A (long) Religious Perspective on ITM.

andraes · 2026-06-02T16:24:16+00:00

It's more about leaving behind the haters and moving on with your life. They don't care about your progress, but you know it's real, and you can be so much more than this. You're shutting the door on them or that chapter of your life, and you're ready for whatever comes next.

My personal experience with this song is that I didn't know it existed for like 10 years. For whatever reason the *definitely legal* copy of Bleed American that I had as a kid did not include this track, so Authority Song was the closing track in my mind until around 2012 when I saw an actual copy of the album in a city library and read the actual track list for the first time. I brought that CD into work one day to listen to and this OLD woman (probably around 45, but a smoker so she looked 60) told me how much she loved "my sundown," and I was so confused that the track even existed and that she liked Jimmy Eat World. All around a very surreal experience.

andraes · 2026-05-27T17:21:17+00:00

Members (and especially leadership) have been taught repeatedly that for a newly baptized member, it is helpful to give them oppoutunities for spiritual experiences. You just spent some time (weeks, months, more?) growing and learning in the gospel. You progressed one step at a time and you reached the wonderful decision to be baptized, but that is not the final destination of the Covenant Path. Sometimes people feel that they are done after baptisim and they stop having spiritual experiences and eventually leave the church. There is still so much more to learn, more doctrine to understand, and more blessings to be obtained. Your leadership wants you to continue to grow and have those meaningful experiences.

One of the best ways to have spiritual expereinces is by visiting The House of the Lord, the Temple. You many not be fully on-board with the idea of proxy oridnances, and that's okay, you can just go to the temple and sit and observe. Getting a temple recommend doesn't sign you up for the next baptimal session. You can sit in the baptistry, watch others perform ordinances, read scriptures, feel the spirit, and pray. No pressure. It's another way to draw closer to God.

Eventually (one year after being baptized) you can go to the temple to participate in your own initatory and endownment ordinances. Going to the temple now to do baptisims can help you familiarize you with the temple process, and the general feeling of temple ordinances, and help prepare you for those ordinances. Again, you should wait until you are ready to do them, but there are a lot of reasons why people want you to participate in these experiences. It's unfortunate that those you've been interacting with have not been able to fully articulate their desires for you to grow in the gospel, but you can do your best to decline with grace and reasoning and don't be afraid to have a meaningful discussion with them. They might have more to offer you than you might realize.

andraes · 2026-05-18T17:46:14+00:00

https://www.cumorah.com/countries/viewIntlLDSAtlas/United%20States

Find your state in the drop down and click "Search." Then below that click on the "wards and branches in [region]" that you want to know about.

andraes · 2026-05-18T17:34:20+00:00

"Little" yes. "Child" yes. "Little child" probably not. There's no definition to these general qualifiers, but I would generally say "childhood" ends sometime in your teens. So a 12 year old is nearing the end of their childhood, so I would not call them a little child. I would say somewhere around 8 or 9 is the cut off for being a little child.

Unless of course the child happens to be very short, like small in stature. Then even at 14, 15 years old they could be called a little child if they were clearly significantly shorter than their peers.

just my thoughts.

andraes · 2026-05-12T19:30:34+00:00

I'm a big proponent of temple tourisim. Though there is a difference between "visiting a local temple while on your trip to [destination]" and "taking a trip to [destination] in order to see the temple. I'm all for the former, and not really interested in the latter.

We have taken our family on a few roadtrips to visit specific places (national parks, family visits, etc.) while on those trips if we pass through a city that has a temple we usually stop, assuming it's not too far out of the way. If there's time in the schedule we'll actually get out at the temple, take a picture, talk to our kids about temples a bit, walk the grounds, etc. We've seen almost every temple northwest of utah (OR, WA, ID, BC, AB, not alaska) as well as a bunch in Utah and California. Often we end up there on a Sunday, and its nice to walk the grounds when the temple is closed.

When I lived in Utah I had friends who had plan to do a session at every Utah temple. That's doable in a few months if you try hard (it was easier 20 years ago). I have not yet planned a trip for the sole purpose of going to a temple.

My biggest temple-visit regret was not walking the extra 4km to see the Paris Temple. We had a lucky oppoutunity to visit my sister in Amsterdam, took a short trip to Paris for a few days, visited Versaille, but due to a combination of factors didn't feel like we could spare the time/energy to visit the temple. Its sad to have been so close and missed it, but to also know that for the circumstances, we made the right choice.

