I gotta be honest, at times growing up in the So Cal church in the 60s and 70s was really fun. It was very hometown community based with dances at the Stake Center on Saturday nights, renting out malls for many News Years Eve Gala, and the massive multi-stake activities. We had a dance festival at the Rose Bowl where each ward expertly learned and presented a type of world dance. The there were the Roadshows where a couple of stakes got together and each ward wrote, directed and presented a 20 minutes play, TIMED, but it also had to be portable because in one night night they had to present at one stake building then they had to pack up in cars and drive to the neighboring stake building and present the same show there. So each audience at each stake saw all the plays from both stakes in one night. It was unbelievably fun and the plays were GREAT!

Somewhere along the line they sucked the joy out of the church, I think it was Kimball. They banned these unsanctioned peripheral activities and then started demanding people spend their whole day at church, at least 3 hour block, your family and meals be damnned. Then they began splitting wards to appear like the church was more successful. Where a ward used to fill the building to the brim and feel like a real community, it began to feel like an isolated cult.

SL Richards Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> We had a dance
> festival at the Rose Bowl where each ward expertly
> learned and presented a type of world dance...

I was there. You and I probably bumped into each other, unknowingly.
That *was* fun.
The fun wasn't enough to overcome the cult's downsides, though.

I may have bumped into you at the Rose Bowl too. Not that I don't wish I hadn't been raised mormon, but if I had to be, I'm glad it was in the olden days because there were some fun times. At least if you had to be a weirdo, you had other weirdos to do things with that weirdos liked.

Anybody go to the youth conference on Catalina? The multi-region beach parties where there would be a whole swath of bikini-free beach, or Mormon night at Disneyland? Dances were a big deal, often with bands and some of the Gold and Green Balls were very formal and in our senior year we were presented as debutantes. And roadshows were fierce competition.

When I had kids in high school they had really curtailed so many of the activities. I think a lot of it was because with correlation, the church did things that fit the Utah Church. but the kids in Utah could go to all kinds of stuff and be around mostly mormon kids. They didn't have to have church sponsored activities. My kids were in Alabama and the only way they got to know mormon kids outside our little area was at stake or regional things and those had been cut to being few and far between. It's not just an American church, it's a Utah church. And one-size-fits-all correlation has just made it more of a cult.

Ditto. I was in both the Lancaster and the Palmdale stakes during HS, and did all that stuff, including the Rose Bowl thing, multi-stake youth conferences with Paul Dunn, etc., and many, many dances with live music, complete with old adult chaperones yelling at the band to turn it down a notch. I think that NormaRae and I figured out that we might have been at the same event once, but being old and confused, I'm not sure if I know what I'm talking about.

I think we figured out that we both had to have been at stake conferences back in the 60s in the old Mohave stake when they were held in Palmdale. We were talking about when they had a morning and afternoon session and would sell box lunches in-between sessions that the kids would take out and eat on the lawn. And there was always a General Authority at every stake conference. I doubt they’d be allowed to sell lunches at the church on Sunday these days. You can hand money to the bishops on Sunday but don’t expect to get fed in return.

It's cool to think that oh-so-many-years-ago, some of us were actually all gathered together in the Rose Bowl, dancing our young hearts out, and not knowing that in the future we'd be free of the cult and running into each other (virtually?) in different circumstances.

I was in the Western dance group, complete with full-on-fake cowboy outfit (with fringes!). Yee-haw.

Glad to know some of you others were there. It was fun. I wish I'd met you all then. I'm glad you're here now :)

We were in the ballroom dance group in 1973. The festival was on a Saturday and we went down on Friday prior to it for all-day practice. That was pre-emissions regulations on cars days when the smog in the valley was so thick you could hardly see through it at times. So we desert rats who weren't used to it all ended up in sick bay coughing our lungs up from being out in it and dancing all day.

I sure hope they cut those clean gas regulations so that oil company execs can make bigger profits again and there won't be as many old people using up those Social Security "entitlements" because they'll die early of emphysema and free up money for younger retirees. Don't ask me what that has to do with anything--just a memory.

That's right. I remember liking the box lunches. The RS was pretty darned good at it, having like 3 menus to choose from. They were boxed in folding boxes stacked on tables in the courtyard. That allowed visitors who had to drive in from places like Barstow to be able to attend both sessions and have something to eat in between. We'd spread out cloths and eat on the grass, or sit on the tail gates of the dozens of station wagons.

I remember fun times growing up Mormon in the 60's and 70's. I also remember some down times. That's the way the cookie crumbles in Mormondom.

