Why is it when I receive a new calling, everyone says, "Congratulations"? It's not like I campaigned for them. It's not like I was running neck and neck with some other candidate for them. It's not like it was something I had to attain.
If I graduate from university, it makes sense to be congratulated. If I place in the top ten of a marathon, it makes sense to be congratulated. If I eat a two-foot-long sub sandwich in under ten minutes, it makes sense to be congratulated.
All those things are accomplishments. Receiving a new calling is not an accomplishment.
Same goes for having babies. I am so not looking forward to everyone saying "congratulations" in the fall after our baby is born.
May 24, 2005
May 22, 2005
New Calling
It is official. I am now the new elders quorum president of the Lethbridge First Ward. The stake presidency set us apart today.
The previous elders quorum president is moving this week and the bishop decided to put me in his place. Actually, he initially refused to give me up as ward clerk having been comfortable with how I ran things clerically. His counsellors managed to talk him into it.
I have known about it since the end of April even though the bishopric hid it from me until I was officially called by the stake presidency.
Things are different from the last time I was called as president. The quorum is smaller, I am one of the oldest in the quorum and I have learned a lot having served with a bishopric and a stake mission presidency.
I have a few ideas in mind regarding some initiatives we can implement to improve home teaching, strengthen quorum unity and grow the quorum. I meet with my counsellors this Tuesday to discuss these and we’ll see how receptive they are to them.
If anyone is interested, here are the callings I have had since I was married in 1995:
The previous elders quorum president is moving this week and the bishop decided to put me in his place. Actually, he initially refused to give me up as ward clerk having been comfortable with how I ran things clerically. His counsellors managed to talk him into it.
I have known about it since the end of April even though the bishopric hid it from me until I was officially called by the stake presidency.
Things are different from the last time I was called as president. The quorum is smaller, I am one of the oldest in the quorum and I have learned a lot having served with a bishopric and a stake mission presidency.
I have a few ideas in mind regarding some initiatives we can implement to improve home teaching, strengthen quorum unity and grow the quorum. I meet with my counsellors this Tuesday to discuss these and we’ll see how receptive they are to them.
If anyone is interested, here are the callings I have had since I was married in 1995:
- elders quorum second counsellor
- elders quorum president
- ward mission leader
- stake mission secretary
- young men president
- ward clerk
- elders quorum president
May 19, 2005
Mormon Temple GoogleBomb Bombed
It's been over a month since the Bloggernacle went crazy with the so called injustice that resulted in a Google search for "mormon temple" showing up no positive sources for temples of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. A number of blogs decided to start making links to positive sites hoping to change that (here, here, here and here to name a few).
It appears all those efforts amounted to nothing. There appears to be no change. Of course, this did not surprise me and should not come as a surprise to anyone else that it doesn't surprise me. After all, I commented on a number of occasions that it wouldn't work. Google is smarter than that.
First of all, none of the sites linking to the positive pages are big players. They have very little effect on such a common phrase (490,000 results).
Secondly, the commonly used pages for the positive information had very little content and had poor HTML structure. Both of these qualities have a big effect on search engine placement.
Finally, few, if any, of the participating naccers are temple-oriented.
If we want positive, helpful resources come up for searches of 'mormon temple', there need to be content-rich, well-structured sites. With such sites will come links from all over the LDS cybersphere. That is the only way to do it.
Funny. It's also the best way to do it.
UPDATE (for Kaimi): Google re-indexes every month. It's been over a month since the Bloggernacle went ahead with the GoogleBombing efforts. If it was going to make a difference, it would have by now. The problem is not that there wasn't enough time. Read above for the problem (some of it applying to the poor implementation you suggested).
It appears all those efforts amounted to nothing. There appears to be no change. Of course, this did not surprise me and should not come as a surprise to anyone else that it doesn't surprise me. After all, I commented on a number of occasions that it wouldn't work. Google is smarter than that.
First of all, none of the sites linking to the positive pages are big players. They have very little effect on such a common phrase (490,000 results).
Secondly, the commonly used pages for the positive information had very little content and had poor HTML structure. Both of these qualities have a big effect on search engine placement.
Finally, few, if any, of the participating naccers are temple-oriented.
If we want positive, helpful resources come up for searches of 'mormon temple', there need to be content-rich, well-structured sites. With such sites will come links from all over the LDS cybersphere. That is the only way to do it.
Funny. It's also the best way to do it.
UPDATE (for Kaimi): Google re-indexes every month. It's been over a month since the Bloggernacle went ahead with the GoogleBombing efforts. If it was going to make a difference, it would have by now. The problem is not that there wasn't enough time. Read above for the problem (some of it applying to the poor implementation you suggested).
May 18, 2005
Go to eBay for Monopoly
...he gave the site the name Mormonbid.com to indicate the level of honesty and trust one can experience on the site. For example, R-rated movies are generally discouraged on the site, as are games of chance, pornography and advertising that may deceive the buyer.No Monopoly? That sucks.
May 17, 2005
Joseph Smith Public Apology
So a grade four teacher apparently told her students that early Mormon leaders had been jailed. When one of the students asked if they were criminals, she reportedly replied that some people thought they were. As a result, at least one good Utah Mormon demanded a public apology.
Ah, fundamentalist Mormonism at its best.
Ah, fundamentalist Mormonism at its best.
May 12, 2005
Church Population
Have you ever tried to quantify the membership of the Church to get a better idea of its size? Consider the following thoughts:
- roughly the same size as Buenos Aires, Argentina, or Seóul, South Korea
- larger than Cambodia but smaller than Guatemala.
- would fill 584 Conference Centers
- if you were to count one member every second, it would take roughly six months to count them all.
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