DH's Missionary Meme

DH is catching on to this blogging thing quickly, and he has tagged me on this missionary meme:

Rules--
1. Answer the three missionary questions
2. Do the missionary activity and return and report.
3. Tag 5 of your friends.

Here are the questions:
1. Did you serve a mission, and where?
2. What was your best missionary experience?
3. Who is the most missionary-oriented leader you have ever had?

Missionary Activity:
Ask a random stranger if they have ever heard about the Mormon Church, and if they would like to know more (Golden Question)

1. I am indeed a returned missionary, and I served in the Canada Montreal Mission. (CMM) Back then we used to call it the "Canada Marriage Mission" for the amount of Elders and Sisters who met there and married after their missions. Scandalous. I was a convert of only a year, and a mission was a real eye-opener for me. I was fresh from being a Born-Again Christian, and I'm sure my over-zealousness was a real trial for many a companion and District Leader. (I wish to apologize to them all.)

2. My favorite missionary experience was when I was in a threesome with Sisters Lavigne and Carmack. It was only for a few weeks near the end of December. We put together a singing discussion, with Christmas carols, three-part SSA harmony, and references to Christ; and went around with a guitar singing to all who would let us in their doors. The discussion brought the Spirit to virtually every home we entered.
Second runner-up is the time our district was on our way home from a Zone Conference in a severe ice storm. Cars had run off the road everywhere. Our two cars would drive up to a stalled car, the Elders would jump out, and in their suits would manhandle the car back onto the road and send it on its way. Not a proselyting word was spoken. They'd jump back in the cars and on we would go to the next stranded motorist. Good times.

3. Most missionary-oriented leader was Sloan Alma Smith, president of the Charlotte NC mission when I joined the Church. He was a Bible-bashing, pulpit thumping old-style Mormon with white hair and the most energy I've ever seen. He would stop his car at red lights and signal for the car next to him to roll down the window, then hand the unsuspecting victim a missionary tract!

Challenge: I actually asked the Golden Question recently to a Filipino woman I work with. She said that when she was a little girl her family had the discussions and they were going to join the Church, but they had to go to a cousin's wedding, and several weeks went by, the missionaries were transferred, and the baptism never happened. What do you know.

I'm going to tag David, OLL, SilverRain, M&M, and MCQ

Calling You Out

It's a new meme by Johnny who is supposed to be studying, but instead is taking frequent breaks to comment on people's blogs and bother those who should be packing.

Here are the rules:

(1) Explain an issue that you are most passionate about.

(2) Why should all others (ignoramuses that disagree with you) accept your position?

(3) Why do the rest of us (ignoramuses who disagree with you) just not get it?

Well, everyone who blogs knows that I am passionate about pacifism and Mormon feminism. But I think I'll respond on a different issue today. I am passionate about gifted education. Because of all our moves, my children have attended a combined total of 15 different schools plus about 5 years of home schooling. We have seen a wide range of programs for gifted children. (BTW all 8 of my children have tested gifted, no big surprise with their family background.) We've encountered four different types of gifted education:

1. The children are divided according to ability and the gifted classes work ahead of their grade level.
2. The gifted children are identified and placed in magnet schools
3. The children attend regular classes and are pulled out of class a few hours a week to attend supplementary programs.
4. There is no gifted program--the children are mainstreamed and enjoy a maximum interaction with their peers of all abilities.

For some reason there are ignoramuses who believe that the gifted children should remain in the regular classroom as examples for the rest of the students, helping them with their homework, tutoring them, running errands for the teacher and otherwise frittering away their public education time. These children learn to do the work, which is way too easy for them, quickly and with a minimum of effort. They seldom have homework or work up to their potential.

My position is that children should be allowed to work at the highest level they are capable of attaining. In a public school situation this is best achieved by putting them with others of the same capabilities, either in a self-contained classroom or a magnet school. Yes, this is segregation according to ability. I have seen amazing results with such classes.

You should accept this position because if Americans wish to be competitive in the worldwide arena we need to give our gifted students every opportunity to advance in their studies. This is not possible in a crowded classroom of 30 students at different levels. The teacher must spend most of the time on those who do not understand and need to be brought up to grade level.