Roadshows were fun. My mom was stake drama director for a time. It took her away from our family for hours at a time my dad became convinced she was having an affair with the stake president. Lordy, I hope not!

She was a talented actress and speaker. She learned the method acting as a young woman and it unfortunately spilled over into our home life. For as much as she loved soap operas we lived one at home. She was passionate about things, which got in the way of her thinking lolol.

It was in friends and activities which happened to include mormons.

Those fun times could have been sponsored by a non-church related organization and they would have been just as joyful.

I know a woman who idealized the mafia because she grew up in NY in a neighborhood where the mafia provided picnics, parades and a swimming pool to the community. Did that make them a true and noble organization? No, it made them an evil group of murders who bought off people by bribing them in the day and stealing from them and torturing some of them at night.

An excellent point.

Thanks for the perspective, Cheryl. I think you nailed it.

I remember being so shocked when she reported in the most matter-of-fact way that the local "Don" could get things done when the people who actually were responsible didn't do their jobs.

One cold NY winter, the heating system in the building where MIL and FIL lived fell down on the job. The tenants were all miserable, and complaining, but neither the "super" nor the owner did anything until somebody complained to "Family."

The "Family" leaned on the owner, and the heating got fixed. I never heard what, if anything, was required in turn. After all, this was a big building with a lot of apartments. MIL was grateful that there was someone to turn to.

My ex used to love dropping suggestions that he had "friends" among the Mafiosi. He insisted on having the theme from "The Godfather" played by the organist as part of the prelude to our wedding. He would never actually confirm or deny, only smile subtly and change the subject. As far as I know, it was all BS.

It never wasn’t a cult as the whole origin and religion is a complete fabrication and farce. But those activities were fun and we had a blast. Those things happened not because the church commanded it, but because some cool people thought, hey this would be fun and arranged it themselves. No one asked permission from the Morg, they didn’t have to. Somewhere starting with Kimball I think, that all changed. My point is None of that is allowed or exists anymore so I couldn’t even imagine subjecting anyone to the dismal “guess what you’re the janitor this month, clean the toilets” nature of what it means to be a Mormon today. Hell you can’t even use that word any more because it makes it too easy to google the cult history.

Harold B. Lee organized it, but died too soon to implement it. Priesthood Correlation caused SL to control all the money.

Green & Gold balls


Master M-Men, Golden Gleaners


as I recall, some of the Firesides were (GASP) Interesting!!


As a single guy, I distinctly remember showing up at (UW Institute building) for MIA (?); this was late 60's or early 70's, I believe...

(what change was then???)



posted at the doors were pretty young people announcing that the name of the meeting / activity had been Changed.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/13/2018 08:29PM by GNPE.

Don't forget Relief Society bazaars with beautiful handwork lovingly made. And great food too as I recall

Now you can find the same at arts and crafts fairs, and county fairs. Farmers markets too. :)

I grew up in the church then as well. It still sucked even then.

Ha I got all nostalgic just seeing the words Green and Gold Ball and then you said 'it even sucked then'

Well I nearly swallowed my false teeth I laughed so much.

So much for nostalgia:)

Yes. Mormonism was fun and enjoyable in many ways that are gone now.
I met my husband to be at a Tri-Stake Dance. He was a little older, home from a mission, I was 20.
We had dances, and dinners, and Firesides that were interesting. RS Bazaars were amazing. I learned to quilt, change a tire, and self-defense, etiquette,and literature in RS.I met many of the current apostles in the 60's at our Firesides.
I helped write and produce and direct Roadshows, skits, plays.
My girls were involved in huge Dance Festivals.
I was a girls camp counselor.

I have no regrets. Mormonism gave me my family. I just don't believe their claims, anymore. And, since Correlation set it, it changed so much it was no longer fun or interesting.
Too much intrusion and not enough freedom.

Spoke to a seminary teacher recently. They mentioned that they didn't do "scripture chases" or other games in class anymore, as games were now discouraged.

yeah, winning strategy... make everything is torturous as possible.

About 15 years ago my ex-wife and I were called as the youth Sunday School teachers in a small ward in New York. We decided to have fun with the class as it was small and we genuinely enjoyed the class. We taught the lessons, but did so in a fun way. We were still young enough at the time that we felt we could still feel a connection with the kids.

