When the Forces of Nature Won’t Let You Sleep.

I haven’t written for quite some time, and this is disgraceful. It’s not that I didn’t have time or subjects to write about; in fact, there has been an abundance of both. However, last night gave me a very good reason to write (and to laugh), because a series of crazy things combined together to disrupt my already strange sleeping habits.

As I think I’ve mentioned before, there is a considerable amount of wildlife in my neighborhood. Maybe not; I was going to write an article, but I was distracted from my purpose. Anyway, a few of my non-human neighbors plotted together to see just what they could do to keep me awake; at least their efforts, instead of putting me in a foul mood, cheered me up, mainly because I was able to fall right back to sleep.

I always go to bed late: it doesn’t matter how much I attempt to get to bed no later than midnight—preferably around 11:30—I never make it until about 12:30 – 1:00. Last night I was on top of the sheets (it was a bit too warm for anything more) at about 12:30 and fell straight to sleep. I was roused from my slumbers at 2:45 by the dulcet tones of my Kitty and our newest feral cat neighbor, Raccoon Cat (the name says it all) quarreling. Kitty’s voice is not very loud, but when she uses that tone of voice, smarter cats than Raccoon Cat turn around and run the other way. He didn’t and so, in order to keep them from waking up the entire neighborhood, I got up to see what the problem was. When I opened the door, Raccoon took off, but when I invited Kitty to come in, she ignored me; she had other things on her mind, as I discovered when she started jumping from one side of the cat carrier to the other: she had “cornered” (more like trapped) a mouse behind the carrier and that’s what the two cats had been arguing about.

Five minutes after returning to bed, and as I was drifting off to sleep, I heard a loud pounce as she pushed the carrier out of the way and captured her prey. I knew the capture had been made because it was followed by a series of terrified squeaks as the torture began… She’s a very good hunter and an even better torturer. Poor little mouse… Fortunately, I fell asleep again before the real fun and games began. And again, thank goodness the results of her prowess disappeared before I got up.

One would think, after this experience, that the denizens of my forest would let me get my beauty sleep, but alas! this was not to be; a few houses down one of the dogs must have had puppies and they decided to have a rather vociferous free-for-all. I felt like tearing out my hair as I listened to magnified growls, yips, out-and-out barking, and tussles as they fought among themselves. Their mother gave a warning growl and peace and quiet returned to the neighborhood until around five o’clock.

The sun was just beginning to conquer the moon when I was once again awakened by the inhabitants of our “woods”; angry chk,chk, chk, chks came, as it seemed, from under my bed. It wasn’t really, but when I heard another sound that I recognized as Big Bird, our red-tailed hawk, menacing the chker, I decided to get up and check things out. And there, to my sand-filled eyes, appeared a big fat squirrel holding one of my next-door neighbors’ tomatoes and threatening Big Bird with his ear-wrecking chatter. I said, “get out of there you stinky old tree rat” and he took off running, the tomato still hanging from his mouth.

Fortunately, this was the last disturbance or, if there were any others, I was fast asleep for the next few hours.

Have any others of you had close encounters of this sort, or similar, when you would rather have been sleeping?

 

© July 9, 2015 by Mary Purpari. All Rights Reserved. All photos taken by Mary Purpari. 

“Y” is for Young (and not so Young) Missionaries.

“After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent the two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come.¹”I’m pretty sure that most of you have probably seen at least one couple of LDS missionaries during your lifetime, unless you live in an area where proselyting is prohibited. And you can see them even in some of those countries where they depend mostly on information provided by members of the Church. The missionaries are those young men dressed in suits and wearing white shirts, ties, nametags and short hair.In most cities, they also ride on bicycles. In the first city I served in during my mission in Italy, Gorizia, back in 1977, they were known as the white flies because of the way they flew through traffic on their bicycles.

When I was a missionary the larger part of the missionaries serving around the world were young men, although there was also a small number of Sister missionaries and married couples. At the time, it was expected that young men served a full-time mission lasting two years, whereas sister missionaries and married couples were happily accepted, although not expected, to serve eighteen-month missions. Young men leaving on missions were usually nineteen years old, while sisters had to be at least 21 before they left. Married couples were eligible for serving as couples after they no longer had children living at home.

Now, young men can leave on missions after their eighteenth birthday, while young women can leave at nineteen. The percentage of young women going on missions has increased greatly, and I’m very  glad that there is a couple of sister missionaries here—they buoy me up when I feel like I’m about to sink under with despair. The married missionaries serve in a variety of areas. Right now, the couple serving in our center – both professional nurses (see “Women in the church”) – are in charge of the medical needs of all missionaries in our particular mission. They also serve in temples, in the Church Education System, etc.

Missionaries leave their families, friends, studies and their daily lives to serve the Lord for eighteen months to two years, to bring untold blessings in the lives of those they encounter, just as the missionaries that Jesus sent out when He was on the Earth.