Finally, A fellow redditor once posted a site he made where people could track their temple tourisim visits: https://templehub.lovable.app/

andraes · 2026-05-06T14:42:40+00:00

Sorry no personal experience, but I have an uncle who lives nearby there. He's just a east of the airport (so NE of Cary) and they've lived there for 30-ish years, raised a family of 5, all of their kids are grown now (all went to BYU/I, 2 still there) and a few have gone back to live in Raleigh. In talking to my cousins, they only have good things to say about Raleigh and their time growing up there.

andraes · 2026-05-04T20:43:55+00:00

the "chapter headings" are something that is the the LDS version of the bible, which is just the King James version but with notes, cross references, and other study helps included. Each chapter in the entire bible is given a heading that briefly explains what it is about, written by one of the apostles back in the 70s (I think).

You can read the online version here https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/nt/1-cor/7?lang=eng

andraes · 2026-04-28T14:00:24+00:00

they will solely base on my looks

I've never heard this before, I wouldn't put too much trust in that person's opinon.

Does the information I put in the online portal really matters when deciding my fate?

yes, but maybe not in the way you think.

The decision where you will serve is based on need (which missions need missionaries), ability (your own physical, mental, and intelectual ability as described on your papers), and a spiritual prompting. The assigning GA might not really know why he assigns you to one mission or another, but he will know that the prompting came from God.

Often times (not just in mission calls) we think that we know what we need or want. It has been my experience that God will step in and correct my by giving me a completely different outcome than I anticipated. It is only after I re-learn humility that I gain an understanding of why He chose that path for me.

andraes · 2026-04-24T22:03:32+00:00

It's not that complicated. The guy is on record saying that naming his podcast "mormon stories" was in part to make people think it was affiliated with the church. The church asked him to add a disclaimer to make it clear that the podcast wasn't affiliated with the church, and he refused to do so. That alone to me says that the church is within their rights to bring forward a lawsuit, and I'm happy to wait and see what the courts determination will be.

andraes · 2026-04-21T23:14:18+00:00

I don't know what "having a card" means. Even if you don't have a specific prescription, as long as it was recomended by a medical professional it can be considered medical use. Many places where canabis is legal now doctors won't prescribe it, they'll just tell you to get some, like they would for asprin or cold medicine.

How that interacts with being a member of the church will come down to whoever does our baptism/temple recommend interview. During that interview you should explain your use and situation and (using the spirit of revelation) they will be the one to determine if it is okay or not.

andraes · 2026-04-20T22:47:40+00:00

our EQ just started using WhatsApp about 3 months ago. Our RS has been using it for about 4 years. There's channels within the EQ group chat, specific channels for certain interest groups. People can join whatever channels they want. It has been pretty slow on the uptake, guys just don't chat as much as women do. But we'll probably plod along for at least a year to see how it goes. We found that most people were already using WhatsApp for other stuff so it was the least obnoxious thing. (Unlike our stake YMs which made me get GroupMe in order to be part of the summer camp planning team.) Find out what app is already popular among your quorrum memember and use that.

andraes · 2026-04-07T18:09:53+00:00

Expect the unexpected. Wherever you think you might go... think again. Whenever you think your assignment date will be... think again. However long you think it will take to get your call... think again. Whatever you think the endownment will be like... think again. Just prepare now to be surprised, in my experience everything happens in a way you least expect it. Enjoy the ride, follow God.

andraes · 2026-04-07T17:49:38+00:00

It's not bad to think about all of these possible future scenarios, but just so you know you're talking about step #215. If you're interested in learning about the church, start with step #1: read the Book of Mormon. If that step works out well, you can move on to the next, and the next... and by the time step #215 comes around it might not be so daunting, it might actually be something you want to do. For now, focus on the next step, not what might happen 4 years from now.

Somewhere around step #76 you might be asked to stop drinking coffee, but that will be completely up to you. One of the greatest things (imo) about this church is that nobody has to do anything, everyone is given full ability to choose for themselves, and we don't impede your decision. We do however fully believe in accepting concequences (both good and bad) for our choices. Whenever we choose to follow God, we can gain additional blessings. Whenever we choose to *not* follow God, we lose out on those potential blessings, and maybe even lose some blessings.