When we were first called we would have 3-6 kids each week. Apparently word got out that we were a bit of a fun class because within six months we would have 8-11 kids showing up just for Sunday School each week, all of whom had been inactive for a long time. Well...one of the parents of a girl in the class heard that our class was "fun" and decided to start attending to investigate further. Within a few weeks we were called in to the bishop, a guy the same age as me (early 30s at the time) and someone I genuinely respected. He was not a stickler and actually had a pretty good attitude. He said he was fine with what we were doing but he had been harassed by "some people" to tell us to knock it off and be solemn in the way we taught the class. He actually said we should not change what we were doing, but he felt like he had to play the game to appease these "people". So we kept at it. Apparently this bishop eventually got tired of being harassed by "some people" and my ex and I were released from the calling, and the parent who had been monitoring the class was called as the new teacher. Within a few weeks, not more than a month, the only person in the class was the daughter of the new teacher. My ex and stayed active for about another year and we rarely, if ever, saw any more teenagers in the ward during our time there.

Three years later, as my ex and I were struggling in our marriage, and getting ready to move from New York, while in Walmart, I ran in to three of the girls who used to come to our class but later stopped attending. They told me how they enjoyed our class and how sad they were when we were released and that the new teacher basically told them to never come back if they felt church was supposed to be fun. So they never came back.

It's better for everyone if they find their fun outside of mormonism.

Cheryl Wrote:
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> It's better for everyone if they find their fun
> outside of mormonism.

Agreed. But initially, at the time, I did not feel that way. A lot has changed for me in the past 15 years.

Salt Lake declared that everything had to be gospel oriented. That was the end of the fun. I grew up in a small country ward, and we had all of the things described, really Society bazaars, Halloween costume parties, gold and green balls, which I didn't necessarily like, sports events, Dutch oven suppers, and of course road shows. We even learned secular songs like up up and away, and once, a young man was invited to play the organ in our ward, and he played Bridge Over Troubled Water. No one got their noses too far out of joint about any of this, and life went on. The ward even had its share of folks who weren't too Orthodox in there religious beliefs and habits. Heck, after evening sacrament meeting, more often than not, we loaded up in cars and went to town to play tennis or other things, such as get a burger. All of this of course would be frowned upon greatly in today's church. Anyway, the country award was moved into town and combined with another ward, eventually everything that I described disappeared, and church became nothing more than a boring 3-hour block of nothing. Although I'm out of the church now, and happy to say good riddance, I do have fond memories and get nostalgic about that little country ward from time to time.

Mormonism sucked all joy from my life.

The more they tighten their grip the more members will slip through their greedy little fingers.

Back in the early 70's our stake in N Cal had a talent show. A friend of mine did a wonderful rendition of House of the Rising Sun. Those were the days.

The church in Southern California was different back in those days, much more pragmatic.

Our bishop and his wife enjoyed taking in the shows in Las Vegas, something no one would admit to now.
The upper income stakes,especially, were FUN.

The minute SLC clamped down and emphazised the more cult-like aspects of Mormonism it was over.

It's not even the same church anymore....and then came DNA results and the internet ---
The end.

When I first joined, I was in a small rural ward in Southeast Louisiana. It was mostly converts or first and second-generation members. This was in the late 1980s.

This bunch worked hard and played hard. They were genuinely nice people. One year, I was asked to write the script for a roadshow. I didn't even know what a roadshow was, but one of the skits I wrote (and ended up acting in) involved going to a high-toned restaurant and doing a scene in which we treated milk as if it were water.

The "waiter" approached the table (where I was sitting), very formally dressed, linen napkin over one arm, and he extended an empty carton of milk to me. I had a wineglass on the table. I made a great show of passing the milk carton under my nose (for the "bouquet," you know,) and then nodded to the waiter to pour.

Then I held the wineglass (empty, of course,) up to the light, eyed it carefully for color, and then solemnly nodded approval. Of course, some of the Mormons in the audience had absolutely no clue about the wine-tasting ritual I was parodying, but the majority did, and it was met with lots of laughter.

I forget how this segued into a moonlit dance of a youngish couple (it was implied that he was an RM) and ended with the two of them wandering toward a distant temple, hand in hand. I forget what music we played, but it was perfect, though secular.

I realized after coming to NM - so much closer to the Morridor - that this play would never have flown in my new ward.

In my first ward, we were like an extended family. Everyone knew everyone else, and we were "there" for each other. I never felt that kind of strong sense of "community" anywhere else. All in all, it wasn't religion that attracted me. It was the community. And I don't regret that.

I meant "wine" rather than "water."

Growing up in SLC during the mid 80’s I remember roadshows etc...
No idea if SLC was one of the last places these things still happened, but I thought church was fun in the 80’s.

If only the church would have been more rigid, heavy handed and less social (like it's been the last 15-20 years) during the 1960s and 70s then my goofy parents might never had joined as converts.

