon may pray about a specific doctrine he isn’t sure about, but he generally finds it unnecessary to pray about each teaching. This is much like when a child learns a hot stove will burn his hand if he touches it. He may test it out a few more times, but after that, he has no need to test it every time he encounters a hot stove, or even a different type of hot item. He simply acts according to the knowledge he has already received and takes precautions each time he encounters heat.

Sheri Dew, a prominent Mormon, said:

I personally know tens of thousands of youth and young adults who are living morally clean lives. They are happy, productive, and anxiously engaged in becoming engaged. Moral purity is not outdated. Admittedly, it is also not easy. But I submit that it is easier than the alternative. Virtuous men and women never worry about a surprise pregnancy or sexually transmitted disease. Never agonize over confessing unfaithfulness. Have no emptiness after a one-night stand. No pain in losing one’s family to infidelity. No haunting memories of indiscretions. Quoting C. S. Lewis, “Virtue—even attempted virtue—brings light; indulgence brings fog.”¹⁰  (See Sheri L. Dew: The Power of Virtue)

It is this freedom from fear, negative consequences, and uncertainty that gives Mormons assurance and peace, and the freedom to live a life that is meaningful and joyful.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as Mormons, are transcribing and putting online a large number of Swedish records, constituting the largest indexing project they have undertaken. The final project will put 200 years of parish records online to assist genealogists in their research. This is a critical project because almost

every Swedish person since 1608 has had a church record. When the record is complete, genealogists will be able to search some 400 million names at no cost. The original records will be available through a private firm, which may charge, but the transcribed records will be available through the Mormons free. The work will be done by Swedish-speaking volunteers, both Mormon and non-Mormon who care about genealogy.

In 2008, the Church launched its online indexing program, in which volunteers spend a half hour or more each week as they’re able indexing various genealogical records, including census records and vital records. Volunteers work from their own computer following a brief online, self-paced training. Then, whenever they have some time, they log in to the site and select a project to complete. Most projects require about a half hour to complete. Some involve transcribing a handwritten record and others simply require the indexer to place typed data into a form from a copy of the document. The volunteer may work on the project whenever they have time, saving it to the server if they are interrupted. If the project is not completed in one week, it is given to another person to finish. Each project is done by two people, and differences in their results are analyzed by a trained person. This minimizes error and gives inexperienced volunteers confidence.

Older genealogists who have memories of spending hours in genealogy libraries scrolling through endless roles of microfilm are in awe of the ease this program has created. Many records are already online and available to researchers, who can track down a birth record or census film right in their own home without the time or cost previously required.

Current projects include the 1920 census, New Zealand passenger lists, Australian cemetery inscriptions and Canadian marriages. Some researchers enjoy working on projects that might include their own ancestors and others simply select projects that look interesting. Some have favorite types of projects. For instance, many enjoy the census records because of the glimpse they give into long ago families.

Mormon beliefs include the knowledge that God never intended for us to divorce our loved ones at death. Mormons believe that marriage and parenthood continue into the eternities and that families can be joined together for eternity. For this reason, genealogy takes on a special meaning as church members become acquainted with those who will be part of their eternal families, and many develop a strong sense of connection to people who died before they were born as they learn of their life stories. Eternal families are one reason for Mormon genealogy

Mormons perform the work necessary to make this eternal family come into being in their temples. Mormon temples are special buildings not used for regular worship. They are a place to learn about the Savior, Jesus Christ, to make covenants (promises) with Him, and to carry out eternal ordinances which allow those who died without the gospel to be offered a chance at the ordinances required for eternal life. Having these ordinances performed does not make them Mormons. After an ordinance is performed by a living proxy, the deceased person is given the opportunity to accept or reject the gift that was given. If he rejects it, it is as if it never happened. If he accepts, it stands as if he’d done so himself in his own lifetime. However, we always have our agency, and this continues after death, so each individual has the right to choose. The names of those for whom work is done is not entered into church membership records, since there is no way to know whether or not the person accepted.

The records being placed online are available to both Mormons and non-Mormons to assist them in their genealogical research. This new record, like others before it, will be a searchable database, eliminating the need to spend hours scrolling through lists.

