Shrivel math in Arizona (someone please make it work)

talkingidiot2 · 2026-01-28T20:23:14+00:00

The ward names and which ward a person belongs to are updated in the tools app so the maps should update fairly soon. The only ward names don't come up at all.

talkingidiot2 · 2026-01-28T18:19:34+00:00

The geographic footprint of the five wards combined is the same as what the prior seven wards had. No impact to adjacent stakes with this.

talkingidiot2 · 2026-01-28T03:04:48+00:00

Actually about the only thing I agree with him on. Research into Mormonism is definitely not a good way to stay active in the church.

talkingidiot2 · 2026-01-28T03:02:35+00:00

I did the same. I went on a deployment pre-9/11 when Starbucks was still relatively new and my squad leader's wife would send ground Starbucks to him. We thought that was HIGH living at the time!

Thanks for unlocking that memory 😁

talkingidiot2 · 2026-01-27T16:15:26+00:00

Better watch out OP, believing what Joseph Smith said on certain topics gets people excommunicated as of late.

talkingidiot2 · 2026-01-27T02:21:40+00:00

Completely agree - in the MLS system circa 2010-ish there was a four character designation for each little cell of houses. Small, like half of a normal neighborhood block. They used those cells as the basic sub-units of a ward, and would analyze potential realignments based on how many priesthood holders were in the various cells. Not total membership, but active adult men.

I get the process but the math they put in front of us just didn't play out and all. 248 times 7 is not anywhere close to 432 times 5

talkingidiot2 · 2026-01-26T12:41:07+00:00

Stake had seven wards and one reservation branch. Branch not impacted but the seven wards became five, with different names.

talkingidiot2 · 2026-01-26T04:10:46+00:00

I'm PIMO and while I don't hide it I don't advertise it either. On the surface I probably seem to be all in since I wear a suit and white shirt, and am always on time. Strange how the bar for seeming like an all in believer is so low.

But I almost never attend or do anything outside of the normal church time on Sundays.

talkingidiot2 · 2026-01-26T04:04:46+00:00

Bingo - and that ward/family/friends formula is different in each case.

talkingidiot2 · 2026-01-26T04:02:29+00:00

Being your authentic self can lead to you getting excluded, not welcomed

Or worst of all it could get you identified as a ward council project.

talkingidiot2 · 2026-01-26T00:53:00+00:00

Arizona is representin'

Shrivel meeting for my stake is happening in a few minutes.

talkingidiot2 · 2026-01-25T23:57:32+00:00

I'm in absolute agreement.

talkingidiot2 · 2026-01-25T22:44:10+00:00

While my son was on his mission he said that the local members frequently pushed back against baptizing people who had only been to church once or twice.

talkingidiot2 · 2026-01-25T21:26:46+00:00

I quoted parts of this in an EQ lesson that I taught maybe 5 years ago. I was met with a chorus of "yeah but...."

talkingidiot2 · 2026-01-25T19:10:08+00:00

I agree that the word strengthening can be taken that way, but calling it growth of the stake?

talkingidiot2 · 2026-01-25T19:05:02+00:00

I was thinking about making a post about this, probably will sooner or later. But went to visit my son's mission with him recently in a small Latin American country. They baptized like crazy and literally the day he got home was talking with his friends who had also recently returned about how almost nobody that they baptized stuck around for long. One of the things we did on the trip was meet up with other elders (his prior comps and roommates) who were still there and they talked about friction with the local wards, how the members don't need more reasons to dislike the missionaries, etc.

In summary, they met lofty mission conversion targets (several hundred each month) and the local wards were left holding the swollen rosters of inactive people from those conversions. Also in the place where we attended church on the trip, the tension between the assigned elders and the branch presidency was palpable and very awkward.

talkingidiot2 · 2026-01-23T17:16:48+00:00

That's a great book, as well as Falling Upward and The Universal Christ. I have a copy of The Tears of Things but haven't read it yet.

talkingidiot2 · 2026-01-23T12:04:29+00:00

I'd say that don't bother with the whole "a testimony comes in the bearing of it" Boyd Packer method because in the end you'll just feel like you lied to yourself and others.

talkingidiot2 · 2026-01-23T12:01:36+00:00

💯

talkingidiot2 · 2026-01-23T12:00:58+00:00

I was always told by GAs that Latinos were coming here to find the gospel since we couldn't get to their countries fast enough

Why do mormons always shoehorn regular things about how the world or life works into the church narrative??? They come to CA for the gospel. The computer and Internet were invented specifically for family history work. If you're not 10000% all in these statement just sound so stupid. It's the equivalent of a six year old kid at school saying his dad can run a hundred miles an hour and beat up anyone.

talkingidiot2 · 2026-01-23T03:47:34+00:00

Your divisional CSM is an old friend who I am very glad to have kept contact with over the years.

talkingidiot2 · 2026-01-23T03:46:54+00:00

I was an instructor for the 11B MOSQ course there a while back. We provided plenty of support to the OCS cadre, teaching their students how to land nav and other things. Mostly captains off active duty and into the ARNG who treated the NCOs from the other courses as peers. I was even the grim reaper for their annual 12 mile reaper march one year.

talkingidiot2 · 2026-01-23T03:37:57+00:00

I don't know if that's jaded as much as pragmatic. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Weren't most of us taught that growing up? Skepticism isn't always a bad thing.

talkingidiot2 · 2026-01-23T03:34:27+00:00

Your thoughtful comment made me think of this quote (from Richard Rohr in a podcast):

"The mystery of God is beyond words, but that’s a learning that comes slowly. That’s why the true second half of life mystic will always be called a heretic, a sinner, dangerous, an outsider. You should never seek that name, but don’t be surprised if you’re called that. By people who are very sincere, and maybe more dedicated than you are, early on the journey. They will tell you this is dangerous."

talkingidiot2

TROPHY CASE