All those dances, talent shows and road shows tricked a lot of people into thinking that the Mormon church was a good church.

In the '70's our local LDS church even had non-members as part of their show called 'The History of Rock'n'Roll' or something like that--very funny and non-churchy.

Yep. I live farther up north in California and joined the church with part of my family in the early 70s when I was 12 years old. There were so many fun activities: frequent canoe trips, ski trips, Saturday dances with good live bands, road show, dance festival, track and field event, spook alleys on Halloween, etc. It was really fun. Even my single mom attended fun activities for single adults. She especially enjoyed a medieval dinner she attended, where everyone dressed up in medieval garb and ate medieval foods. There was straw on the floor where the diners threw their discarded chicken bones. Half way through the meal the dinner party was raided by pranksters from the singles ward who dressed up like vikings and stormed the building carrying metal garbage can lids as shields. Such creativity has now been stifled by LDS, Inc.

Correlation killed the only thing good about church. My fantastic very close-knit ward was split up to prepare for the tremendous (Trump's word) growth that never happened.

I have a lot of regrets about converting when I was a kid, but the church provided a lot of fun and friendships that I wouldn't have had if I hadn't joined.

They took away the budgets for fun.

...and severely reduced their liability exposures...

I think I was lucky to be a kid in the church when I was. Sure, Joseph Smith was a fraud and I was taught many lies. But the Morg doesn't have a monopoly on lies and half of what is being taught anywhere is lies.

I was lucky because in a lot of ways the church provided a framework for a pretty good community. There were many adults who were conscientious, smart and interested in providing good activities for young people. We had lots of activities that weren't centered on "gospel" themes. Scouting, festivals, drama productions, talent shows, picnics, etc. Opportunities to get public speaking experience. Basically, after just starting an activity with the canned prayer that everybody does

(..and bless the refreshmentsandhelpeveryonehaveagoodtimeandgohomesafely...),

the activities were just the normal things that healthy communities do with very little cult content.

Fast forward many years later (after I've been out of the church for many years), I'm visiting with family and, inevitably, get dragged along to some church things. So much has changed. I find out that they can't use the kitchen due to Church policy and insurance costs. I find out that almost none of the types of activities I knew when I was young are permitted by the "authorities". I find out that all the boys are required to wear white shirts and only white shirts (IBM corporate dress code planners would be so proud of this legacy.) I find out that people can't take initiative to plan many types of church/community events (anniversary celebrations, certain types of receptions, etc.) because they don't fit within current church guidelines.

It all looks so bleak. It's a wonder they can keep any members committed to the church at all.

Count me in! I dancedin the Rose Bowl in '76- Varsity Drag and another dance.

Stake Scripture Chase champs 2 years in a row.
Roadshows with Pasadena and Arcadia stakes

Young Conference REAL youth conference where we actually went somewhere (other than someone's house or stake center).

Spook houses Halloween Parties.

Oh hell, it was fun times as a newly converted teen.

My kids never had the fun we had.

I had been inactive, along with my husband and children for several years. When we got divorced, my Mormon parents and other family members talked me into returning to church, because "It's the best way to raise children," and I was a single mother, and needed "a support system" (yeah, right).

We had been dumped-off in SLC, and I thought I was returning to the church of my California youth. Was I ever wrong! Not only did I not recognize the community, I didn't recognize most of the teachings! The ward members were all fanatic fundamentalists--at least, that was we Californians would have called them.

When change doesn't come gradually, the frog can't adjust slowly to the boiling water. The priesthood leaders were downright abusive to my children, and they were great kids, just curious and wanting to make sense of the world. We resigned. MY sons joined a neighborhood Christian Boy Scout troop, and had many great adventures. My kids enjoyed school plays and music and activities, and all kinds of private lessons. They joined baseball, soccer, and basketball teams. They skied, played tennis, bicycled, hiked, went to movies and parties with their friends--and had after-school jobs. Their truest and closest friends were all non-Mormons. They found all those things in our family, the community, at school, and with great friends. AS adults in the real world, they are very well-adjusted, happy, and successful.

The bottom line is that they didn't need all that organized Mormon activity. Good parents can provide a great life for their children, without church interference.

On a positive note, this "correlation" garbage might be the reason young people are finding their real life and friendships OUTSIDE the cult--and that is a good thing. My kids have friends of all races and cultures, which they would not have been able to enjoy within the confines of the cult.

In the old days, my Mormon friends and I all went to BYU together. Now, BYU is much harder to get into, and if kids can get into BYU, they can get into a much better university than that.

