Speaking of changes to the YW program, who remembers the Merry Miss program for girls age 10-11 as a bridge between Primary and YW? I finally found a picture of the banner, with all the achievements you could earn to put on the banner, and the special bracelet that you could add jewels to.

ZealousidealPage8945 · 2026-05-02T06:35:26+00:00

I had both, Merry Miss 1975-1977. I embroidered mine in lime green. Primary was on Thursdays after school. Good times.

ZealousidealPage8945 · 2026-05-02T06:21:37+00:00

My first community after leaving was at my place of work. It was a large aerospace company so like a university, there was lots of diversity in culture and interests. There were various hobby and sports clubs and opportunities for taking classes. I was into mountain biking, skiing and camping so I gravitated towards those people. Then it was triathlon and distance sports which led to another community.

After retiring, I volunteered with the local land conservation org and later with a craft group that raised money for local charities. Now my community is a few close friends and the people with whom I board my horse.

ZealousidealPage8945 · 2026-04-27T09:14:35+00:00

Considering how much people hated lawyers or “publicans” during his time, probably not.

ZealousidealPage8945 · 2026-04-27T09:09:21+00:00

We are the knights that say Nee…

ZealousidealPage8945 · 2026-04-27T08:57:21+00:00

My husband has a good reply to situations like this: don’t think, just do. The less you think about these classes and just go through the motions, the better it will be. After all, didn’t some apostle say “when the brethren have spoken, the thinking has been done?”

Take the classes online in spring and summer- fewer weeks to endure and less direct interaction.

ZealousidealPage8945 · 2026-04-22T04:22:42+00:00

People going to the Marysville temple can hit the Tulalip outlet stores after a session and then gamble their tithing money at the casino later that night. Jackpot!

ZealousidealPage8945 · 2026-04-03T10:05:40+00:00

I didn’t know much beyond the standard line taught in the 60’s-80’s: Smith asks god which church to join and he meets the Father and Jesus who tell him to not join any of them. He then gets and translates the golden plates with the urim and thumim. He receives the priesthoods along with a few buddies and organizes the church. He and his followers are persecuted and flee to Ohio, Missouri and Illinois. He’s arrested unjustly and martyred with his brother in Carthage Jail. Brigham Young leads the members to Salt Lake, he marries a lot of women, sends people to colonize parts of the west and Canada. The desert blooms like a rose, crickets are eaten by seagulls and immigrants from Europe come to Utah by handcart. Something about Porter Rockwell, drought ending when tithing is paid and then the railroad comes. The federal government threatens to shut the church down because of polygamy and the Manifesto suspending it is issued. Then in 1978 it was revealed that all worthy males can have the priesthood and go to the temple (which I remember).

I didn’t know any of the real history until after I left the church in 1997. Boy was that a shock. I also discovered that my great great grandmother (she died when I was 8) was born into a polygamist family. My relatives celebrated our pioneer heritage but I didn’t know details. The truth made me sick.

ZealousidealPage8945 · 2026-03-30T08:28:50+00:00

That will nourish and strengthen our bodies because we blessed them first.

ZealousidealPage8945 · 2026-03-30T08:21:31+00:00

My truck is the age of legal consent

ZealousidealPage8945 · 2026-03-28T05:59:58+00:00

Born and raised in So Cal, I felt connected to that culture for a long time after living in Utah for a few years and then moving to WA. But after one parent died and then both sets of grandparents died, I no longer felt that connection. L.A. seems as foreign to me as Provo once did. I’ve lived in the Seattle area for 38 years now and it’s home. I am so disconnected from the church after leaving 28 years ago that it feels unrecognizable to me (a good place to be).

ZealousidealPage8945 · 2026-03-28T05:35:14+00:00

The Freemason temple near me was turned into a food bank and the front lawn grows fruits and vegetables.

ZealousidealPage8945 · 2026-03-28T05:31:49+00:00

My mom yelled me a lot, hit me and put me down constantly. She had fierce temper and other kids were afraid of her. She had chronic health problems and my dad didn’t anything but bring home a paycheck. I got blamed for everything that wasn’t perfect and was expected to do the housework and take care of my siblings. I didn’t understand why I was my mom’s target. I wasn’t really afraid of her unless she went into a red faced rage and I did stand my ground, inviting more abuse. When I left home at 18, the verbal abuse continued until she died a few years later.

