A status update

I thought I would give everyone a bit of a status update.

1. Moved to Dexter, MI (a suburb of Ann Arbor). After a lot of nonsense with trying to buy a house, we did get into one finally.

2. Started school. Very very hard to come back to school after being in industry. Lots of late nights up trying to remember how math works. Have been behind on homework trying to catch up.

3. Have not read anything spiritual, or done anything that strengthens me spiritually for about 2 months. I desperately miss StayLDS. I received a lot of spiritual nourishment here. We are attending our new ward, but both me and my wife are both a bit disenchanted with it.

Michigan (outside of Ann Arbor) is a very conservative state. As a result, there’s always talk about Satan and the world and clear association with those who want gay marriage, or legalizing marijuana, or any other number of liberal-ish issues. Additionally, the stake president seems to be quite heavy on the rules, Mormon routine (FHE, daily scripture reading, prayer, etc.), missionary work, and pretty light on Christ, love, serving others, etc. It’s quite the contrast with our ward in Livermore, CA. This translates into SS and priesthood lessons that leave me squirming, silent, bored, frustrated, and spiritually malnourished. Honestly, in this ward we spend so much time reaffirming to ourselves why we’re the one true church, we have no time to talk about Christ!

Perhaps this is partly because of HUGE number of churches in Michigan generally. I have never seen so many different churches in my whole life. There about 3 per street corner, and many in our ward are converts from these other churches. So perhaps to them it is important that we reaffirm to ourselves why we’re the one true church. Additionally, because the missionary work here is slow, the missionaries come and teach the members the discussions (to get teaching practice). For some reason I am not dealing well with this. The lack of spiritual nourishment seems to leave me frustrated with the oversimplification, blind “knowledge” of the truth, and the whole array of the questions and answers during these discussions. I have so many questions/concerns, but of course I don’t want to drop an atomic bomb on the faith of these poor missionaries, nor do I want to cause a stir. So I generally just smile and nod and try to come up with something constructive to say. Our last assignment from the missionaries was to commit to talk to our friends about who we are, why we’re here, where we came from, and where we’re going. Needless to say, I’m not mad keen on spreading the Mormon answers to such questions.

Anyway, the point is, I’m spiritually malnourished as I have not been able do anything other than homework, or church since we got here, and church isn’t doing it for me.

4. Got called to be the ward activity chair people (me and my wife), which could be interesting since neither me nor my wife really care for church functions outside of church.

5. I plan to make time for StayLDS in my life at this point, since it is clear it is a source of strength for me. I like being a part of this group here, and I feel our service is incredibly valuable to so many disaffected individuals.

6. When I got here, I decided that this time I would be placing boundaries on what I would and wouldn’t do in the church, based on my comfort level (an important part of defining Mormonism for what works for me). I decided I wouldn’t talk about anything other than Christ. Turns out they asked me to speak on “Christ as the cornerstone of the church” and I’ll be speaking on March 28. I thought that was fantastic, and a great stroke of luck (or not ).

Anyway, I hope everyone here is doing well. Glad to see you back in action Brian. To everyone else, thanks for continuing your great service. I respect and admire each of you!