Mormon Questions: Special Underwear

Carter and I at a rock climbing gym due to some very kind relatives. And, yes, we are wearing garments :)

One of the reasons I really wanted to do this series was so that I could figure out the best explanations to give other people about what I believe. All the questions I'm going to address are ones I've personally been asked and most of them are also questions that I felt I answered inadequately. Instead of feeling like I had clearly and succinctly explained what I believed and why I believed it,  I often felt that I had rambled on incoherently, only confirming what they already thought: Mormons are weird.

The first time I was asked about "special underwear" I was totally taken aback. I had no idea what he was talking about! The questioner was an acquaintance during high school and he had a perfect understanding of everything Mormons believe because he had been to one of those anti-mormon classes his church held (sarcasm). He rambled on about it for several minutes before I put it all together. He was referring, of course, to temple garments.

You can make anything sound odd, if explained in an odd way, and it's the same with garments. So you've heard that we have holy underwear! And that we have to wear it at all times including sex and showers (Carter's gotten this one before). Oh and haven't you heard that garments are even bulletproof? Well, I'm sorry to say folks, that we are all not as exotic as your pastor would have you believe.

Like many religions, we too have outward symbols of our inward commitment to follow the Savior. Jews wear tassels (tzitzit), Catholics wear crosses, and Mormons wear garments. It is a personal reminder to live righteously. We believe that the garment is protective in that God protects and blesses us when we follow his commandments and keep our covenants. We wear our garments with devotion in connection to our devotion to Christ, meaning we wear our garments as much as possible, though not all the time (as in, not during sex, swimming, exercising, and showering!!!).

If you want a more in-depth examination of temple garments, I would look at this article.

Don't you think this is just the weirdest question? Where do people get this stuff?

Hermana Landon

Hermana Landon with the Villarruels and miscellaneous missionaries.

Missionary letters are great and all, but do you ever feel like it's hard to follow all the simultaneous story lines? I'm always wondering "What happened to so-and-so?" and "Who is that person again?" When I clawed (clawed? what the...) through all of Alexa's past emails for the Best of Hermana Landon, I started piecing the puzzle together.  From her emails (copied and pasted - all errors are her's), I give you the inspiring story of the Villarruels family.

I'm so thankful for this opportunity to serve and run every morning at presidents orders (Ed. note: All the missionaries are required to run for thirty minutes in the morning for exercise). He's promised us a better mission if we do the things he asks. I'm learning exact obedience even in the things we think don't matter is important.
Commandments and "rules" are just an opportunity to to receive blessings.

Weeks later...

We found this one family by Gods wonderful had one morning while running. We always change our route for safety and one morning I had no Idea where i wanted to run so we picked a random turn and sister Eastman had a thought to go talk to a man I barely noticed raking the patch of grass/sidewalk <-- ! in front of his yard. Haha it was so funny but, we ran back and half out of breath told him we were missionaries and asked if we could come talk with him another time. And you guessed it(good job).... He (Antonio)said yes! We came back that Saturday he told us he'd be home and they fed us and we only had time to do that and get to know them a bit. We brought his wife flowers from a church mothers-day activity they couldn't make it to and kept trying to catch them at a good time to teach but it wasn't happening.
We decided we were gonna show up at their house yesterday and try and get a ride with them to a "Why I Believe?" talk president was giving at the Visitors Center behind the temple. Antonio and his wife came! and afterwards met the bishop and a awesome family from the ward and president talked to them and told them to go to church and take the sacrament - because it's the most important thing - and other wonderful things. Antonio and his wife were telling everyone they think of us as their children since they don't have any and they adore us. Antonio told us that the morning we found him he usually goes to work at 6 but that morning they told him hi didn't have to come in until 8 for some reason so he decided to do some yard-work. He recognized it was not a coincidence that we met him which is what I told him that morning without knowing that story. I love them so much Bishop kept telling me they are gonna get baptized quick. I completely planing on going back after the mission to come to their sealing! 

Several weeks later...

We've also been trying for forever and have been working so hard to get the Villarruels to come to church but Antonio just wouldn't and especially after that last time he told me to stop asking him that made me kinda mad. I was really frustrated wondering how can we get him to come if he says he wants to but He doesn't know when and even president baker had told him a bit more than a month ago to go to church and take the sacrament. WHY wont he just come we invite and he really is sincere that he want's to come to see how the church is but he doesn't know when?!...... I just kept praying for patience and that they would come. AND THEN!
Sunday they came!!! I texted them in the morning to invite them to FHE monday and wish them a good week but they never replied. So I sat still in church - my companion asking me if they said they were coming --  just Praying they would come at least for the next week. And in the middle of the hymn in they walked.
I couldn't hold my emotions so I sat there so happy - tears running down my face - that now he had decided he would come with his wife and feel the spirit.
I could only think in little more than a year they will have a full opportunity to be sealed in the temple and know the true joy the gospel brings!
He told us he didn't know church was 3 hours so next Sunday he would make more time to come. I'm so happy they're progressing!