¹Luke 10:1

© Mary Purpari. May 1, 2015. All Rights Reserved.

“X” is for not Xenophobic

“Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"¹

Xenophobic: Hatred or fear of foreigners or strangers or of their politics or culture.²

Several people who don’t actually know me personally have called me racist and bigot because I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. If they really knew me and the Church they would discover how untrue the statement is. I used the last stanza of Ms. Lazarus’ poem, The New Colossus, because in a way it also describes the LDS Church; any person on the earth, regardless of religious beliefs, is welcome to enter through the church doors anywhere in the world, and gain membership if they love Jesus Christ our Savior. Anyone, regardless of their nationality or social status.

It is wonderful to know that wherever I go I can meet new people, who share the same love for Jesus as I. Wards, or branches, are also very international. When I was living in Bologna, Italy, our branch had an American (me), a Greek and an Egyptian, an Armenian and lots of Italians. My first branch here in New York was mostly composed of wonderful Caribbean islanders (Jamaica, Trinidad, Haiti, Guyana, Barbados, etc), several of our brothers and sisters from Nigeria, and a few Americans. The branch I’m in now is even more diversified with several Latin American countries added to the group, along brothers and sisters from India, the Philippines, China and Korea. We even had a brother from Pakistan for a while, until he moved to Arizona.

Some of my favorite activities are when we have an international cultural evening and everyone brings food from their native countries, a well as singing their national anthems and telling us about their country’s culture. I always go as Italian, although I also join in on the American section.

Paul said in his letter to the members in Ephesus: “Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God;”³ And that is what you will find in any group of the LDS Church.

¹Emma Lazarus, The New Colossus, 1903.

²Reverso Online Dictionary

³Ephesians2:19

 

© Mary Purpari. April 30, 2015. All Rights Reserved

“W” is for Women in the Church

“Who can find a virtuous woman, for her price [worth] is far above rubies… Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates.¹”

The way people outside the Church view the position of the women inside the Church never ceases to amaze me. Several of the leaders in our Church have been physically attacked by feminist groups because of the way these women mistakenly view the position of the women of the Church. Many think we are oppressed, down-trodden, ignored or considered second-class citizens. This is far from the truth. There are writers, artists, poets, musicians, teachers, scientists, doctors, nurses, business women, politicians—you name it, we’re there. In fact, some of us are all of those together, because we’re mothers.

A couple of Sundays ago, in a Relief Society meeting, one sister, who just happens to be a nurse and a director of her sector in the hospital, told us about something that happened to her at work. Now, Sister Eckert can be a bit, shall we say assertive when she requires something to be able to get the job done well. So one day, while she was talking to the personnel director of the hospital, he mentioned that he had just learned that Sister Eckert was LDS, and told her he was surprised, because she didn’t look like a woman in the Church. When she asked him why he replied, “Mormon women are oppressed, but…” Staring him straight in the eye, Sister Eckert asked him, “Now Fred, do I look oppressed?” We all had to laugh when she told the story, because believe me, Sister Eckert is anything but oppressed and Fred had to admit it, too.*

The Relief Society [of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints] is the oldest and largest women's organization in the world. Relief Society was established in 1842 for women 18 years of age and older. Its purpose is to build faith and personal righteousness, strengthen families and homes, and help those in need.² The leaders of the group are all women.

Fun Fact: In the 1800s, LDS women were invited to go back East and study medicine, to be doctors and nurses. “As the Saints settled in the valley, and began organizing various needs for the community, it became clear that medical education needed to be addressed. There were a few male doctors, but the women wanted women to assist them in having their babies. As well, women were more concerned about health care and teaching hygiene. Eliza R. Snow, with the support of Pres. Brigham Young, sent six women back east to attend medical school. Upon their return, a building was purchased to house the first Mormon hospital. There were other religious based hospitals in the valley (St. Mark’s and Holy Cross), but this new hospital would be willing to treat everyone whether they could pay or not. In the late 1800s Deseret Hospital would serve the LDS community with an all woman board of directors.³”

For the most part, the women of the Church are highly respected members of the Church.

¹Proverbs 31:10, 31; I would suggest reading all verses from 10-31, inclusive, to know exactly what is written; it might surprise you.

²http://www.mormon.org/faq/relief-society

³http://www.ldswomenofgod.com/hospitals-and-the-relief-society/

* Story used with permission; Fred is not the director’s real name.

©Mary Purpari. April 27, 2015. All Rights Reserved.

“V”is for Virtue

“We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul—We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.¹”

I realize that most churches, Christian or not, basically claim this same belief. It is taught in most religious works, including the Bible, the Koran the Torah and Talmud and other religious teachings; it is not something claimed exclusively by the LDS.

Virtue is defined as: behavior showing high moral standards. synonyms: goodness, virtuousness, righteousness, morality, integrity, dignity, rectitude, honor, decency, respectability, nobility, worthiness, purity, chastity, honesty.

