The Wayfarer Archive

How do I worship in Exile?

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As a Mormon, my "one-true" nightclubbing years were spent as a newly wed trying to prove I was much older and more mature than my years let on, dutifully planning my family while my peers were partying it up. Here I was on the flip side trying to be hip enough despite my parent card as my peers now gladly trade in their dancing shoes for evenings with new babies.

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"Unspeakable" is an interesting way for me to label this crime, especially considering statistics show an American is sexually assaulted every 2.5 minutes. Yet as much as I teach my children not to take candy from strangers or to stay away from suspicious white vans without windows, this is a subject about which I haven't spoken to them.

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“Families are Forever” reads the plaque, its vinyl modern font letters set against an artful antique finish. It’s the catch-phrase of modern Mormonism, a way of life for the most devout and the last holdout belief for those who struggle or find themselves at odds […]

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Second only to Halloween, New Year’s is a favorite of mine. The ritual self-assessing gets me literally giddy as I look ahead at a new year with a clean slate and infinite possibility. I realize we could do this at any time, but having it […]

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This year, I’ve been having a difficult time getting into the Christmas spirit this season.   Heck, I’ve had difficulty even defining what “is” the Christmas spirit. For my kids, the season is (still) about presents.  When asked to draft a letter to Santa requesting […]

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I reminisced about the lunches with other moms and days spent at museums and pumpkin patches without quite remembering the soul-crushing isolation felt when there was no adult conversation several days in a row.

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Dear body, We have a pretty big day coming up tomorrow. It’s been a long time since we talked, old friend. I hope you still consider me your friend. I’ve known you from the moment I was a twinkle in my mother’s eye and   […]

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When my oldest son was about 18 months old, he used the term “thank you” for “give me.” With his cute little baby accent, he could get almost anything he wanted, especially compared with his younger brother, who at the same age used the term […]

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I had only been a member a few months, but was reticent to share my new beliefs with my parents when I met them for vacation. But there was no way to hide it. Though I still felt I was the same inside, there was […]

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Halloween is a high holy holiday at my house. There’s something about planning a great costume, from the brainstorm of potentials to the final touches of makeup on Halloween night, that I love. It’s the one night a year we decide what we want to […]

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I’d like to welcome Shellie as a contributor to the Wayfarer. Shellie’s travelogue is full of humor and heart, and I can’t wait to share her journey. A couple of years ago I signed up my 6 year old son Dallen for T-ball. This was […]

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It hurts to think we can do so much good as a church, yet be looked upon so badly. It's painful to know we have so much in common -- not just a belief in Jesus Christ, but in being good parents, raising moral children and offering service to our communities, yet the circle is still drawn too narrow.

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[My parents] have taught me to be aware of the world and to care about what's going on even if it doesn't impact your life. They have taught me to stand up for myself and my beliefs. They have helped me be more open to different types of people. They may be crazy, but they are my parents

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A very wise woman told me recently that part of loving someone was giving them the room to be disappointed in my decisions. I’m still trying to wrap my head around it. It seems I’ve spent the better part of my life trying to avoid […]

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by Randy B “[S]eek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.”    Matthew 7:7 A few years ago, I had become all but convinced that nobody was making any new music worth listening to anymore.   I still had my […]

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To me, these white clothing traditions are cultural in nature and are just part of being a Mormon, but to some they represent yet one more way to cast judgments on each other: What message does it send when someone wears a blue striped shirt to church?

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Glenn Beck: How many warnings do you think you're going to get, and how many warnings do you deserve? This hurricane that is coming thorough the East Coast, for anyone who's in the East Coast and has been listening to me say 'Food storage!' 'Be prepared!'

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My fondest childhood memories are on a boat. Nearly every summer time was spent at a lake or reservoir swimming, skiing or just driving around. The feeling of warm air blowing my hair back as the sun gently kisses my face leaving freckled remnants behind […]

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“10% of yoga is the outfit, 10% are the poses” the teacher joked at the beginning of class, then followed up more seriously with “80% is just showing up.” She may be on to something. So many aspects of life I wait to “show up” […]

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They say 3 moves purges as much stuff as a fire. I’m testing that theory this summer. I moved last summer to what I knew would be temporary housing, grateful to sell my suburban home and trade it for a tiny rental in a unique […]

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When we are weary and in need of strength We remember them When we are lost and sick at heart  We remember them When we have joy we crave to share  We remember them When we have decisions that are difficult to make  We remember […]

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When my children had outgrown their need for a nap, but I had not yet outgrown my need to have them nap, we instituted “quiet time” where they could play quietly by themselves or rest without sleeping. I told myself that they needed this break […]

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“Does anyone smell smoke?” Not exactly the words you want to hear at 36,000 feet in the air halfway through a cross-country flight. Shortly after the flight attendant asked us to take our shoes off to feel for heat (read: fire) below us, our plane […]

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The flickering of the candles drew me in as if they were the wish at end of a birthday celebration. . . when I found out that money was tied to offering these prayers, I felt a bit angry and self righteous. At MY church you could pray for free, God didn't "charge" to hear your pleas.

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And mostly I felt sadness that it takes people completely outside of my faith to see where the power of Mormonism lies.

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We can blame it all on Ben Franklin. Starting the trend for using artistic satire to editorialize, his “Join, or Die” cartoon was the first of its kind to be published. Depicting the original American colonies as pieces of a snake, he attempts to illustrate […]

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“A Mormon Mother” was the way I was described as my Prop 8 video was linked around the internet. I can’t blame them, I am the one who introduces the topic of gay marriage with mention of one of my children, and when I identify […]

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“To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men.” Abraham Lincoln On New Year’s Eve, I ceremoniously drew my approval whore, thanked and then released her: I welcomed a new year after a glorious hike and a fish and chips meal on […]

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You may have been watching the Packers and Steelers last night, but since I don’t care for pro football and typically pick a favorite based on the fashion statement the uniforms make (saw two sets of yellow pants yay!), I watched the ads. I learned […]

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One of the most profound ideas from my big Christmas trip was how it affected my relationship with my wallet. Taking a family of 6 that far for that long went beyond the normal vacation budgets and into spending money that could/should have been saved […]

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“You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience by which you really stop to look fear in the face. . . . You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” Eleanor Roosevelt I welcomed the new year in Queenstown, New Zealand, the […]

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In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. Martin Luther King, Jr. I grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah with three black people in my high school. At the time, I was proud to […]

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Once upon a time I was called in a ward to be a service outreach coordinator for the Relief Society. I was asked to organize monthly service projects which excited me beyond belief, but was given pretty tight restrictions. We weren’t allowed to spend money […]

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I’ve come to believe I must be half Mormon-girl, half rebel. I’m a sucker for a theme, a central idea to focus my efforts, yet the traditional “charity never faileth” or “kindness begins with me” just don’t seem to inspire. So when choosing a theme […]

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To a recovering claustrophobic , the crowds that day at the national mall were intense, a sea of people so wide you couldn’t see an end to it. Estimates have it at 200,000, but in the middle of it all it could have been a […]

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. . . if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. . . 1 John 1:7 I squirmed in my seat when I heard the words “I am Jesus,” exclaimed from the pulpit. The woman […]

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