The next week...

The Villaruels came for all of church and really loved it. Antonio talked with bishop and told him he feels like he's finally found peace! We're working really hard at getting them friends so that when we get transferred or change they wont be sad. They are so excited to learn! But Antonio is still super resistant to making commitments. He just wants to do it on his own and not because we tell him to. I tried to explain it's not what we're asking it's what God is asking and setting Goals (like a baptismal date) helps us to work towards something. I'm pretty sure he understands. He basically just wants to surprise everyone with his own accomplishments. He did commit to stop drinking!

A couple of weeks after that...

So this last week we set a baptismal date with the Villarruel! Oh my goodness I was so happy. When we went to their house last night with a family from the ward Antonio said he would commit to baptism, They really want to be and they've made their decision, but he wants to go to a baptism first, to be able to feel more comfortable at their own. Bummer they are only ever on sundays! But during the lesson I got a really calming feeling that everything will be just great. So they will be baptized in 2 weeks hopefully.
I love them so much my heart is filled with the most joy I have ever felt when I am with them teaching and especially during our last lesson. I couldn't hold back my smile! I Just want to tell everyone how wonderful they are and how much they've changed! It's a miracle of God. This is his work and he loves his children so much he has given us everything we need to return to live again with him and our families through the true and full gospel of Jesus Christ. 

A couple weeks and a transfer later...

Just got moved out of my first area for the first time! It was so hard but the lord is blessing us in this new area! it's really wonderful, I wish you all could know. We've Had a huge miracle everyday! I've been a little sick lately but sister Zollinger has been so understanding. She's a doll. Super awesome missionary from north Dakota! We're getting baptisms left and right here! It's going so good! I was able to go to the Villarruel's baptism last Sunday in my last zone. It was so great! They were so cute and happy! I'll send pictures next week. Well in one year from August 25th I plan on coming back to go through the temple and see them be sealed!!! 

Missing This Cute Girl

sooo revealing of our personalities. Amanda, you're the boring angel

Alexa has been serving a spanish-speaking mission in the California Los Angeles Mission for the past 10 months. I can't say how proud I am of her! Missions are hard work and require a lot of sacrifice, so we are all very impressed. I 've loved seeing her mature through her letters. So that you all can see it too, I've collected the Best of Hermana Landon:

Oh hello sillies!!! Tell me about what's going on with work and school? did you draw any cool pictures at work Dad? Did mom buy any more pictures? haha my hermanas in mi distrito always threaten to send mom pictures of what I eat whenever I eat jello or a cookie. I tell them mom would never send me cookies or sweets in a package. She would send me an empty box! They think Mom is so funny from what I say! Everyone loves me? well everyone loves mom! (Ed. note: Everyone loves mom - slogan of my high school career)

Funny story about me. it was like Dumb and Dumber and the christmas story when i tried to eat a orange dream bar the other week. I had heard the ice cream bars can get so cold your tounge will freeze but I had thought my tounge wouldn't be a victim. So I went for a great big lick and BOOM! I was stuck.....Forever! I began to panic and tried to remove my tounge and notify my companion, but all of the elders in our district we sit by saw me and started laughing. I was laughing so hard/ crying wondering why I had been so prideful and dumb. I drooled and counldn't focus on getting un stuck. Everyone was shoving juice and milk for me to pour over my tounge but it would have spilled all over me! I finally pulled it off. My tounge was frozen for a long time after. 

 I get what people mean when they say they're not sure what language they were taught in the MTC, but it wasn't the mission language. It's hard to figure out what the latinos are saying, I understand a lot of words, it just goes by so quickly I don't get main point of what they said. Sister Curtis is SUPER helpful in teaching me. She will only speak to me in Spanish and if I don't understand she is so willing to repeat until I do. Yesterday I told her most of the time I only get half of what she says. So this morning in spanish she said to me "Are you going to keep pretending you know what I am saying" and of course I responded with a "yes" to what I didn't understand. She puts a lot of responsibility on me, but always bails me out when I need it. 

