The ability they have to steal your dreams. Now granted, there are something like 18 Mormons who are currently competing in the Olympics (a friend of mine posted a list on FB). But what about those who could have competed and didn't because they wouldn't compete on Sundays, trying to keep the teachings of the church? What about those who couldn't afford the extra training because their parents paid tithing? Or maybe those same parents made their kids put endless church activities ahead of their sports and they weren't able to train at the level they would have liked to.

I have a friend who lives in another state than I do. Her oldest son was a champion in his chosen sport - best in state and competed in some national and international competitions. His parents had the money, even with paying tithing, to get him great trainers and they were even good enough to look the other way when there was an occasional Sunday event he just had to attend. But he didn't push it as far as he could because he was raised to go on a mission. That was touted in his family as far more important than any gold medal. Knowing he was going to take two priceless years off to find souls to bring to the Savior, he didn't push things as far as he could have and eventually put in his mission papers. He got called to a very low-baptizing mission and after two years, had only two baptisms ... which was actually pretty good because I think the mission average was something like .9 baptisms in two years. He came home more than a year ago and seems OK with his decision but it makes me mad. I should have been watching him on the Olympic team. He could have made it. He really was that good. But instead of chasing that gold medal, he ended up with fools gold.

Church is true. Time to go back.

Sorry everyone! We have to go back. Olympic competitors chosen by Elohim.

Hehe...

Blogging, crafting and violin must be new Olympic sports!

The friend who posted it on FB said that it was on the back of her program at Sacrament Meeting. I wonder how many of them actually admit to being Mormons and how many are just on the records as LDS:

FROM UNITED STATES

Jill Camarena-Williams...Track and Field
Becky Hollilday...Pole Vault
Tumau Anae...Water Polo
Russell Holmes...Volleyball
Rich Lambourne...Volleyball, He's the Libero
Ryan Millar...Volleyball
Jake Gibb...Beach Volleyball
Sarah Robles...Weightlifting
John Nunn...Race Walking
Breeja Larson...Swimming
Arielle Martin...BMX Cycling

FROM NEW ZEALAND

Valerie Adams...Track and Field
Hayley Palmer...Swimming

FROM VENEZUELA

Maria Gariella Martinez Gascon...Fencing
Johana Beatriz Fuenmayor Choles....Fencing

FROM BOLIVIA

Andrew Rutherfurd...Swimming

FROM COOK ISLANDS

Celeste Brown...Swimming
Patricia Taea...Track and Field

Interesting! I'm going to have to look up "race walking". Seems like that might be too easy to cheat in by breaking into a jog :)


I totally understand the point you were making in the post. When TSCC is put first, many potential possibilities fall by the wayside.

Lol! I looked up a video of racewalking on youtube. It literally made me laugh out loud! Sorry to all the professional racewalkers out there, but they look ridiculous!

Seriously though, all the best to John Nunn and all the other Americans in the Olympics! USA! USA! USA!

Good for those kids who are Mormon but have decided the hell with it, and are still going to the Olympics.

It's the ones who believe devoutly (and usually whose parents are super devout Mormons) who tell them that church missions and not playing sports on Sundays is more important.

Casey Jennings is a BYU alum, but I know he no longer attends church.

Rafalca, Ann Romney's horse

:-)

Now you can monitor which ones compete on a Sunday and ask why...

I trust that they will be wearing their garments...

LOL!

Ok. I just watched a video of "race walking".

It basically consists of walking either 12 or 31 miles looking like you just shit your pants and are rushing to the bathroom to clean up.

Race walking? I had the same initial reaction. Excellent description of what it is and looks like.

Valerie Adams??????

How old is that information? I would never have guessed, what with the multiple earrings, cross necklace, tattoos, and strapless dresses (Valerie is gorgeous).

I checked the wikipedia entry - the source information came from an Islands Business article that also called her happily married (back when she was Valerie Vili). Her brother is not identified as a Mormon on his wiki.

Googling her name and "Mormon" brings up the one article, the wiki quoting it and a raft of LDS originated "Mormon Olympian" stories. I hope the inspired little Mormon kids go and look up pictures of their idol at an awards ceremony, preferably happily located behind a wine glass and wine/beer bottles as seen here:
http://www.wonderwalkers.co.nz/default,3140,wonderful-woman.sm

Here she is demonstrating some fruity kiwi language in her pre-olympics video diary entry "A night out at the bar":
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/road-to-london/6875073/Diary-Entry-18-A-night-out-at-the-bar

And here she is enjoying a cheese and wine fondue, with wine, for dinner in Switzerland (and followed by coffee by the looks of the cups):
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/road-to-london/6774852/Diary-Entry-11-A-cheesy-dinner

Follow some of her video diaries and you find someone who is a lot of fun, uses a bit of fruity language and is completely devoid of Mormonspeak. After winning in Rome she was "Super-duper-happy" and did not mention God once at all, let alone talk about being blessed or other such language.

She may be a fantastic role-model, but I am going to need a bit more evidence than the Mormon propaganda machine that Valerie Adams is a Mormon!

Good fine, it appears that Valerie got so fast, because of all the time she spent running and dodging from a bunch of Mormon love bombers.

