Can Mormons Wear Hats?

I was born and raised a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, more commonly known as the Mormon church.  Growing up in the suburbs of Baltimore and D.C., there were plenty of Mormons to go around.  But when I was 15-years old, my parents moved my younger siblings and me to the middle of nowhere Pennsylvania.  I was the only Mormon in the high school.  I started to get asked a lot of questions.
The most commonly asked questions were:

• What do Mormons believe?
• Are Mormons Christian?
• Where did the name 'Mormon' come from?

In short, Mormons believe that Jesus died on the cross to atone for our sins and through him, all mankind may be saved.  I believe that answers the first two questions.  The name 'Mormon' comes from the Book of Mormon, a set of scriptures that goes hand in hand with the Bible.
But those aren't the only questions I've been asked.  I'm not here today to preach.  I'm here to clear up any misconceptions you may have about the Mormon church.  In order to write this post, I asked my fellow Mormon friends, via Facebook, what kind of off-the-wall questions people have asked them about their faith.  They did not disappoint.
Let me start off, however, with the more common, yet still strange, questions.

How many moms do you have?
I love answering this question!  I joke around with the person asking.  "I only have one mom.  My dad has 17 wives, but only one of them is my mom."  This is a joke, of course.  My mom is my dad's one and only wife.
You may be wondering why I get asked this a lot.  Well, back in the 1800s, some members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints practiced polygamy.   This practice also ended in the 1800s.

So what about the show 'Sister Wives'?
I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or the LDS church.  The family on 'Sister Wives' are members of the FLDS church, 'F' standing for fundamentalist.  Some members of the early LDS church disagreed with the change in marriage policy and branched off into a new sect.  Their name may be similar, but they are not Mormons.  The LDS church is the original, true-blue Mormon church.


Do Mormons celebrate holidays?
Yes, yes they do.  It is the Jehovah's Witnesses that don't celebrate holidays.


Why can't Mormons drink caffeine? 
This is up to personal interpretation.  I know plenty of Mormons who chug a Mountain Dew on a daily basis.  My family tries to stay away from caffeine.  Caffeine is addictive.  How many people do you know who can't start their day without a cup of coffee?  They can be quite irritable until they get their daily dose of Starbucks.
Speaking of coffee, that is something Mormons are not allowed to drink.  Mormons have a policy, for lack of a better term, called the Word of Wisdom.  The Word of Wisdom promotes a healthy lifestyle for members of the LDS church.  Things included in the Word of Wisdom are no smoking, no alcohol, not over doing it on red meat, and no coffee.  It's my personal belief that not partaking in any of these things leads to happier, healthier life.

Now on to the bizarre questions:

Can Mormons wear hats?
I don't see why not!

Do Mormons still drive horse and buggies?
Um, no.  We drive cars.  Actually, the official car of the Mormon church is the 15-seater mini van.  (Another joke!)
Funny story, though.  When my older sister was in Driver's Ed, her instructor told the class that there were only two groups of people in America that did not drive cars:  the Amish, and the Mormons.  My sister corrected her, of course.

I think it's ridiculous that Mormons don't accept blood transfusions! 
Again, that's the Jehovah's Witnesses.  We Mormons love life.  So, please, should the occasion arise, give me a blood transfusion!

Are Mormon girls allowed to wear makeup?
Of course!

When did the Mormons break apart from the Amish?
This question caught me off guard.  A co-worker asked me this when I was working at a restaurant.  The Mormons were never a part of the Amish faith or culture.

Now on to the really crazy questions that my friends posted on Facebook:

Do they force you to have babies?
Wow.  Um, no.  Is that a thing?  Can you be forced to have a baby?

Are you a baby killer?
Again, wow.  Who would even think to ask such a question?  One of the Ten Commandments states "thou shalt not kill".  No, Mormons are not baby killers.  And yes, we still follow the Ten Commandments.

These last two questions take the cake:

Do you really have to roll naked in your meat before you cook it?
I don't.  I don't know of anyone who does.  But I won't judge.  And, no, it's not in the Mormon guidebook.

 
Do Mormons really believe that when you die, you go to the moon to teach 8ft. Quakers about Joseph Smith?
As awesome as that would be, it's not true.