Many of you just do not get it. You want the money spent on education to go to your mediocre or special needs student. You want my well-behaved child in the classroom to influence others for good. The gifted children have parents who disproportionately help in the schools and in the classrooms. You would like to spread this assistance around.

My focus is the best education for the gifted child because my children are gifted. Would my ideas change if my children were not in this demographic? Probably not. Separating the children by ability makes better teaching possible for all.

I tag J G-W, JohnR, M&M, Téa , and Amelia.

Five More For the Road!

If you're still curious about the inner BiV, it's your lucky day. John Remy has sent me 5 more interview questions, and they're deep ones!

1. You're absolute dictator for a month...of Vernal. What decrees would you issue?

An immediate pay raise for all educators! Each adult over the age of 18 will read one book per month. New buildings and more funding for the USU satellite campus here in town. An end to censorship at the Public Library. More cultural opportunities: theater, orchestra, ballet, fine dining. Each adult Mormon must attend religious services of another faith tradition twice a year to promote open-mindedness. All rifles and shotguns banned...wait, I've just been impeached.

2. What are your favorite poets and poems?

There are way too many--I love classic poetry: Shakespeare's sonnets,Shelley, Joseph Addison, many more.

More modern poets I enjoy are: Robert Frost, Maya Angelou and Langston Hughes.

My favorite poems are those that relate worldly problems to religion and things of the soul. I adore The Chambered Nautilus. Another which really stirs me is this:

The Parable of the Young Man and the Old
Wilfred Owen

So Abram rose, and clave the wood, and went,
And took the fire with him, and a knife.
And as they sojourned, both of them together,
Isaac the first-born spake, and said, My Father,
Behold the preparations, fire and iron,
But where the lamb for this burnt-offering?
Then Abram bound the youth with belts and straps,
And builded parapets the trenches there,
And stretched forth the knife to slay his son.
When lo! an angel called him out of heaven,
Saying, Lay not thy hand upon the lad,
Neither do anything to him. Behold,
A ram, caught in a thicket by its horns;
Offer the Ram of Pride instead of him.
But the old man would not so, but slew his son,
And half the seed of Europe, one by one.

3. What is your greatest accomplishment? Your greatest failure? Bonus points for responding in verse.

To bear eight souls so strong
and bring their minds along--
To see them grow, and stretch, and shine
Must be the greatest feat of mine.

I'm strong, yet weak
In those things of which we speak.
My greatest failure, pain I can attest:
I marred the ones I love the best.

4. The people in white coats are coming to take you away (haha! heehee! hoho!). What for? Bonus points for creativity.

I snapped when I realized that even though my older children are entering adulthood, they will never reach a stage of maturity to leave me my privacy when taking a shower. I am accustomed to my 8-year-old coming in and sitting on the counter and chatting away, leaving the door open while I shiver behind the curtain. But last week I was showering with the door locked when my 19-year-old jiggled the door handle. She immediately left to find some implement to poke in the knob and pop the lock. Exasperated, I asked, "What are you doing?" She replied, "Did you know the bathroom door was locked?" AAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!! (Bonus Points: I did not make this up.)

5. You're granted the power to remove one event from history. Which one would you wipe and why?

I know, most people would say the Holocaust. But I just can't do it. Those who suffered have taught the world so much. The world would be poorer without books like Man's Search for Meaning, and Night, and Diary of Anne Frank. In some cruel but transcendent way, their suffering has sanctified them. So I guess I will remove the assassination of Martin Luther King. He "shaped the political and social fabric of the times", and I would love to see what he would have done with a few more years. What would the world be like if he were still alive today?

Exclusive Interview by Jana Remy

I happpened upon this great opportunity to be interviewed by Jana Remy! Makes me feel a little bit famous, even.

1) If you were a sea creature, what would you be and why?
(I love this question because of my affinity for the water and water sports. When I lived for 2 years in Hawaii I practically dwelt in the ocean.)
I am much like a sea anenome. I have various tentacles which represent my assorted, disparate personalities. One of my tentacles is the dutiful Visiting Teacher, one is the Sunstone Reader. One tentacle basks in the sun at an upscale resort, another works with disadvantaged Native American children. If touched, the tentacles of a sea anenome retract into the body for protection. They can be spectacular and beautiful, but they're poisonous, so watch out!