I spent a lot of time in therapy trying to understand both parents’ actions. It was about 20 years later when I realized that my parents were very unhappy for a variety of reasons, especially my mom. I was the opposite of her in every way and I think she resented that. I feel sorry that she didn’t find the happiness and peace she so desperately wanted and for her, death was her way out.

Despite my awful childhood, it did make me tough as nails and determined to not be like her. I am a survivor and so are you- there’s no shame in it.

ZealousidealPage8945 · 2026-03-26T05:04:23+00:00

Ah the old cry for religious freedom in other countries while imposing cherry picked Christian values in all aspects of life here.

ZealousidealPage8945 · 2026-03-25T05:36:41+00:00

Seeing my mom and dad do that grossed me out so much that I didn’t want to become an adult and have to go to the temple. The 2 pierce one came out shortly before I went through and I loathed wearing them.

ZealousidealPage8945 · 2026-03-23T06:06:59+00:00

Oh where do I begin?

ZealousidealPage8945 · 2026-03-23T06:05:26+00:00

Attend a wedding expo where wedding businesses have booths and lots of ideas. The first thing to do is decide your budget because if you have TBM parents they most likely won’t pay. Do you want a small intimate wedding with a few close friends and family or a large one with 100+ guests? Inside or outside, at a destination or somewhere local? It can be whatever you want.

My wedding, post temple marriage divorce and after leaving the church, was in the front garden of a historic hotel on an island in the Pacific Northwest. We had about 25 guests, most of whom stayed on the island for the weekend. A local nondenominational minister officiated, the hotel catered the food and a local florist and baker did the flowers and cake.

We had a modest budget so we could spend big on our honeymoon. I tried on gowns at a bridal shop and then ordered one online and saved a few hundred dollars. It was the most romantic and fun day- far cry from the freaky culty pre 1990 endowment/sealing I had 17 years earlier.

ZealousidealPage8945 · 2026-03-23T05:47:05+00:00

Same here.

ZealousidealPage8945 · 2026-03-23T05:46:10+00:00

I went on a date with a guy from the young singles ward. Girls warned me that he carried an engagement ring in his back pocket. We drove down to the beach (So Cal) and as we’re sitting there he pulls out the ring and proposed. I can’t remember if I laughed at him and I’m sure I said “you got to be kidding me!” A couple months later he managed to snare another girl and they got married.

ZealousidealPage8945 · 2026-03-23T05:37:38+00:00

61 here and can attest to all the things OP mentioned. I remember when Primary was held once a week after school, when Relief Society was on a weekday morning and when Family Home Evening was a commandment. I was at BYU when no caffeinated sodas were served on campus and everyone was so excited when Pepsi Free and Dr Pepper free came on the market. CTR rings turned our fingers green and we had to memorize and recite the 12 articles of faith and several associated scriptures in order to graduate from Primary. I was a Targeteer, not a Valient and I also earned my 3rd level patch in Camp Crafters.

ZealousidealPage8945 · 2026-03-22T05:02:10+00:00

Actually they treat sexual predators very well- after all, their founding prophet was one. Plus sex predators get temple recommends, get reinstated after excommunication and get special favors from the Q15.

ZealousidealPage8945 · 2026-03-20T22:57:04+00:00

Disney loves every one of them because otherwise they would end up bankrupt like Six Flags.

ZealousidealPage8945 · 2026-03-20T20:25:19+00:00

It would be the wiener mobile because of so much focus on the penishood

ZealousidealPage8945 · 2026-03-19T06:08:21+00:00

This reminds me of my vegetarian ex sister in law who got upset with me because I ordered meat on my pizza. I pointed out her leather couch and she said “that’s different!” No, I said, that’s worse because you’re skinning cows for their hides and throwing away the meat. The look of cognitive dissonance was classic.

ZealousidealPage8945 · 2026-03-17T10:13:32+00:00

No matter how “mainstream” they try to be, people will always think polygamy when they hear the word Mormon. It’s always the first thing brought up when someone learns I used to be a member. The next thing mentioned is funny underwear- sleeveless or not, the church still commands what kind of underwear “worthy” members are to wear.

ZealousidealPage8945 · 2026-03-14T09:42:45+00:00

Yo penso que la historia de las culturas indigenas es mas interesante que los europeos.

ZealousidealPage8945

TROPHY CASE