When you go to church (now or in the past), what sticks out in your mind?? (expressions, behaviors, meetings, friends, speakers, lessons, and so forth)?

What sticks out to me are the white shirts, the noisy kids, weird statements that are made by members in lessons and talks. But, testimony meeting is where I had to get up and leave--to GD weird to take--some of the most ridiculous things I have ever heard in my life takes place in testimony meeting

Ah, but there's nothing better than going home after testimony meeting and discussing said weird things. That's what made testimony meeting bearable- when i still thot the church was true, but hated to be there!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/29/2012 11:44PM by karin.

Taking naps during sacrament meeting on the couch on the stage in the gym..I mean cultural hall.

Ah, blessed, blessed heavy velvet curtains that blocked out the drone of the speakers......

Best.cure.for.insomnia.ever!!

We always packed what we referred to as "The Busy Bag" with quiet things to keep her busy. It included small coloring books and crayons. She thought it was cool when I colored right along with her, and nobody ever caught on that I was simply amusing myself and tuning out the boring speakers.

The thing that always got me was the bags of cherrio's that came out for "the" kids during FT meetings. Holy cow you coulda fed a third world country with them!!
the other thing is that no matter who was speaking you could always here this low buzz after about 5 minutes into the talks that would build to "crying screaming kid" at about the end. Took me forever to figure out why i had a headache after Sacrament Meeting. After that 3 Excedrin Migraine and only slight discomfort!
Oh and how about everyone having their "Scriptures" on a Blackberry, iSomething, Palm you name it. Can you say solitare!!

Hahaha!!
can you say solitaire?
omfg, I just laughed out loud!!!!!
My kids must think I'm insane....
man I needed that, thanks!

your welcome!!!

The women scratching/ rubbing their husband's back/shoulders throughout SM -er, Worship Service - always reminded me of primates searching each other's fur for parasites. I've never seen that behavior in any other church I've attended.

And the Indefinable, musty, stuffy, dusty smell that hit my nose as soon as the double glass door opened. I haven't been in a Mormon church in over a decade; I imagine with the loss of professional maintenance, today's smells are even more pungent.

There is a beautiful talented young woman in my ward, warm, great sense of humor...the whole package.

She is married to a troll. This guy is a 2, if that, and has the personality of a floor board. He comes from an interesting family (1/2 the adult kids are either drug addicts or worse). The two just don't match.

But here's the rub (pun intended)...during SM she has her hands all over him (makes my skin crawl). She rubs his back and shoulders all through the meeting and he has this look on his face like he hates it and could not be bothered to touch her. I have never seen him put his arm around her or hold her hand. As far as I'm concerned, she is married to a cadaver.

Metal folding chairs.

I had think just now about what really sticks out in my mind that isn't the “duh” stuff. Metal folding chairs is it.

As a child, one of the wards that I attended had ancient folding chairs with wooden seats. They would pinch your fingers like crazy if you squirmed and left a finger in just the wrong spot.

Then there were the pre-late 70’s metal chairs that had round legs, and not particularly solid feeling. Then there were the ones with the non round legs that came after, and are still going strong. They are solid as can be.

And of course, who can forget the RS ones that were padded. How did it ever start that RS got padded chairs? If you had a G Doctrine class in the relief society room, you got padded chairs. Anywhere else in the building and you got metal ones. Kind of a, “You have no power at all, and must defer to men always, but we gave you padded seats?”

DNA Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Metal folding chairs.

> Then there were the pre-late 70’s metal chairs
> that had round legs, and not particularly solid
> feeling. Then there were the ones with the non
> round legs that came after, and are still going
> strong. They are solid as can be.

solid? I always remember the ones in our ward were either 'lefties' or 'righties'.
at some point, someone must have put an extra load of weight on one side and, as a result, forever after the chair would keel to one side or the other. Some were better than others - some were merely uncomfortable, after an hour of prolonged sitting............some would feel like they were about to tip you off at any moment

Youth dances/trips. We had a lot of fun and my best friends were in my ward.

1) Hoping for something new/interesting
2) ALWAYS being disappointed/Bored.

it would even be interesting if ANYONE had a different experience?


Not Much of a Spin to put on Honesty, Kindness, etc.

so... unpack the Weirdness

The good memory: Attending primary and dropping my pennies into a cardboard bank that looked like a hospital. Primary Pennies. My god, I am old.

