Mormon Bloggers

A while ago I posted about sitting on my hands — in church classes, that it. I thought I’d let you know know that’s going. I’m relieved that not every idea I have is bad. (One bad one here…) I have tried to be more measured in my participation in class. I am happy to read, and volunteer to do so. And I’m trying (for now) to limit myself to just one comment. My reasons: 1. To avoid “teaching from the fourth row” — I want to respect that the instructor has a point of view, a message he or she has prepared, and I want to hear what that is. If I keep interrupting with my great ideas, neither the rest of the class nor I get to hear what the instructor has planned. 2. To avoid monopolizing the conversaton — more than once I’ve been in a class where someone comments so much that others kind of shut down and let the instructor and the verbose commenter carry on their dialog. Recently I’ve realized that sometimes I’m... Read the rest of this entry »

Sistas in Zion Radio! Every Sunday 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. (Mountain Time) Listen live here! Call in at (646) 478-3671. Sunday, April 22, 2012 – Topics: BYU Women’s Conference is coming up on April 26-27 and the Sistas will be there and hope to see ya’ll too! The LDS Relief Society is celebrating it’s 170th Anniversary this year. Special Guest: Melissa Puente Melissa Puente is an Emmy-winning television editor who lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two sets of twin boys. As the mother of 4 boys Melissa shares the challenges and joys of parenting on her site Learning Mommy. She’ll be talking with the Sistas and listeners about how her career, faith and the Relief Society have intertwined, her Emmy-award-winning work on the television show “Starting Over,” and her recent work for BYU Women’s Conference. Listen to internet radio with As Sistas In Zion on Blog Talk Radio  Read More →

I blogged last week about e-scriptures and their use in classes. I was so motivated by a post at Middle-Aged Mormon Man (who has a WAY bigger readership than mine). In my post, I spoke in favor of e-scriptures (mine are on a Kindle Fire, and I love them that way, thanks, very much). And I wrote about the kids in the Sunday School class where I sometimes substitute (including last Sunday). And here’s the dumb idea: I’ve actually had an idea while writing this post that I’ll try when I substitute next Sunday. I think I’ll put a table in the room where we have class, and ask all the student to put their scriptures (electronic and otherwise) flat on the table in front of them. That way I’ll be able to see whether they are staying in the scriptures or not. Of course, whether their minds are in their scriptures or not is another matter, and I won’t be able to see that… What I did was I finally let sink in what MMM was saying in his post, and I stopped by the library and... Read the rest of this entry »

Yep, I read the comments of Hilary Rosen, and the counter-comments from Ann Romney, Michelle Obama and many others. (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, Google it.) And even before all the excitement, it was clear that Rosen’s comment might have been more about Romney’s wealth and less about her stay-at-home-ness (as the serious back-pedaling suggests), but for someone who’s paid to communicate, it is hard to imagine how Rosen could have done worse than she did. I am a huge fan of stay-at-home moms. My mom stayed home, and pinched pennies in order to do so. Of course in those days MANY women were doing what she was doing, and so they pinched pennies together. Two stories I remember from my Mom’s telling: First, there was the time she took a shoebox (or was it a bag?) of change to the A&P to pay for groceries, and after the cashier informed her she’d have to roll the coins before she could spend them there, the box broke, sending the coins scattering... Read the rest of this entry »

Listen live here! Today’s topics: The “It Get’s Better at BYU” video from the LGBT students and members of the LDS faith at Brigham Young University. Special Guest: Brandon Román He’s a BYU graduate, former LDS missionary, current law student, 2028 potential presidential candidate and openly gay. Learn more about Brandon here. Recent comments by Hilary Rosen regarding Ann Romney’s “work history,” sparking the debate of what does a stay-at-home mother bring to the table as a potential First Lady. Listen to Sistas in Zion Radio! Listen to internet radio with As Sistas In Zion on Blog Talk Radio  Read More →

My blogging friend MMM has blogged about paper vs. electronic scriptures, and it’s engendered a lot of comments from his faithful readers. I’ve been intrigued by the subject, and I’m even more intrigued by my own behavior. Until December 26, 2011, I was a dyed-in-the-wool, paper-only, don’t-take-that-quad-away-from-me scripture reader. I proudly carried my little brick (my eyes are still good enough to use the “standard” format) with me to church each week, to family scripture study and to my personal study and lesson preparation. On December 26, 2011, my world changed, scripturally speaking. Santa brought my wife a Kindle Fire for Christmas, and I liked hers so much that I went out and bought one for myself on December 26. (My lovely wife hid her annoyance at my doing this, for which I continue to be thankful.) I found the Kindle Fire easy to use, easy to read, and it was super-easy for me to mark, bookmark, cross-reference and study the scriptures. I have not turned... Read the rest of this entry »