I Know God leads us to everyone in our path. We hand out copies of the Book Of Mormon like candy out here. If it starts out in the wrong hands it will end up in the right ones sooner or later.

An elder shared with me a poem about missionary life and it was hilarious how true it was. It said something about being on a mission you really do feel the happiest and the saddest, you've never before met so many crazy people and so many wonderful people. You never feel so forsaken and never so loved and comforted. You've never worked so hard and still felt like you've been lazy. You've never wanted to go home so bad and wanted to stay more than ever.
My comp and I were laughing about how every RM tells the best stories about miracles and awesome things that happen and make it sound like they happen all the time, but in reality they don't. It's hard every day our numbers sometimes show 0 success, so why am I so happy? Why do we feel so accomplished? For some reason- by the mercies of Heavenly Father- it's always worth it. At the end of the day we didn't get any lessons, I feel so worn out, but I think about all the people we talked to and how happy I felt with them and my companions.

We almost have 5 missionaries from our Spanish ward! That's so many! we hear things about there being about there being 50,000 then it's 60,000 and then 70,000! This must be the work of God or half of the things we do and half the work we put in would never turn out well or work. Everyday is a testimony to me. If this wasn't the true work of God I wouldn't be here anymore. This is way too hard to be a fun volunteer summer experience. I can't understand why I am so happy when I am so tired everyday and the night goes by way to quickly.
These people are worth it. I love every one of them!

I've been struggling in the work and fighting to be the consecrated missionary I want to be. It's been hard talking to people and loosing them. Sometimes I feel like I'm at my end. Like nothing I do will help anyone. But the atonement is real. Christ suffered alone. But I am not alone. He carries me every time I feel so bad. And He's always with me any other time. He loves me and I love him. That's why I'm still here working. Salvation is personal. But everyone needs it.

I have felt like the lord has bless me with the opportunity to help a lot of people be baptized, and with all the love I can feel, just lift my heart! but Now I feel I am at a point where I don't need that to feel happy. I am seeing myself change and become more like Christ. I am seeing my desires change. I am seeing sharing the gospel in even a more different way. A better way. The best way. There is no greater blessing than to use your whole heart everyday to help people understand clearly the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ, and if they choose, accept it. We can do it on missions, we can do it as parents, we can do it with our friends/neighbors.

We gave a church tour to a man who said he wanted to learn more about the book of mormon and what it is...He understood he felt that it was truth and said he would pray to ask God if it was true. That was one of the first times especially that I felt I taught so simply they understood right away what we meant and the spirit confirmed the truth so strongly. it all rests on clarity and simplicity and telling them the pure truth so they can make the ful decision on their own to find out for themselves.

I have continually moved forward through my mission. I have given up all I was before to be new and better and more like christ. I has been such a challenge that I would never before have overcome or even began but My father has helped me. He is always there for me. He has always loved me.  

I was a terrible person yesterday

I read this story on a friend's blog and it got me thinking, do I help people out of pity and moral obligation rather than love, too?

I was finished grocery shopping at Winco and in the process of loading my car when a man and his 9-year-old son approached me. He had to ask 3 times for money for the Frontrunner before I understood his question. Knowing the money was most likely not for the Frontrunner, I uncomfortably replied that I was unsure if I was carrying any cash but I would check. I gave him the ten I found in my wallet but added, “Here, next time just don’t take your son.” I said that. Can you believe I SAID THAT? Not only was I uncommonly rude, but I openly judged him. No disciple of Christ should ever act like I did.
 Sure I gave the man some money, but I gave it with pity and judgment rather than love. Why was I so uncomfortable anyway? Isn’t he a son of God too? Shouldn’t I be happy to help?  I should have given him money and then offered them a ride. I should have asked if they needed anything else I could give. I could have shown him Christian love and then shared the gospel. Instead I totally botched the whole situation, and turned my back on that man and I turned my back on God, who might have sent him to me for help.
 I’ve repented but, unfortunately, there are just some things I will always regret.

Do You Want to See Some Bridals?

Do you wanna?

Unsurprisingly, I'm much less obsessed with wedding pictures now that I have some of my own. It's a tragedy really, because I end up never looking at mine. We did have beautiful formals, but I wish they had been a little more Pacific Northwest giant pines and a little less Utah sagebrush. They have a very editorial feel, though.

Mormon Questions: Young Married Mormons

Carter and I in front of the Salt Lake Temple a month before we were married there.