To me what always stuck out most was the EXTREME BOREDOM! It was literally like being tortured, even as an adult. It never got better only worse. Also, I feel like all the prayers and heartfelt talks are done in that special conference voice, do you know the one I'm talking about?

I was actually less bored at church once I realized it was a fraud. The last few times I went I really got a kick out of the speakers, and what they said. One went on in a hallelujah type rant on how the Earth was made for us, and God existed to make our lives better. He basically said nothing of substance, just repeated mormon talking points in a crazy way. Knowing that it was all bs, I found it quite entertaining. I also found comfort in it. Comfort knowing I was not a brainwashed sheep like he was.

People having killer bad breath on fast Sundays, one man's finger-crushing handshake, feeling really embarrassed when investigators attended f & t meeting.... Yikes I'm glad I'm out!

One of the young men was assigned to count the number of attendees at sacrament meeting in our small branch. While he stood in the back counting, my sister started whispering random numbers...the kid laughed, totally lost count, and had to start over.

Haven't been to a mormon meeting in many years. However as a young man going to meetings turned into a game with me and my buddies. We always compaired who had the worst dress,,suit,,tie,,how many went to sleep,,how many got up and left before the meetings were over. Also checked out the newly married young wives. By the time I was a senior in school,,very seldom went anymore.

The AC was always just barely working, so the temperature was always uncomfortable, my necktie always felt like it was choking me (I hate ties), you were always squeezed in uncomfortably close with others, and it was boring as heck. I used to associate all these uncomfortable feelings with the holy spirit telling me I needed to repent more, so I felt guilty over the littlest things on top of everything too.

The smell. Is seems that all churchouses smell the same. And arm folding. I had to go to my parents ward a couple weeks ago and the second I entered the building I folded my arms. Weird.

Require that women Wear Ties!

Arms Folded: back in mid-west, I think it started.. make the deacons 'fold' their left arms/hands behind their backs. One of the GAs, LONG TIME AGO, told a story of how things in England got out-of-hand during WWII ... Forced a uniformity off the page in way the Sac was passed. I forget what the invented requirement was (attire?).

boredom

Mind numbing, paint drying, boredom. The greatest joy I ever felt was the often had realization that I had nodded off for several minutes and the countdown of 3 hours was magically reduced.

The feeling of oppression. From the age of 11 I hated every

second of the sunday bullsh!t.

MIA wasn't too bad, but sunday?

I find it difficult to articulate the loathing I felt during this time.

The DW wife and I would ditch RS and PM and get dounts for the kids. We would get back just in time to pick them up. I think they were wise to us, but they went along with it.

The funereal organ music.

Bordem and enslavement. All churches, not just morg.

Ha..I remember Primary pennies. You are not alone : )

repeated again and again the most popular word - OBEDIENCE

That is the thing I think of immediately when thinking of going to church--PANTYHOSE. I was extremely thin as a young 20 something year old and I can still picture myself sitting there feeling CRAPPY in pantyhose. My daughter wanted me to attend something at the lds church the other day and I would have had to wear pantyhose. I said I just couldn't do it.

I remember primary pennies, too.

I had a magic donut fairy in the singles' ward, too--he probably wouldn't like being called a fairy--but I used to type for the bishop and one of my friends would bring dunkin donuts to me every week and we'd sit outside in the shade and eat them.

I remember how drop dead bored everyone in Elders Quorum was, including the President.

I remember how, after sitting through Conference Priesthood session with family and getting ice cream afterwards, the last thing anyone brought up was Priesthood session.

I remember in the halls of the ward, on a Sunday, the frowns on people's faces, and then the instant, plastic smile and greeting that would replace it once they realized your presence.

I remember how bad and half-hearted the singing was during Sacrament.

The S-L-O-W M-O-T-I-O-N hymns...and the dragging along singing with the dragging along choirister.

Still is to this day..

It drives me crazy!!!...

This is why I listen to up beat christian music...love it:)

the road shows...those were fun...my mother was involved with them...

We lived in North Hollywood stake ( so california) and Studio City ward was right next door to ours, Which was Burbank Stake..

Anyway...All the talent was in Studio City: Billy Barty...Shawna Ingaman ( Larry Kings' present wife) came from there..

I married into the Bennion family...they are/were very talented..

My husband sang in the Hollywood Bowl with his sibs for Barber Shop Quartet contests...

Anyway...Road Shows bring smiles