Like others, I tend to see themes-for-me in conference. As I’ve blogged before, I took a couple of specific questions into conference with me. Those questions had me listening particularly closely for messages that had to do with how I related to my family. In the spirit of listening for multiple messages (see here), I paid particular attention to repeated calls (to me and me alone) to be a better parent, and counsel about how I might do that. (I say to me and me alone for two reasons: First, President Uchtdorf told me I can’t judge anyone else; Second, my stewardship is my stewardship, not someone else’s, so of course the counsel I get will be for me.) Here are some lessons I learned about my relationship with my family: 1. Elder Packer reminded me that a child is a nation, which means, I think, that a child represents all who come after him. He’s not the only one to suggest that when we save a child we may also save the subsequent generations that follow him, too. It’s... Read the rest of this entry »

We’re sharing Easter traditions, getting perspective on Easter from the view of many faiths; LDS, Christian non-denominational and Pentecostal.  Special Guests: Juliet Romeo, Christian non-denominational Sista Catherine, LDS Elijah Porter, Pentecostal Listen to internet radio with As Sistas In Zion on Blog Talk Radio  Read More →

Happy Easter! The Easter Bunny does not come to our house. He never has. I don’t know why he doesn’t seem to know where we live… We will have some Easter candy in the house — probably a common bowl or basket that everyone can munch on during the day. Here are some things we’ll do Easter weekend, though: 1. An Easter egg hunt — We usually do this on Saturday afternoon. We’ll hide plastic eggs (filled with goodies) in the yard and the kids will find them. The kids are getting older, so we may skip this tradition this year. 2. Resurrection cookies — These are those cookies you can make while reading selected verses from the New Testament about the crucifixion and resurrection of the Savior. We’ve done them off and on over the years, but our 11-year-old daughter specifically asked for them this year so we’ll do them. (I’m putting a recipe at the bottom of the post in case you don’t have one.) 3. John 20 —... Read the rest of this entry »

I just wanted to share some things I’ve found lately:I don’t like half of what I’m hearing on the typical radio station these days. I either can’t understand what the “singer” is saying or I understand all too well and I don’t want my kids to hear that stuff, thank you very much. There is some good stuff out there but it’s getting harder and harder to find.If you want more inspirational music  Read More →

Sista Laurel, Jabari Parker & Sista Beehive This past weekend was General Conference for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It’s a time where we receive inspiration and instruction, and the words of Conference left us Sistas feeling edified and ready to do work on ourselves and service for others. Sista Catherine, Sista Laurel, Nkoyo Iyamba & Sista Beehive It was a busy weekend as well! First we stopped by KSL Newsradio to be interviewed by Nkoyo Iyamba, host of Cultural Connections. We brought along Sista Catherine (We can’t live without her!) and had a good ole time talkin’ about faith, what ain’t our testimonies and keepin’ it real. Just in case ya’ll don’t know it Sista Iyamba is one of the pretty faces you see singing for the Lord in Motab! We tried to get her to give us the dirt on Alex Boye, but she said what happens in Motab stays in Motab. They must have that Mormon Mafia code of silence or something.... Read the rest of this entry »

On my mission, I was really impressed by a talk given in a zone conference by Elder Theodore M. Burton of the Seventy. (Regular readers will know I’ve referenced this talk before.) One of the concepts he taught was that when we find repeated messages in the scriptures, it’s worth sitting up and taking notice. He suggested that when the Lord repeats himself through his prophets, the result is something that probably more important an obscure part of a verse in Habakkuk. There’s another scripture study tool I learned before my mission. My Book of Mormon instructor my freshman year (a Brother Anderson, but I don’t know more than that, except that he had been my sister’s bishop and later served as president of the Tokyo Temple) taught us to write personal applications for what we’ve read. I thought about both of those things as I listened to General Conference this past weekend. Here are a few of the repeat messages I heard. I’m sure there are more, and I invite you to... Read the rest of this entry »