2) What heroine from a book is most like you? Why?
Jana must know that if I'm not immersed in the ocean, I am immersed in a book! I have a fascination with the heroine of one of Orson Scott Card's early books: Wyrms. I like the myth of a heroine on a quest. Patience is a young girl about whom prophecies have been written. She will either save the world or destroy it. I see in myself a huge potential for good that can easily be turned to evil. One reviewer said that Wyrms had left him "vaguely disturbed, as if someone I knew closely had lost part of her humanity to fulfill a crucial mission."

3) What book do you recommend that everyone read and why?
There are so many of them. But you should read The Agony and the Ecstasy by Irving Stone. It is a biographical novel about Michaelangelo. It will give you a sense of the majesty and pathos of life.

4) How many hours/day do you spend online?
At the least I spend an hour a day on line. I rarely miss a day. I have been known to spend the entire day and into the night online. (It's always broken up by trips to the laundry room, taking kids here and there, yard work, my job, etc. I do have some responsibilites.) But I check my email, blog, keep in contact with friends from Houston, study the scriptures, learn Hebrew, do research for my books, all online.

5) If you could live anywhere besides Vernal, where would you relocate? Why?
I loved Houston, but mostly because of the circle of friends I had there, and my great house and neighborhood. I don't think I could go back. Southern California is fantastic, but I think I would have liked it better 20 years ago. It's too crowded and expensive now. So I'll have to say Hawaii. Somewhere on the North Shore, away from it all. My criteria are: warm weather (I could care less about four seasons!), proximity to a large body of water, cultural and recreational opportunities without a dense population.

Now it's your opportunity to be interviewed by the (in)famous Bored in Vernal!! If you want to play along with this meme:

1. Leave me a comment saying, “Interview me.” If I don’t have your email address, leave it for me in the comments or email it to me.

2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. I get to pick the questions.

3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.

4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.

5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

Go see the people I've interviewed so far:
Joseph Addison
Ima
John Remy (a twofer!)
Jo in Utah
Johnny

Book Meme

I found that I had read many of the books on this book meme. I have read the ones in bold, and the ones in italics I read with my book club in Houston (I miss them!)
Which ones have you read? Am I missing anything important?

1. The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (J.R.R. Tolkien)
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (J.R.R. Tolkien)
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (J.R.R. Tolkien)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10. A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (J.K. Rowling)
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (J.K. Rowling)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
16. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (J.K. Rowling)
17. Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (J.K. Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. The Hobbit (J.R.R. Tolkien)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25. Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie(Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (George Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. Bible
46. Anna Karenina (Leo Tolstoy)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Charles Dickens)
53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Charles Dickens)
55. The Great Gatsby (Scott Fitzgerald)
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (J.K. Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrew Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolsoy)
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davies)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. Les Miserables (Victor Hugo)
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Helen Fielding)
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According To Garp (John Irving)
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White)
81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (John Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down (Richard Adams)
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. In the Skin of a Lion (Michael Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (William Golding)
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)

Biblical Knowledge Quiz

You know the Bible 100%!

Wow! You are awesome! You are a true Biblical scholar, not just a hearer but a personal reader! The books, the characters, the events, the verses - you know it all! You are fantastic!

Ultimate Bible Quiz
Create MySpace Quizzes

(Don't I just wish I knew the Bible 100%!!)

But I can answer 42 questions like this:

35. In Jesus' parable, who stopped to help a man in need?
Donald Trump
Donald Duck
Don Knotts
a Samaritan

The Last Ten Years

I enjoyed reading about Connor’s last ten Decembers, and thought I’d treat you to the same. I did pretty well at remembering, not because I have kept a journal every year, but there are always the yearly Christmas letters to look back on!

Dec 2005
First Christmas in Vernal. We tried to make it through Dec without turning on the heat. Many families in town were using their wood burning stoves and keeping themselves nice and toasty. After a most cruel and unusual punishment to the family, we turned the heat on 80 degrees and left it there until June 1.

Dec 2004
Houston, Texas. Christmas Eve we went to eat at Wings and More, where our daughter was working, so we could all be together as a family. That evening it actually snowed for about 15 minutes. (Houston had not seen snow for 10 years.) We all went outside and danced in it. Three of my children were wearing flip-flops.