For my two youngest brothers, getting home schooled to prevent them learning faith-destroying science left them with no qualifications at all. They still left.

ROFL - yep, that probably is how she got to be so fast :)

LOL - She is a 6'4'' shot-put champ. A serious contender for the gold. She can stare down love-bombers.

The majority I suspect.

It's not just the Olympic dreams the Morg can kill. Going on missions have cost a lot of people scholarships both academic and sports, and athletic careers, not to mention what the two year delay does to ones academic hopes. Coming home off my mission, by math skills had depreciated so much that I had to take non-credit earning fundamental math classes, two of them back to back. I aced the first, but struggled enough with the second that I became disheartened and left school. I think if I had finished my mission, I would have been able to skip those classes, and fought my way through a college level class, with some tutoring, and that was the largest obstacle holding me back from a college degree.

I totally get your point. I landed my first professional acting job in the theater at age 16. My rehearsal schedule clashed with LDS Institute classes on weekdays. I told my Bishop that I was going to drop out of Institute to act professionally. After all, it was a Shakespearean Acting Company. He asked me what was more important, God or Shakespeare? I told him that God had clearly inspired Shakespeare, and I had fasted and prayed for three days (I lied,) and God wanted me to do Shakespeare. His next move -- It was not God talking to me, but SATAN. Luckily for me my Mormon Mum supported me, and my Dad, an atheist, told me to tell the Bishop to f*** off!

The sad thing is to think of all the young boys and girls who were in the same exact place who dropped the acting class, or the Shakespeare company.

The Morg doesn't want what is best for you, it wants what is best for it, and that is a mindless drone, forever paying tithing to it until the day it dies.

Agreed, CA girl! Growing up, I was always good at sports, but was an especially good baseball player. I went on to play in college, but eventually dropped it, because one day I came to the realization that there was no reason to keep playing.

In high school, I played so I could play in college, and then in college, theoretically to play professionally. But, as a good little TBM, I decided I would never play on Sundays, so that effectively squashed my dream of ever playing professionally. And once that goal was gone from my mind, I lost the desire to keep playing.

Now I'm not saying I would have been the next Major League all-star, but who knows? And it sucks not to have at least tried.

Stupid Morg.

There was an elder in my mission who turned down a Major League Baseball contract. Last I heard, after he went home, he had to start over in the minors. I'd love to hear if he ever made it to the majors. I can't remember his name for the life of me. This was in the Hamburg Mission in the mid - 80's.

Most American baseball talent is drafted straight out of high school. I'm not talking surefire MLB talent, either - I'm just talking solid, committed players. Most of them are offered a signing bonus and a spot at a minor league club. Most, even those who are drafted relatively high, pass. They either play college ball or opt to do something other than spend a summer in an instructional league or in A ball. Those who play college ball and have a solid career are typically redrafted and offered a similar deal. Many, many Mormon kids pass on signing out of high school, go to a college program, serve a mission, and then reenter the draft out of college. The vast majority never make the majors, or even a Triple A club. The vast majority never would have made the majors or even Triple A even if they had signed out of high school or not served a mission. There's a good reason for this - professional baseball is ridiculously hard even for talented players. I know some guys who were amazing in college who were blown away by the talent in A ball. Making the major league club straight out of high school is almost unheard-of. Derek Jeter spent four years in the minors (and struggled in A ball).

Agreed. Applies as well as in other careers and endeavors that require practice, research or unusual hours.

But you do know that if you're a famous celebrity sportsperson like Steve Young or entertainer like the Osmond brothers, you get free passes to the Celestial Kingdom even if you practiced or performed on Sundays, right? Heck, the Mo church will even allow you to be in the same car with someone of the opposite sex, they won't blink.

Just a couple of weeks ago I was talking about this very problem with a family member. Rarely does a mission take away just two years of a young man's life. Sure, there might be the smart go-getter who completes a semester of college, goes to the MTC in December, and hops right into spring semester two years later. But most of the time you have boys who work for several months to save up before they leave, and then they come home not sure what they want to do with themselves. It might be a while before they get the gumption to get back in school, and heaven help them that they don't jump into a marriage.

Depending on how I want to measure it, my mission robbed me of at least 3 solid years of my life. Truth be told I was pretty scared to go back to school, but I knew I had to do it. Good thing I had taken a lot of classes before my mission, or else it might have been easier to chicken out of it completely. I had a math class my first semester after my mission and it nearly killed me. The rule "use it or lose it" still applies to a lot of basic algebra skills.

Lately I've been pretty successful with school and work, but recently I realized that I could have been in the spot I'm in now when I was 21 if I hadn't let the Morg invade my life. Without that massive interruption, right now I could be making a salary and living in my own house. I also could have spent that time developing real relationships and hobbies.

There are countless problems with mormonism, but my biggest beef with TSCC is that it robs so many people of their livelihoods.

AltaRica Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

>
> There are countless problems with mormonism, but
> my biggest beef with TSCC is that it robs so many
> people of their livelihoods.

I agree, especially women who are pressured into getting married even before they've finished college, and the only time working is really accepted is when the husband is finishing his college. Once he finishes, the woman is pressured to quit working so she can indoctrinate the children.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/02/2012 11:38PM by adoylelb.