A while ago I read this post called How to Train A Mormon and I haven't been able to get the topic out of my head since. In the post, the author explains that when she was young and naive she expected people outside of Utah to ask questions about her "glowing light" and why she was so happy. Instead, she was surprised to face questions more like, "Why don't you drink coffee?" and "Why do you wait to have sex until marriage?" In the article, the author goes on to talk about obedience and why mormons aren't weird and yada yada.

The article got me thinking though, what questions am I asked about Mormonism and how do I answer?  So I'm making this into a series of posts titled: Mormon Questions. I'm hoping there is a little of something for everyone. If you've ever been asked an unexpected question about Mormonism and answered well, or even not-so-well, then please share your experiences! If you are a Mormon but you've never lived in an area where Mormons are a novelty, then maybe you've never encountered such questions before. However, chances are you will someday! If you are not a Mormon but have unanswered question about what exactly Mormons believe, then maybe I'll be able to answer a few.

So, no. 1 on the list is : "Why do Mormons get married so young?"

I'm not sure if it's because I am recently married (10 months) or what but, surprisingly, this THE most-asked question by my friends and random strangers.

The answer is that there are likely many reasons why, but my favorite reason is because we believe that family is most important in this life. To us, families are a priority, and, consequently, there is no reason (including career goals) to put off having one. I usually throw in there that it isn't a church policy; no one is dictating that we get married and have babies before 25. Sometimes I even joke(dryly) about BYU: "When you throw a bunch of 20-something kids together all thinking about marriage, some of them are bound to go through with it."

I think most people think marrying so young is naive. I was married fairly young, and likely naively, but, like most Christians, we believe that God helps two imperfect people come together to have a perfect marriage.

My least favorite answer to this question is: "Because we don't believe in sex before marriage." It makes all Mormons sound like sex-deprived zombies. Sure, it's true that we believe in abstinence before marriage, but no sane individual gets married just for sex. It may be a component of a desire for marriage but more like a top 100 reason and not a top 5. So maybe don't include this in a conversation about Mormons. PLEASE.

So what do you guys think? Really, truly, I'm very interested to see how you answer this question!

Everyone needs to sign this petition NOW

I mean, only if you care about the future of your children and country. Require Porn to be an "Opt In" feature with Internet Service Providers rather than a standard feature. Sign here please.

From the petitioners:

In its current state, Internet porn seeks out users by email solicitations and massive amounts of free content throughout Internet browser searches. The average person, even children, can type in the word "cat" or "home" or "soup" and instantly be inundated with offensive and disturbing pornographic images. Parents and individuals have to go to great lengths to install Internet filters that often don't weed out all porn. We are asking for greater protection and responsibility from Internet Service providers and our country. We are asking that people who are interested in porn should have to seek it and choose it. They should have to "Opt In" for it by making arrangements to receive it with their Internet Service Provider. Everyone else should be free from it and assumed "Opt Out".

Be like Britain! Sign this petition!(see what I did there?)

Blogger Love

I discovered blogs about three years ago via my friend, Amelia, and I love them. Readily accessible and relevant reading material from friends and even famous bloggers? What's not to love? What I'm less willing to admit is that I read A LOT of them. Lots and lots of blogs and yet I still want more! More and MORE. So I'm going to share some of my favorite reads in the hopes that you'll share some of your picks. Pretty please?

Joanna Goddard at A CUP of JO is a classic. She's a magazine writer, turned blogger and has entertaining material everyday, sometimes several times a day. I have a feeling we'd be best friends in real life. 

Jenny Komenda at Little Green Notebook is a design genius. On her blog she gives great design inspiration and DIYs that make great interior decorating seem attainable.
Sydney Poulton at The Daybook started out as a fashion blogger but has since expanded her blog to include more of a lifestyle aspect. I love her beautifully written musings and her adorable little boy. 

Lizzie B. at Cotton and Curls is a DIY fashionista. Her blog includes sewing tutorials and brilliant up-cycles. Check out where she up-cycled a pair of grandma pants into high waisted beauties. I use her for all my sewing needs. 

Anna Dorfman at Door Sixteen makes me want to rip up all our floors and take on house renovations that I am wholly unqualified to start. She, too, is a designer with a rocking-London design style. 

Allie at Hyperbole and a Half writes about hilarious life-stories accompanied by Microsoft Paint illustrations. She addresses diverse topics such as childhood misconeptions, stupid dogs, and depression. 

Lindsay at Pinch of Yum has THE food blog to read. Not only does she share incredible recipes, she produces a food photography book, and talks about all the ins and outs of food blogging, trade secrets most bloggers are unwilling to doll out.

So what are your blog favorites?