Recently, Elder Russell M. Ballard spoke to graduating students at Brigham Young University, a school owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Members of this church are often informally known as Mormons. He counseled them in ways to discuss their religion with others, pointing out

that most topics of greatest interest to detractors are not critical elements of the current religion, but are fringe elements or practices no longer carried out. He advised them to keep the discussions focused on the core of the religion, the elements that affect salvation, rather than those that are merely interesting intellectual discussion points.

“When all is said and done, the most important thing about you and your testimony is that you base your beliefs on what Jesus Christ taught, and you try to follow Him by living your life in a way acceptable to our Heavenly Father and to the Lord.

This is your foundation. It was Joseph Smith’s foundation. He said: “The fundamental principles of our religion are the testimony of the Apostles and Prophets, concerning Jesus Christ, that He died, he was buried, and rose again the third day, and ascended into heaven; and all other things which pertain to our religion are only appendages to it.”

(See Elder M. Russell Ballard: Engaging Without Being Defensive.)

Every religion has information or writings that cover a wide spectrum of information. Some of this information is essential to the salvation of the believer, but much of it is not. For instance, we must know who created the world and believe that, but we don’t have to know exactly how long it took. That is merely interesting fodder for debate or curiosity, but has nothing to do with our salvation. It’s interesting to read the genealogy in the Old Testament, but there won’t be a test on it when we stand before the Savior in judgment. Some stories in the Bible are curious and we don’t really understand why a Biblical prophet made the choices he did, but most of the time, we don’t need to know.

What we do need to know is that God is our loving Father in Heaven, and Jesus Christ is His only begotten Son. Jesus died for us and is the only path through which we may return to God someday. We need to learn how to identify truth by communicating directly with God to learn it.

It is these things the Mormons focus on in their daily spiritual life. They work to build a loving relationship with God and Jesus Christ and to understand how They would have us live from day to day. They strive to be good family members and good citizens. They study the Savior’s life and then try to understand how to live that way themselves.

While groups who work to oppose the church often focus on unimportant intellectual games, the Mormons are busy trying to be like Jesus. When talking with a Mormon, it is important to remember they aren’t generally very interested in those fringe topics. Their testimony isn’t based on history or science, but on faith. This faith came about after developing a close and personal relationship with God and then trusting Him to answer their questions in ways they could understand. They worked to know God so well they easily recognize Him when He communicates with them.

There is little purpose in presenting a Mormon who really knows Christ with the teachings of men, which are unreliable and changing. They aren’t interested in using those teachings as a foundation for their eternal salvation. They know the Creator, and it is only His words that matter.

This question is often asked by evangelicals, and is, in general, a misunderstanding of the Mormon teachings on what happens after death and how we control that.

Many evangelicals teach that a person gets to heaven by being “saved.” This involves the act of accepting Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. At the same time, they teach that acts cannot get you into Heaven. The Mormons also believe that a person must accept Jesus Christ as His Savior in order to return to God’s presence after death. Both groups agree that at least one act is required of all of us in order to be with God.

The confusion over the number of acts required to be saved comes from the differences in terminology used by Mormons. Mormons believe everyone is saved through the atonement of Jesus Christ, even if they never accept Jesus Christ as their Savior. However, grace and eternal life, to a Mormon, are not the same thing. To understand this complex issue, let’s look at several essential points.

Mormons are rather known for being a meeting people. They have meetings and they have meetings to plan meetings. But what do they do at all these meetings?

The most important meeting is Sacrament Meeting. This is held each Sunday and is the primary worship service. Because Mormons are run by a lay clergy, the bishop, who is the equivalent of a pastor, does not give the sermon each week. Every part of the meeting is done by someone donating his time and talents.

The meeting is held in the chapel, which is very simply designed. There are no statues, and newer buildings don’t have pictures. There is a “stand” which is a raised area at the front of the room. This contains seating for the choir, leadership, and speakers, and usually also contains a piano and an organ. There is a podium which sometimes has flowers and always has tissues because Mormons tend to cry when they feel the spirit strongly.

As worshippers arrive, prelude music is played by a volunteer. The meeting opens with a member of the bishopric-the bishop or one of his two counselors-welcoming everyone and conducting any necessary business. There is an opening song led by a chorister and a prayer given by any adult or teenaged member of the congregation who is invited to do so. Women are allowed to pray and preach in Mormon meetings. The prayer is given in the member’s own words.

Sometimes a person is confirmed a new member of the church or a baby is blessed (similar to a christening.)

