Showing posts with label mormons. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mormons. Show all posts

Mormons were the first Hippies

Sometimes as a missionary for my church I find myself having to teach people some and simple truths.

Joseph Smith was the first hippie. That is a scientific fact. He was a true prophet and he started a counterculture to the status quo of his day and age. He built an intentional community of like-minded individuals where they could practice their alternative lifestyles as they saw fit. They were hippies.

Mormons were the first hippies.

Under the Prophet's direction, they established a new community where the Prophet told us how to live and how to treat each other. It was beautiful. True, the Prophet did establish a new order of marriage, where he could marry many women, but like all true and great men, he found the current trend of one man to one wife to be limiting and not very with the changing times.

He did it. And then his predeccesors moved outside of the United States in order to practice their alternative lifestyle. They formed communities outside the mainstream America and built a system where people truly loved each other.

I am a 5th generation Mormon. I come from this line of counter-culture revolutionaries. And I am so proud of my hippie fore-fathers.

Pray for me,

- Elder Gandy

What do Mormons do in Temples

Dear Elder Gandy,

I've been seeing all these temples around, and I know that Mormons go to these temples, but what exactly do Mormons do in temples? - truthfully yours, Mindy Meyers

Dear Sister Meyers,

That is such a great question. What do Mormons do in Temples? Well, what don't they do!! Just kidding, Mormons (of which I am) do many things in the temple, but I'm going to talk about one thing that I really find to be worthy of note.

Temples are for making cookies

If you know of any Mormons, or you have met some, it's only a matter of time until they stop by your house and drop off a plate of cookies. Yum. I know what you're thinking, "did he just say cookies". Yes, I did.

You see, cookies have a spiritual significance for Mormons. Back in the pioneer days, when the Mormons were crossing the plains into the Salt Lake City, they were all out of food. They only had a few cookies left in their treasure chests. So, knowing that they were about to die because they didn't pack much food for their journey, they prayed.

And boy did they pray. They prayed so hard that God answered their prayers. The treasure chest was full of cookies, overflowing to feed all the pioneers until the next spring when they could plant crops.

What does that have to do with the temple?

In the Mormon Temples, they have special baking ceremonies where they make cookies in a special ceremony. It's not secret, it's sugary goodness. And they bake and bake. They bake all night in the temple (the spires are so tall because they are actually chimneys where smoke comes out from the giant ovens). And they bake all the cookies all the time, all day and night long.

You wouldn't believe it, but inside the Temples it's a lot like Willy Wonka's factory, except for chocolate, it's a giant cookie factory.

Then, when Mormons find a new recruit that they want to join the club, they send out a cookie patrol to bring you a fresh baked plate of cookies straight from the special temple ceremonies. Don't worry, they've been blessed. The cookies are made special just for you.

That's what Mormons do in Temples.

Pray for me,

Elder Gandy