It is our belief that being virtuous is not something that has gone out of style, like old clothing, hairstyles or music; nor do we believe it ever will. We also believe that being virtuous applies to both women and men, to the same degree. In other words, what’s good for the goose is also good for the gander, and vice-versa.  

Being virtuous is one of the main steps in determining a person’s worthiness to enter the temple. We must literally live according to the Thirteenth Article of Faith if we wish to be worthy of entering the temple and performing the ordinances that are reserved for the temple.

We also believe that obeying God’s commandments helps us to maintain our virtues and to therefore become more like God, or as stated above: If there is anything virtuous, lovely or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things. We know we’re not perfect, but we’re working on it so that some day we can be with God.

¹Thirteenth Article of Faith

“U” is for the United Nations

“Representatives of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints addressed the role of the Church’s global humanitarian outreach efforts at a meeting at the United Nations in New York City on 27 February 2014.¹”

I was present that day last year and it was a truly amazing experience to be in that meeting where the efforts of the Church in offering humanitarian was was unfolded. I knew that the members of the Church had been involved in many such efforts throughout the world, but just how widespread those efforts were and how great the manpower involved was, truly caught me by surprise, as it did many others, as well.

For instance, I was unaware that immediately following WWII the members of the Church in Holland had gathered together over 70 tons of new potatoes that were put into the warehouse to be exported to Germany. One must consider that at that moment of time there was not a whole lot of love lost between the Dutch and the Germans, but they willingly shared what they had, planting potato crops wherever they could find a free space to cultivate; some even turned the space used for flower gardens into potato patches. Were they their brothers’ keepers? You can bet on it!

When the Teton Dam waters overflowed in Idaho, more than 45,000 members of the Church also flowed in Idaho to assist in cleaning  and fixing up. The same thing happened here in New York City when Sandy hit us in 2012.

Italian members of the Church sewed rag dolls in cooperation with UNICEF in order to collect funds for vaccinations for children in Third World countries.

“Initiatives of LDS Charities in 2013 include clean water (560,000 people in 37 countries), neonatal resuscitation (28,000 people in 37 countries), vision care (89,000 people in 34 countries), wheelchair distribution (66,000 people in 55 countries), family gardens (35,000 people in 20 countries), immunizations (18 projects in 12 countries) and emergency response (103 projects in 54 countries).”²

The services rendered around the world are provided free of charge  to all people, regardless of nationality or religion.

I enjoyed participating in the meeting, and hearing about the way things are improving throughout the world, thanks to the services offered by the Church.

For those who are interested, there is a video at the link below that should play; it shows the entire meeting if you are able to get it going.

¹http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/mormon-representatives-united-nations-discussion

² ibid.

© April 23, 2013. Mary Purpari. All Rights Reserved.

“T” is for Temples

“For verily this generation shall not all pass away until [a temple] shall be built unto the Lord, and a cloud shall rest upon it, which cloud shall be even the glory of the Lord, which shall fill the house.¹”

Temples. I Love the temples of the Church. They are such beautiful places to go, to bask in the peace that is found inside, where nothing of the world outside can come in. At the moment, there are 144 temples in operation around the world, so that worthy members of the Church can go and worship the Lord and learn more about Him. There are several more that should be dedicated this year, including a temple in Rome.

Temples are sacred places for adoration, where only worthy members of the Church can enter. It is not like our regular meetinghouses where anyone, including nonmembers can enter. The Temple is reserved for sacred ordinances that can be done only in the temple.

When a member of the Church goes through the temple for the first time, they do the ordinances for themselves. These ordinances are varied, but the most beautiful are the marriages that are performed there. When a marriage is performed in the temple, we believe that that marriage is bound not only until death do us part, but also beyond the grave and for all eternity.²

In Malachi, we read “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.³” One of the main reasons that the LDS Church is so interested in genealogy is so that we might be a means for our ancestors to receive those blessings that come from being members of the Church. In my article on the Spirit World, I spoke of how the gospel is preached to those who didn’t have the chance to hear it when they were alive. In the temple, we act as proxies for our ancestors, giving them the chance to be baptized and sealed in the temple. Of course, they will have the choice of accepting these ordinances or not – they are not forced to accept. For those who might feel that this is a flight of fantasy of the LDS Church, I would invite you to read 1Corinthians 15:29.

Because of problems related to these ordinances being performed for the dead, the Church now allows this ordinance to be performed only if the member presenting the names is a direct descendant or has permission from the closest living relative, if the person being presented was born within the last one hundred ten years.

 

¹Doctrine and Covenants 84:5

²See Matthew 16:19 

The temples shown are:  (counter-clockwise) The San Diego, CA Temple, the London England Temple, The Los Angeles CA Temple, The Rome Italy Temple, The Bern, Switzerland Temple