I have to call it [Long]ism instead of Mormonism as I've explained in previous threads about the super sacred revelation that the super holy prophet Nelson got recently about Heavenly Father's biggest concern this year regarding what to call the Church.

Having Joy is something that we simply don't have time to think about having in this mortal life as we have been lovingly taught by the beloved Correlation program that this is a life of obedience, trials, tribulations, and enduring to the end in steadfast obedience to the holy middlemen who preside over our Wards/Stakes doing their sacred micromanaging of our lives. When Joy comes into the picture is in the next life when we'll be busy 24/7 for all eternity answering billions of prayers every hour so our spirit kids don't think we're neglectful heavenly parents. If you want to get a glimpse of what this joyful Celestial life will be like I encourage you to spend an hour reading and responding to every message in your email account's SPAM folder so you can be reminded and guilted into getting yourself re-assimilated into the wondrous gospel that this beloved Church is working to get all people assimilated into.

Instead of doing roadshows we are doing amazingly super fun activities like cleaning the Ward/Temple toilets so that Heavenly Father can save money on janitorial costs. And we're having more lessons on super joyful topics such as Obedience to Leaders, Enduring to the end in obeying leaders, Paying Tithing so Heavenly Father's bank accounts can be fatter with more funds for the leaders to spend, Magnifying callings with greater obedience to leaders, sacrificing so we have more time/resources to obey leaders, doing missionary work so more people will be assimilated into being obedient, doing ministering and reactivation work to get more people re-assimilated into being obedient, and other topics. I guess when it comes down to it the meaning of the word JOY is Obedience. How I read AoF 2 is "Adam fell that men might be. Man is that he might be obedient." Yay, isn't the Correlation program super awesome :)

they sucked all the joy out of MORmONISM ???

what a great and fitting follow up to sucking all of the joy out of everything else !!!!

I've heard this sentiment from others. Roger Hendrickson's interview with John Dehlin is a good example. I don't know that all was perfect back then--see Official Declaration II and Smith, Joseph Fielding. But, I think I get the idea. The LDS Church was perhaps more social and fun, and less dedicated to top down control through correlation and the like.

By the time I was coming of age in the 1990's, it was all about testimonies, worthiness interviews, obedience, temples, etc. In other words, conforming to the system.

It was fun. And the philanthropic things really were for charity and humanitarian reasons (Deseret Industries, Primary Children's Hospital, Relief Society, Canneries, Church farms, etc...).

Then they became a corporation; everyone here thinks it was SWK, but it happened with Harold B. Lee when he was the lead apostle (he was only prophet for 18 months?!?!).

Remember how the corporation used to parade around their celebrities (Bachman, Osmonds, Gordon Jump, etc...) Now they act as if they're ashamed of them, unless they're politicians (Jon Huntsman, Mitt Romney, defamed creep Rob Porter, idiot Orrin Hatch, etc...) Well I guess Monson and the clueless white UT leaders saw that they were losing a valuable recruitment tool when they stopped promoting Gladys Knight, Boye, etc... So they tried the whole "I'm a Mormon" campaign with the few semi-famous active Mormons; but then came the back lash of showing the more famous Ex-Mormons (Ryan Gosling, Amy Adams, Benji Schwimmer, Tal Bachman, Benson, Aaron Eckhardt, etc...).

All this proves is that there is no way, God or even any logical being is directing/leading the corporation. Look at the whole prop 8, #metoomovement, children of gay parents, Haiti Temple announcement (as citizens of Haiti are dying), naming of only white Utah Apostles, etc... They have no clue on how inhumane, selfish, racist, misogynistic and corrupt they are and how they're portrayed.

So it's not just the cult beginnings, they just keep screwing up over and over for generations to come.

During one time when I really tried to do churchy stuff, I was invited by some members to be part of a book club. This was not a church sponsored activity. The ladies who selected the books had to get them approved by the leaders. They were told that if two or more members got together for an activity, no matter what it was, it became subject to priesthood oversight.

I felt we were treated like children having to ask daddy if we could read a F*cking book.

/s

C'mon! The priesthood has been restored to the earth by a loving ghawd, so that men can receive the inspiration necessary to help see them through to a return to stand/sit/lay with ghawd in the CK, and you're complaining that calling up a priesthood holder in order to use his direct connection with ghawd on your own behalf is too much to ask for!?!?

Do you seriously want to risk making some kind of mistake by NOT calling on a member of the priesthood? Are you the kind who would take out her own appendix!?!

Be happy that you live in a time when you can ask a priesthood holder if the milk has gone sour or the potato salad is okay to eat!

/s