Yes, I'm one of those Mormons

Mormons have certainly been in the news of late. I have had a few non-Mormon friends ask me how I feel about it all and how I feel about the recently aired story highlighting The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints on NBC’s Rock Center. I have to say that living outside the USA I don’t usually pay a lot of attention to many of the news shows (and this coming from a total news junkie), but I do stay in touch with CNN and might even jump into The Today Show website or listen to NPR on my walking excursions. I watched the show on Rock Center and actually felt like they did a fairly decent job of telling Mormonism like it is. On every news story, you will always find opposing views which is okay with me. You see, I believe that everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Even though I might not agree with that opinion and might even occasionally be offended by what has been said, the entitlement is still there for everyone just as it is with me.

Let me start by saying that I am a very devout Mormon. I go to church every week, I am totally hooked on genealogy and believe in joining families in the eternities through baptisms and sealings for the dead. I teach a youth Sunday school class, I LOVE the temple, I wear the g’s because I want to, I wouldn’t show them to you because frankly I don’t want to see your underwear so will not show you mine. I have family members who are active LDS and some that are not. Some are Methodist, Community Church goers, Catholic, Protestant and Atheistic. Some are no religion at all and I love each and every one of them and would give whatever I could to help them equally. You see, I love people not their religion, the color of their skin, gay or straight, young or old~~ I really like them all. Ok, some more than others but that’s true of everyone, right??!!

If someone asks me about the church, I will tell them what I know. If they want to know more, I send them to someone who knows more. Here in the Middle East, I don’t tell my Muslim friends about the church as that can cause problems for them and for me. We don’t have missionaries here but the members do stand out. They are professionals from at least 20 different countries who are working in the hotels, financial sectors, engineering firms, healthcare consortiums, airlines and military training to name a few. There are Blacks, Caucasians, Asians, Filipinos, Germans, French, Islanders, Indians and a few Middle Easterners. We are a mixed bag of Mormons! But that is the beauty of living anywhere in the world and being Mormon. You have an instant network of people to help you get settled, be your friends and all with a commonality of your deepest faith. It really works and is helpful for those of us that live various places and are on the go. We meet in a large villa, have two congregations and will soon have a new building to meet in that is being built by middle easterners on land that has been donated by a Sheik. You see they are good people too and similar to many Mormons; they live their religion and have a history of being misunderstood. That is not to say that all Mormons are living as they should but hey, when you find a religion where every one of their members are living as they should~ let me know. Don’t judge me by what another Mormon did or did not do, that’s just plain old silly. They aren’t me and I’m not them.  Just for the record, I LOVE Dr. Pepper and I know that it is laden with caffeine and we are counseled to stay away from caffeine. But I really love it and someday will probably try to give that one up, just not today as I have a headache.Our religion is about choices and we live with the consequences of our choices like each and every other person~religious or not. As far as who will get my vote in the upcoming presidential election, I haven’t decided. You see I vote based on my conscience and on my knowledge of current important issues, of which there are a slew of them. Saying that all faithful Mormons will vote for a Mormon is like saying that we are like sheep with no minds of our own, totally unread and uneducated in what is happening with the economy and world issues, which is so unfair and totally wrong for most of us. So, with that said, if after studying it out I see that Mitt is the man that I feel will do the best job to get the economy back in line and help the US to be the great country it has been in the past~ he will get my vote. Otherwise, I might have to write in Captain America!

I know this long diatribe has gone on way too long and has probably not answered exactly what my friends were asking. But it is what it is, I am who I am~ a happy Mom, a proud Granny, lover of life~ with all its ironies and a very devout Mormon who loves the gospel of Jesus Christ. I am a Mormon, yes, that’s me!