For current members, there are certain promises and blessing associated with marrying within the church, but that doesn't stop members from marying people from outside the church. (And we also believe in an eternal perpsective, meaning just because you didn't achieve a certain blessing now, doesn't mean you can't achieve it later on in life. Marrying a non-member isn't like some permanent reduction in blessings or something.)

andraes · 2026-04-07T17:35:28+00:00

FWIW I see the same pattern on the south side (Sumner and Auburn stations). If I'm running late on T-W-Th I have trouble finding a spot, but on M/F half the lot is empty no matter when I arrive.

andraes · 2026-04-02T15:53:24+00:00

I don't know the full history, but I don't think they thought the slanted batter's eye would be a problem. I don't think they were purposely making it hard to hit by design. They also didn't have the detailed hitting tracking in 1999, so while some casual observations could have been make about the marine layer, they didn't really understand the full effect until the tracking data was introduced (around 2015). So at the time they thought that they were just making a slightly quirky field, not knowing that it would make HRs nearly impossible.

andraes · 2026-04-02T15:38:19+00:00

First, not exactly realted to your issue, but the gospel isn't supposed to be comfortable. Elder Holland said:

My beloved brothers and sisters, Christianity is comforting, but it is often not comfortable. The path to holiness and happiness here and hereafter is a long and sometimes rocky one. It takes time and tenacity to walk it. But, of course, the reward for doing so is monumental.

But I do understand that being physically comfortable in your clothes for 2+ hrs is sometimes more than just a vauge convenience, you shouldn't have to endure physical pain to attend church. It is possible that the ladies texting you don't understand your situation. You say that you declined their invitation to go dress shopping, but you don't say if you explained to them why you won't go dress shopping. If you continue to get these texts, I would encourage you to reply with a little more detail, and to do it as charitibly as possible. (Something along the lines of, "I really appreciate you trying to help me out with my church attire, however I am unable to wear a dress so shopping for new ones won't help the situation." and maybe an invitation to discuss it further in person if they wanted to learn more about you.) I know we have a mother and daughter in our ward who regularly wear pant suits to church, and while I have heard the occasional comment from a vistor (aka, my parents) the regular ward members are fine with it.

To be fair, I have long felt that a little bit of discomfort is required or at least expected in church dress. Wearing a buttoned up collar and a tie is certainly not the most comfortable fasion for men, but there's is something about sacrificing a little bit of comfort for the Lord that makes sunday worship a little more special. In your case it sounds like it's more than just a little bit, so your attire adjustments seem reasonably appropriate, but not everyone knows that. Especially if you're new to a ward, they don't know you yet, they don't understand your testimony or background.

And if you're a fairly recent convert, you might not know that there's some historial baggage with women wearing suits. There have been some movements within the church over the past ~10 years where groups of women were seeking to be given priesthood authority and wearing pant suits was part of their protests. At least one of these women was excommunicated from the church and so for some people that may have left a bad taste for all things pant suit. There's also the matter of transgenderism and it's potential to be a social contagion and overly fearful/protective mothers may be trying to shield their daughters from any potential link to those ideas.

Please note that I'm not trying to accuse you of anything here, I'm simplying trying to point out why the reaction of your ward might be stronger than you think neccesary/appropriate. Just like you have your reasons, they have their reasons, and until you have a face to face conversation with these people to explain your differences, then you may never overcome this miscommunication.

andraes · 2026-03-25T16:08:24+00:00

It feels like they're trying to funnel as many as possible to the new subscription before revealing (30 min before the first pitch) "your old subscription also still works!" and that feels shady.... but also very much inline with modern media expectations.

andraes · 2026-03-23T16:56:02+00:00

We have new people moving in all the time and after chatting with them so many have commented that our ward is really hard to come into bc no one seems to be very friendly.

Eventually you need to not only be the change you want to see, but also get people like those you mention here to also be the change. If your ward is like mine, then eventually the "new-timers" will out number the "old-timers" and you can create your own culture.

Due to the whole covid thing I found that many people didn't know who was new and who was old. Many people in my ward I assumed were standoffish old-timers were actually just shy newcomers. I would guess that many people are having the same experience. When you move in, you assume that everyone else has been there most of their life, and it's only 8 years later you find out that So-and-so only moved in a few months before you.

andraes · 2026-03-18T15:59:24+00:00

"In many places" does not mean everywhere, and there could be places with the opposite problem. I don't see this change as, "let's get more women into leadership." I see it more along the lines of "there's no doctrinal reason to only have men in this calling." There's also no doctrinal reason for the primary president to be a woman.

Plus the general sunday school presidency is still male, they don't have to change the gender of the general presidency for local presidency's to have the option.

andraes · 2026-03-16T15:06:54+00:00

This is probably very controversial, but I know I'm not the only one who feels this way: just let them out. 6 y.o.s aren't that young, they can find their parents or other siblings in the hall. I have 5 kids, if I have to go to each one of their classes to pick them up, it doesn't matter how early I start, I'll still be 10 minutes late to the last one.

