Sorry my picture today is sloppy. It's supposed to be two LDS teenagers on a humanitarian mission, building a school. They're wearing hardhats. One teenage girl is using a shovel. The hearts on their shirts represent the Christ-like love they feel toward the people they serve. The brick wall in the far left of the picture represents the secure environment in which the faithful teens labor.
There are many other symbols in this picture, the meanings of which ought not to be revealed at this time, but if the Gentiles can discover their meanings through study, then so be it. Just kidding. Ha ha ha.
And sorry I'm starting my post with an apology. LOL. I'd love to write on this blog more. I have lots of ideas for more reasons to stay LDS, and I'll write them down whenever I get around to it. So stay tuned!
Did I mention I'm doing this blog for free, in my free time, which I have very little of, and I'm offering it to you for free? I hope you appreciate what I do for you. I could be sleeping, you know. Or I could be watching Master Chef. I've missed a lot of episodes lately, and I really like Master Chef.
Or I could be making myself a burrito with some of those yummy food storage beans.
Instead I'm sitting at my computer, slaving away at the keyboard, ALL FOR YOU!!!
OK, OK, less about me, more about HEFY...
A few months ago I went to a family reunion and one of my cousins talked about how she went to EFY during the summer, but it wasn't exactly EFY... it had and "H" in front of it, so it was HEFY, which stands for Humanitarian Experience for Youth. Well, my cousin went to some third world country and built a school or an orphanage or something like that. She's a really nice girl and it sounded really nice. I think she got teary-eyed when she described how her love of the Savior and her love of humanity grew during her HEFY experience.
I had never heard of HEFY before, but it sounded a heck of a lot more productive than listening to John Bytheway make corny jokes and suffering through awkward church dances, which is what they do at EFY.
And then tonight I googled stuff and found the HEFY website, and their website looks just great.
HEFY isn't the type of thing that gets a lot of press. It's not controversial. There's probably been a hundred articles in the media in the last few years about the Church possibly withdrawing from the Boy Scouts of America due to all the gay drama. But how many articles have you come across about HEFY?
Oh, I should mention that HEFY is not an official Church thing, but it's done by all LDS people, so it's safe to say that HEFY is the child of the modern LDS culture.
HEFY is great for Mormons with non-traditional testimonies, because it's all about Christlike service. It's not about indoctrination or proselyting or the trivial aspects of Mormonism or anything like that.
I think the mission and actions of the HEFY participants are very closely aligned with the mission and actions of our Savior, Jesus Christ. In that regard, it's a lot like justserve.org, which is another great thing that the Church has done.
If you stay LDS, you'll continue to be a part of a loving community that acts on its altruistic instincts, as demonstrated by the existence of HEFY. You'll continue to be around good people, and you'll continue to participate in blessing the Earth.
I met you on NOM about a year ago, we talked about my plan to put up some material online that was similar to your way of thinking. Come check it out and tell me what you think. http://www.churchistrue.com/
ReplyDeleteI only looked at your website briefly. I think it's good and interesting. It looks like we've arrived at different conclusions when it comes to the fundamental truth claims of the church, but that's okay. I'm happy that you're in the church. I wish we were in the same ward or stake or something. Then we could have some good conversations in real life. But the people who can talk at length about controversial church history and doctrine are few and far between, at least in my neck of the woods. So I can understand the impulse to talk about this stuff online. You, like me, have seen the need to put controversial church stuff online, and I think that's cool. Keep on keeping on. Thanks for making contact.
DeleteI really need someone to talk to. I have looked at the NOM page and that's not the direction I want to go at this time. It's hard to find someone who might understand how I feel.
ReplyDeleteAlone in a crowd
Hey, I don't check the comments super often, so I just saw your comment. Yeah, it's helpful to have people in real life who you can talk to. Try venting to non-members. Do you have any non member friends or family you can talk to? What direction do you want to go in, spiritually? My advice is, try to talk to people in real life. I think that's usually better than talking with strangers on the Internet.
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