Quick recap from my previous posts. I'm a NEVERMO, my ex is a Golden Contact convert. Just found out she's been going and taking my daughters aged 8 and 4 to an LDS church for a almost a year. Her baptismal anniversary is coming up, so presumably she is going for her Temple Recommend. We have joint custody.

I have attorneys writing letters to all levels of the LDS hierarchy from her local meetinghouse to SLC asserting my joint legal parental rights and forbidding baptism and private interviews.

I know a bit about Mormon beliefs and doctrine (and am learning more) but I am still stymied by their structure and terminology.

So I just discovered things like... what they now call the "ministry" but what use to be "home" (for males?) and "visiting" (for females?) teaching where they basically come into the members' homes and preach? Sounds to me basically like bringing church to them only more intense and one on one?

And what is the Relief Society? More of the same? Are there other structures or functions of this type? Indoctrination in the home?

What do I need to know about all of that stuff? It sounds like something else my kids will be exposed to and that I should be concerned about. People coming over to the house and spending the evening talking about the church and further indoctrinating them sounds pretty heavy handed.

Please bring me up to speed.

Each family is assigned home teachers (males) and visiting teachers (females). They visit each other and have lessons. Supposedly, they offer support, too. I have heard they also “return and report” (tell leaders what they see). So if you have R rated movies in your DVD collection or a coffee maker, or you have a bottle of wine out, the leaders would presumably be told and you would get a talking to.

Mondays are supposed to be reserved for family home evening, which means a church lesson/activity with family.

Relief society is a group for the women. A lot of the women participate if they can, unless they have a calling that makes participation impossible. Men are in priesthood, which is the group for the men.

"I have attorneys writing letters to all levels of the LDS hierarchy from her local meetinghouse to SLC asserting my joint legal parental rights and forbidding baptism and private interviews."

that's good that you do, but letters to SL will just be rerouted to the stake level. You could write to the SP directly.

home teaching should be ok, if you want that? A nice person or older couple may come by to visit sometimes.

macaRomney Wrote:
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> "I have attorneys writing letters to all levels of
> the LDS hierarchy from her local meetinghouse to
> SLC asserting my joint legal parental rights and
> forbidding baptism and private interviews."
>
> that's good that you do, but letters to SL will
> just be rerouted to the stake level. You could
> write to the SP directly.

Yes, it is going to the SP directly also. I was advised that the reason to send it to all levels is so that each person knows the guy above him also knows about it. The desired result is that they will be less likely to violate it knowing that their superior is aware of it.