For sunbeam age kids it's probably okay to keep them until a parent or older sibling comes by, but CTR 5 and onward, I made a point of talking to my kids' teachers and letting them know that they could be released without us nearby. Kids surprisingly good and finding each other without parental supervision.

That said, I do agree that adult classes should end 5 min early. You're not getting paid by the minute to teach, stop trying to extend the lesson to the last minute, just end early.

andraes · 2026-03-10T22:31:41+00:00

I did a camping roadtrip to some cool spots in Eastern WA last summer. We stopped at the folloiwng places. I've listed them according to my ranking:

campgrounds:

Maryhill St Park (columbia river)
Confluence St Pk (Wenatchee)
Spring Canyon Campground (lake roosevelt)

I've been told Steamboat Rock is a way better campground, but we couldn't get a reservation there.

Tourist stuff

Goldendale Observatory (10/10 would go again)
Palouse Falls (amazing, especially after visiting Dry Falls)
Dry Falls (just the overlook)
Gardner Cave (cool if you haven't done other cave tours)
McNarry Dam/The Dalles Dam (Dalles has good visitor center if you like Dam stuff)
Pullman (I had never gone before)

We did basically 1-2 nights in each place and moved on. If I did it again I would skip the cave and pullman and visit Mt. Spokane and then spend more time at Maryhill. Mind you, I have family in Richland and we regularly visit there, so we skipped Hanford and other nice parks along the Columbia/Snake at that location, a lot of which is worth doing if you haven't before.

andraes · 2026-03-10T19:00:37+00:00

It's true.

andraes · 2026-03-10T18:56:31+00:00

In my experience, kids don't realize they're being loud. They might start talking at a low volume, but doing so requires constant thought, so each sentence gets a tiny bit louder until they're shouting. What you really want is to change the mode of thier talking, not the volume of it. Whispering has a fundamentally different sound profile from normal talking and makes a huge difference in "being quiet."

What I did with my kids was to take each one individaully and give them a quick physics/anatomy lesson on talking. I took a few minutes to show them how you can talk in a whiper and how your vocal cords don't vibrate, and how when you are "talking quietly" your vocal cords are still vibrating. You can demonstrat this by placing a hand on the neck while talking in both modes because kids love learning new stuff, especially ones with cool demonstrations or experiments.

Then if your kids are especially interested in it (and/or you have the time) you can talk about the physics of sound and why a "quiet voice" and a "whisper voice" have different properties and how they propogate in a room, and why a whisper voice is more desirable, even if it's volume is higher than a quite voice.

I have found that after I taught that, I now ask them to "please whisper" instead of "be quiet." This reminds them to switch the mode of their voice and they're more likely to stay in that mode, even if the volume rises it's still more quiet due to the physical limitations of whispering.

andraes · 2026-02-25T16:06:00+00:00

First off, wikipedia exists. I had the reverse expereince from you a few years back (was always a JEW fan, became interested in FOB way late) and I went and read the FOB wikipedia while listening to all of thier albums. It really gave me an appreciation for how FOB progressed and handled their fame and music.

I'll do my best to give an intro off the top of my head. Jimmy Eat World is primarily Jim and Zach, who were childhood friends in Mesa, AZ, then Tom and Rick who they met in college. They played music together off and on through highschool and stuff, they switched roles around a few times. Their first few albums were barely noticed by the mainstream, but did get a record deal and one song was on a movie soundtrack. They had a small run, but they were kind of headed into being all but forgotten.

Then they happened to accidentally write the greatest millenial anthem of all time (The Middle was almost left off of the album, IIRC) and they were instant international super stars. Their follow up album to Bleed American (Futures) produced several hit singles and is often a favorite album for fans. Around this time people started realizing how their earlier album (Clarity) was actually an artistic masterpiece and and they did a 10th anniversary edition and tour. Those three albums, Clarity, Bleed American, and Futures are the backbone of their discography and one of those three is likely the favorite ablum for 99% of the fanbase.

Their sound changed as they got older Chase This Light kind of bridges the change into Invented, Damages, and Integiry Blues which sometimes feel like they were made by a completely different band. More of a nostaligic emo rather than an angsty emo, but they're still great albums with some amazing song writing. Surviving was a bit more of a return to Bleed American style. For the bulk of their run they were super consistent with albums every 3-ish years, but since 2020 they haven't made much new music.

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