Dec 2003
Houston. Attended the Ward Party and ate a cranberry jello salad prepared by a native Texan which had jalapeno peppers in it. Ouch!

Dec 2002
Houston. Spent the entire vacation recovering from teaching Early-morning Seminary. Sat in front of the computer in PJs and slippers, searching the internet for genealogy finds. (Connor: 20 year anniversary of returning from the mish! I also got back in Dec.)

Dec 2001
Houston. Began serious study of Hebrew, started a study group on Isaiah with 7 other Mormon housewives, started writing a book on Isaiah. (still working on it!)

Dec 2000
First Christmas in Houston. Turned 40 in November. Growing up, I always thought I’d be alive in the year 2000, but that I would be Really, Really Old.

Dec 1999
Calexico, CA. Took Christmas pictures in our backyard. Tried to make the kids wear cute little Christmas sweatshirts. They sweat their brains out, cried, took off all their clothes, did not smile for the picture.

Dec 1998
Calexico, CA. Birth of my eighth child on Dec 22. Came home from the hospital Christmas morning. Seven children were waiting around the tree for us to come home so they could open presents. Opened the door to a great cheer!

Dec 1997
Calexico, CA. Drove 30 miles on Sunday evenings to participate in the Master Chorale. Put on a big Madrigal Feaste production in which myself and my older girls were involved. Had to repent of cursing done while I was sewing 5 elaborate medieval outfits.

Dec 1996
First Christmas in Calexico. Still in recovery from living on a graduate fellowship for 3 years when DH went back to school for his doctorate. Purchased Christmas presents of underwear, socks, jeans, none of which had been replaced for 3 years.

Giving in to Peer Pressure

I post this Christmas meme at the risk of boring myself and everyone who visits here to death. I would much rather be discussing problematic doctrines. But I can't resist doing anything Jana tells me to do!

1. Eggnog or hot chocolate? Eggnog. And Hot Chocolate. And another cup of each. And one more for the road.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just put them under the tree? He wraps them. But first (s)he has to get all eight children to bed. On Christmas Eve. So (s)he is very, very tired when (s)he finally gets them all wrapped, and sometimes might turn into a bit of a Grinch on Christmas morning.

3. Colored lights on the tree, or white? Colored some years. White some years. This year it's white, to go with the 50 angels on the tree.

4. Do you hang mistletoe? Nope. Too many teenaged girls in the house.

5. When do you put your decorations up? On a Monday night, sometime after Thanksgiving.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish? Ham, homemade rolls, and jello, jello, jello. I love all the different jello dishes at the Ward party. See? there really is a TBM hiding deep down inside.

7. What's a favorite holiday memory from your childhood? Going out for pizza every Christmas Eve and then attending the midnight Christmas candlelight service.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? My parents always told the truth about Santa. He was just a fun part of the celebration. I tell my children the same thing, but they refuse to believe me.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Yes. It is always the present from the Swedish side of the family. Family tradition has it that the Swedes open all their gifts Christmas Eve.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? One year I framed all the family picture Christmas cards I had saved over the years and hung them on the tree with big red ribbons. This year I have lots and lots of angels.

11. Snow! Love it or dread it? Snow is something you only love up to a certain age. I have now reached that age.

12. Can you ice skate? I went last year with my Cub Scouts. I pulled them around for 3 hours and did not injure myself!

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? When I was 16 and my dad took me and a selected group of friends to see "Jesus Christ Superstar."

14. What's the most important thing about the holidays for you? Hearing from everyone I have lost touch with over the years, Christmas caroling and concerts.

15. What is your favorite holiday dessert? Homemade fudge.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Our family Christmas Nativity program on Christmas Eve.

17. What tops your tree? An angel. But when I was growing up we had a light spinner that threw colored light all across the room. I wish I could find one.

18. Which do you prefer - giving or receiving? I don't like giving or receiving. I like the "doing" part of Christmas--caroling, going to parties, decorating, etc.

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? Everything from Handel's Messiah, especially the Hallelujah Chorus and He Shall Feed His Flock. Also like "Emmanuel" by Amy Grant. I listen to Christmas music all season long.

20. Candy Canes! Yuck! Peppermint stick ice cream though, is a different story.

Now tell me the truth. Did any of you actually read this?