The moral of the story is:  Don't believe everything you hear!  If you have a question about the Mormon church, who better to ask than a Mormon?  Can't find a Mormon?  No problem!  Just visit mormon.org and chat with a missionary.  But don't get crazy with your questions!  Just remember, Mormons are human too.  They're not that different from you.



 

Text Speak: What Did You Just Say?

Call me old fashioned.  I still have a flip phone, an iPod, a GPS, and a digital camera.  Not all in one device.  I have four separate devices.  It may surprise you to hear this, but I use my phone to call and text people.  And that's about it, other than occasionally using it as an alarm.
Call me old fashioned again.  When I text, I use proper grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure.  I capitalize letters, use Oxford commas, and, yes, I spell out every single word.  No silly acronyms from me.  Not even an LOL!
As much as I love writing, I often have difficulty expressing my feelings and opinions in a way that my readers can understand.  I especially find it difficult to express myself in text messages.  I'll send a text and worry that the person receiving the text will think I sound bossy or angry.  I may or may not have a small addiction to exclamation points...
When 'text speak' became a thing, I was still pretty young.  I never really got into it, though.  And now, as an adult, I am paying the price for missing out.  I don't understand what other people are trying to express.  Everyday, I find myself on Google.  Today, I googled 'WYD'.  I have seen 'WYD' multiple times on Facebook and I finally got around to looking it up.  'What you doing?'.  Well no wonder I could never figure out what it meant.  That's not even correct grammar!
What's the point of text speak anyways?  Does it really save you that much time?  What are you going to do with that extra 8 seconds you saved by typing 'brb' instead of 'be right back'?
Now, I'm not hatin' on anyone who uses texting short cuts.  No, I'm just expressing what I feel.  With real words.  Now, if you'll excuse me, I've 'got to go' assist my friend who is 'rolling on the floor laughing'.  I mean, who does that?

48-Hours

Every morning when I wake up, the first thing I do is take my medication.  I take two pills to help lessen my anxiety and help me get through the day.
I've missed doses here and there before, but usually of just one of my pills.  I may have pill A, but I forgot to refill pill B.  A couple weeks ago, however, I went two days without taking either pill.  That's 48-hours of me, alone with my thoughts and fears.
I had already called for the refills to be...well...refilled.  But, you know how it is.  Life has a way of grabbing you by the ears and whisking you away.  My life had become pretty hectic.  So I forgot about my refills.

Day 1
The first day of being unmedicated went fairly smoothly.  I had to drive a friend to a doctor's appointment.  I acknowledged the fact that I didn't have any pills to take and told myself I would pick them up on the way home.  That didn't happen.  Life had me by the ears.
It was a perfectly normal day, up until the evening.  I began to feel light headed and nauseous.  My arms and legs got a little shaky.  This had happened before.  Just a side effect of missing one of my pills.  No worries.  I'd pick the pills up in the morning.

Day 2
This was a rough day for me.  It started out like a normal day, but as the day went on, I began to get more and more agitated.  My thoughts began to randomly race around like my brain was trying to win the Indy 500.  I was sitting there, eating dinner, asking myself how I had survived this long.  How was I ever going to pay for school?  I think I need a new car.  Where would that money come from?  Why am I still single?  (To be fair, I'm always asking myself that question.)  I became so overwhelmed with fear that I just wanted everything to end.  I wanted to go to bed and never wake up again.  Yeah, it was pretty intense.  On top of that, the nausea, shakiness, and light headedness had only gotten worse.

The next day, I woke up, ate breakfast, and went straight to the pharmacy.  I was still pretty anxious, but by dinner time, I was back to being myself again.  I had, and have, the same doubts and fears, but they no longer consume me.
The important to thing to note from my experience is that I realized I was not okay.  I realized I needed to get my medication.  I have heard of people, young and old, who decide they are all right, that they don't need to take their medications anymore.  It could be true.  Some people actually do outgrown their mental illnesses, or learn how to live with them.  But the choice to quit medicating is not yours to make alone.  You should always talk to your doctor first.  Get there opinion.  Schedule a follow-up appointment so your doctor can see for themselves how you are doing.
After the 48-hour experience I had, I now know that, as much as hate to admit it, I need my medicine to get through my day.  The next time I run low on pills, I will be grabbing my own ears, thank you very much, and taking myself to the pharmacy.