I was a Mormon for several years (lived in a rural area, was the closest church in town until I was about nine and a new Presbyterians church was built closer). I have to say I'm a bit confused at all the hate that's delivered towards them. Of all the churches I ever attended (and I attended lots as a kid), theirs had the most caring and active community I've ever seen. If you were sick, church members were there the same day with food and asking what they could do to help. They had lots of great family activities all year round, such as picnics and camping trips.

But what impressed me the most about the Mormon church is that they basically taught me the morals I hold true today. They didn't just teach the kids in Sunday school not to lie because "God says so." They explored the consequences of things like lying and stealing. We'd do role-plays where they'd make us think about the consequences our actions had on other people. Like, for instance, if you shoplifted a toy you really wanted, how would the toy store owner feel? How would he feed his family if people kept stealing the stuff in his shop? The fire-and-brimstone Christian churches I later attended never impressed me much with their Bible beating compared to this style of teaching.

This is not to say Mormons aren't without their flaws. In some ways, they do resemble a cult. When my family left, they hounded us for years trying to "save our souls" and get us to come back. They would just show up unannounced at our house or call at random hours. It was more annoying than anything else.

Another downside was the whole proselytizing thing--I distinctly remember being told as a child that if I wanted to be able to play with my friends in heaven that I'd have to convince them to become Mormons too. Otherwise I wouldn't see them there. To put that into perspective though, my Dad's priest told him the same thing about his Protestant friends back when he was a kid. The Mormon religion hasn't got a lock on the conversion market by any means.

All things considered, I find the Mormon religion to be relatively harmless. Yes, they believe in some odd things like the Book of Mormon, but at the end of the day, unlike a lot of self-proclaimed Christians, I found the Mormons to do more than just give lip service to their values and actually practice what they preach.

I thought the same thing when I read yours. I'm sure we do have much in common. Wow, I feel for MKs. You know I was groomed for missions work when I was a teen. My big break from "faith" happened in bible college actually. It took a couple of more years before I actually acted upon it and left the church.

Tequila, whew! heheh No thanks. Tequila is not nice to me

I thought when my kids were a little older and could leave them with a sitter for a weekend, it'd be fun to throw a gathering somewhere. That'd be something eh?

Have a great weekend.

In reply to this comment by laura:
boy oh boy do we have a lot in common!
A few differences I noticed, however, are that my hubby and I like margs or straight Hornitos tequila, and my man is usually playing solitaire on the 'puter (even though I have been trying to get him hooked on other games to no avail) while I sift...would love to meet you and your family some day! I'm so tempted to hold a sifters gathering, you know?
Have a great weekend!

In reply to this comment by swampgirl:
I had written you all this really wonderful little story about myself and I hit backspace out the window by accident and lost it. Damn! Do over! Ok, but a fast one:

I'm Kim

I'm originally from a rural area of the Pee Dee region of South Carolina. I came from a strict Fundie Baptist upbringing. I rejected my indoctrination around age 23 and I now consider myself agnostic. Back in the south, I'm an in-the-closet agnostic so to speak until my mother passes. Sad huh? Well, with family it's complicated isn't it.

I met my husband while living in Charleston, SC back in my mid twenties. I was really horrible to him when I dumped him for an adventure in Japan. I loved that year I spent there, but it cost me some time I could have had with him. I regret that. Luckily we found each other again and we have been happy ever since.

We live in Indiana now along with our two kids, 3 dogs and various caged small animals. I've been home schooling our two kids for 2 years now.

My idea of an ideal Saturday afternoon is sitting here w/ my guy having a laugh sharing some nice bourbon while the kids play in the backyard. He's usually on the xbox while I'm sifting.... It's my happy place

A family picnic on a blanket at the park would have been my favorite, but since it doesn't have wi-fi....

I've been a member here at Videosift for two years I think...

I'll be 39 again this October.

boy oh boy do we have a lot in common!
A few differences I noticed, however, are that my hubby and I like margs or straight Hornitos tequila, and my man is usually playing solitaire on the 'puter (even though I have been trying to get him hooked on other games to no avail) while I sift...would love to meet you and your family some day! I'm so tempted to hold a sifters gathering, you know?
Have a great weekend!

In reply to this comment by swampgirl:
I had written you all this really wonderful little story about myself and I hit backspace out the window by accident and lost it. Damn! Do over! Ok, but a fast one:

I'm Kim

I'm originally from a rural area of the Pee Dee region of South Carolina. I came from a strict Fundie Baptist upbringing. I rejected my indoctrination around age 23 and I now consider myself agnostic. Back in the south, I'm an in-the-closet agnostic so to speak until my mother passes. Sad huh? Well, with family it's complicated isn't it.

I met my husband while living in Charleston, SC back in my mid twenties. I was really horrible to him when I dumped him for an adventure in Japan. I loved that year I spent there, but it cost me some time I could have had with him. I regret that. Luckily we found each other again and we have been happy ever since.