After these preliminaries, and when announcements and information about who has been invited to fill church positions recently has been handled, the sacrament portion of the meeting begins. This is the primary reason for the meeting to be held. At this time, the members of the congregation sing a song about the death or resurrection of the Savior, Jesus Christ. Then the Sacrament is blessed and passed to the congregation.

The Sacrament is blessed by boys or men who hold the priesthood. The priesthood holder must be at least sixteen years old. They stand in one corner of the stand at the front of the room at an alter. One priesthood holder says the prayer, which is one of the few prescribed prayers in the church, to bless the bread. Boys or men who are at least twelve years old take the trays from the people who blessed the sacrament and take it out into the congregation. These prayers can be read in the Doctrine and Covenants. This is followed by the blessing and passing of the water. The trays are taken to the ends of rows. Members take their portion and then hold the tray for the person sitting beside them as he or she takes it. A person who is not a member of the church can simply take the tray and hold it for the next person, without partaking.

The taking of the Sacrament allows members to renew promises they made to God at baptism and reminds them of the atonement of Jesus Christ. As the sacrament is passed, members sit quietly and think about Jesus or read their scriptures. Young children often look at pictures of Jesus during this time.

When this is finished, several members of the congregation give talks or brief sermons. This time often begins with five minute talks by one or two teenagers, followed by longer talks given by adults. Both men and women are invited by a leader to speak and are assigned a topic. The meeting is generally focused on a single theme chosen by leaders for that week. In this way, the speakers have been given an opportunity to study a topic for a week and then to share their insights, favorite scriptures, and meaningful quotes related to the topic. The congregation gains the insights of many different people over the course of a year.

There is sometimes an intermediate hymn midway through the talks.

At the end of the meeting, there is a song and a prayer, again given by a member of the congregation, and members are dismissed to go to classes.

It’s important to note that children attend the Sacrament Service with their families. There is no nursery for this portion of the day. This means Mormon services are sometimes a bit noisy, but members feel it is important for children to attend this service and to have lifelong memories of worshipping with their children. Many parents bring quiet books or toys for the youngest children. Despite this, there can be a fair amount of noise and even the occasional escapee, a toddler who gets away from his parents and decides to go visit the bishop up on the stand. However, the Savior made it very clear during his ministry that children matter to the Lord and that we must not turn them away. Mormons are accepting of the necessary distractions of children in meetings, even as they strive to teach their children to behave.

After the Sacrament meeting, people move on to various classes. Children who are eighteen months to age three attend a nursery class, which is not just a playtime, but is an actual class with lessons, music, and educational activities. Children ages three to twelve attend Primary. During half of Primary, they are in classes divided by age. The other half, they are in Sharing Time, where they are with all the children in Primary or half of them, divided by age. Here they have a participatory lesson and a music time.

Teenagers attend Sunday School with students their own age, and then split into two groups, one for boys and one for girls. They attend a class that helps them learn the practical aspects of the gospel-how to take the doctrine and apply it to everyday life. During the week, they will have a week day activity once a week, and those fourteen and older will attend a daily scripture study class.

Adults begin with Sunday School, and then they too split into groups according to gender. Men attend a priesthood lesson, even if they don’t yet have the priesthood, and women attend Relief Society, an auxiliary that focuses on service and gospel education. Although the two groups study much the same thing, they do so from the perspective of their roles in life.

This entire process of three meetings takes three hours. Because the Sabbath is set aside for worship, this does not in any way impact the day for members. Even when they return home, they will keep the Sabbath Day holy, as God commanded, and continue with family or private worship, study, and contemplation.

Mormon meetings tend to be very simple. They are run by volunteers and are focused on the mission of the church, which is to bring people to Christ.

People often ask why Mormons don’t have female priesthood leaders. Today, there are still many churches, including The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, that do not have women in the priesthood, having noted from their study of the Bible that this was not the way it was done. Jesus had many women who followed Him, and whom He pointed out as outstanding examples of gospel living, but He didn’t select any of them to be His apostles. It was not that He considered them unable to do the work, or unworthy of the role; it was simply not the role assigned to women by God.

In the Catholic faith, canonization is the official recognition that someone is a saint and was so even prior to the

official recognition. A process is followed to allow the church to determine who is a saint.

Mormons (the nickname for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) do not follow this process. The term saint is used in the official name of the church and denotes, as used in the Bible, a community of people who followed God.