We live in Indiana now along with our two kids, 3 dogs and various caged small animals. I've been home schooling our two kids for 2 years now.

My idea of an ideal Saturday afternoon is sitting here w/ my guy having a laugh sharing some nice bourbon while the kids play in the backyard. He's usually on the xbox while I'm sifting.... It's my happy place

A family picnic on a blanket at the park would have been my favorite, but since it doesn't have wi-fi....

I've been a member here at Videosift for two years I think...

I'll be 39 again this October.

I had written you all this really wonderful little story about myself and I hit backspace out the window by accident and lost it. Damn! Do over! Ok, but a fast one:

I'm Kim

I'm originally from a rural area of the Pee Dee region of South Carolina. I came from a strict Fundie Baptist upbringing. I rejected my indoctrination around age 23 and I now consider myself agnostic. Back in the south, I'm an in-the-closet agnostic so to speak until my mother passes. Sad huh? Well, with family it's complicated isn't it.

I met my husband while living in Charleston, SC back in my mid twenties. I was really horrible to him when I dumped him for an adventure in Japan. I loved that year I spent there, but it cost me some time I could have had with him. I regret that. Luckily we found each other again and we have been happy ever since.

We live in Indiana now along with our two kids, 3 dogs and various caged small animals. I've been home schooling our two kids for 2 years now.

My idea of an ideal Saturday afternoon is sitting here w/ my guy having a laugh sharing some nice bourbon while the kids play in the backyard. He's usually on the xbox while I'm sifting.... It's my happy place

A family picnic on a blanket at the park would have been my favorite, but since it doesn't have wi-fi....

I've been a member here at Videosift for two years I think...

I'll be 39 again this October.

The keffiyah has only become a symbol in your eyes and in the the eyes of others who are looking for more things in the world to hate.

I didn't put the picnic table thingy on Arafat's head. It's just...QUILTY by association.

Many of the architects of the war crime called Operation Iraqi Freedom wear U.S. flag lapel pins. Should we oppose all displays of the American flag because of this? Wait, don't answer that, QM. I know you're proud of our country's atrocities.

Krono, you sacrifice your own happiness with this anti-America stuff. In less than a century, liberals have gone from supporting getting rid of a brutal dictator (Austrian) to booing the removal of an Iraqi one. (Germany didn't attack us directly, Japan did)!

Iraq's current population is about 27 million. There is no way less than two hundred thousand troops could stay if the Iraqi people didn't want them there.

Jumping on a pogo stick backwards off a picnic table and into your jeans is something only a stoner would think of.

I'll never ask him to bring the salami to a picnic (or the mayo for that matter)

This guy needs the internet, I'm sure he can find some picnic table porn on there somewhere.

"Just when you think you've seen it all...somebody goes and f@%*s a picnic table."

I recommend picnic tables; just bring a blanket to prevent splinters. What makes this so much fun, though, is driving by the park a day later and seeing everyone eating lunch.

Uh, people ARE entitled to something if Xbox Live is down. XBL is a pay service, and its pretty reasonable to expect you'll be able to access the service without days of interruption. Occasionally taking the service down for an hour for patching or maintenance is fine, but 3 months is unacceptable. Not faulting you for quitting, though. I used to do Customer Service for Dish Network, and that was no picnic. You can only take so many profanity laced phone calls from people foaming at the mouth because their TV doesn't work.

Some troll wrote: "I wouldn't dream of changing my beautiful avatar until she wins the election and runs our country into the ground."

Economically? Militarily? Sir: we're 100 feet off the ground and pointed straight down. The next guy (or gal) isn't exactly inheriting a picnic and I sure have my ideas on which pilot was the slow kid in school.

Today's comment was brought to you by the letters G and W.

yeah this is serious, the roads round here are very dangerous, not only are they rough, they have crazy drivers on them driving mashed up cars.

The lithuanian way to drive is to stop at every gas station and layby and lake and picnic spot and chill, just chill, smoking, chatting, eating stuff, for like 20 minutes, and then get in the car and drive at 350kph to the next gas station, then waste another 20 minutes. Oh, and you can buy beer in the gas station (a libertarian fantasy!) but i guess they're going to ban that.

They have a declining population, and the way they drive is a sad part of that. I advocate banning the private car anyway, it's bullshit, a total waste of life and materials, regardless of your stance on climate change.
I think all drivers should be registered professionals and the license exam should be really really hard and bi annual. so there.

Tags for this video have been changed from 'Uncle, Donald Duck, ants, tea, two hundred, ant, cartoon, Disney, food, war, picnic, battle' to '1948, 40s, Uncle, Donald Duck, ants, tea, cartoon, Disney, food, war, picnic, battle' - edited by swampgirl

"sort of tricking, fooling it into doing you what you want." - PICNIC.

Any damn fool that can't operate one or the other should probably not be trusted to spend the money required to buy one. Or be let anywhere near the electrical outlets the machine plugs into.