February 29, 2012

• 6:45 am... arrive at school to finish inputting grades before SAT club. Find my door locked. I don't have a key. I've never had a key. The door is not supposed to be locked. Apparently, in my haste to leave yesterday, I neglected to check to see if, during the course of a day of being opened and slammed against the wall, the lock had been engaged, as it sometimes is. Good news: the back door to the balcony is unlocked. Bad news:, there’s no way to access said balcony except through the upstairs classrooms, all of which are locked (the other teachers have keys).
• 7:00 am… principal arrives. I explain my plight. He breaks out some pretty spiffy ninja skills and goes up on the roof, drops down to the balcony (7 foot-or-so drop), and enters through the back door.
• 7:15 am… SAT kiddos arrive. They are barely conscious…more so (or is it less so?) than usual.
• 8:00 am… everyone else arrives. The day commences. The kids are weird all day. Just off…
  
• 2:30 pm… Ajumma comes in to clean my room, much earlier than normal. Instead of sweeping and stuff, she takes out some cleaner and is wiping down desks. It occurs to me that something is odd, but I’m too busy typing up Huck Finn questions for English III (NOT looking at Pinterest) to think much about it.
• 3:00 pm… I’m busy working through my prep period (NOT checking Facebook…). Cheering erupts next door. Principal comes in: “They’re cheering because school is cancelled tomorrow and Friday”… huh? whaffor? …It seems four teachers are out with the flu (several kids have had pretty nasty cases in the last couple of weeks). We only have 17 teachers… and no subs.

…. Happy Leap Day…

Perspective

Recalling a Mormon senator who tried to save Anne Frank’s life

by Rafael Medoff

"Before rushing to inject the issue into the presidential race, it is worth recalling that leaders of the Mormon church have already pledged to refrain from posthumously 'saving the souls' of Hitler's victims, and no doubt will remind their Dominican Republic branch and their other followers of that pledge.

And it is especially worth recalling that when the issue was not saving Anne Frank's soul but saving her life, the most powerful Mormon political figure in America did what he could at a time when too few were willing to do anything at all."

Why Temples?

There has been a lot of talk about the LDS practice of baptisms by proxy in the last couple of weeks due to the submission of the names of Jewish Holocaust victims.

It is important to note that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has prohibited the submission of the names of Holocaust victims unless by direct descendants. This has been church policy for nearly twenty years.

But, the question remains: why do we do baptisms for the dead?

I guess it's easier to talk about it in the negative. First, it's not about having a bunch of names on a list. Baptism is only in part about joining the church. Mostly, it is the first in a series of ordinances that we believe lead us to eternal life, through Christ's Atonement.

Nor is it about forcing people into something. We believe that when we perform ordinances by proxy for our deceased ancestors, they have a choice as to whether they will accept them or not. As one of our hymns states, "God will force no man to heaven." If He won't, who are we to?

What it IS about is providing our ancestors with the opportunity to embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ and accept ordinances that will put them on the path to eternal life. That's it.

There is Biblical precedent for the practice. In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul is teaching the people at Corinth about resurrection. In defense of the doctrine, he states: "Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?" Clearly, the people at Corinth were familiar with the practice, as there is no further explanation. If it was a false practice, why did Paul not condemn it? And why would he have used it to teach a gospel principle as foundational as Resurrection?

So, this New Testament era practice has been restored through modern revelation. Having participated in proxy ordinances in the temple, I have felt the joy and peace of the place and of the ordinances themselves.


Here is a short video discussing the temple:

It's been a little over a month since I found out that my dog Osito had been put down. It surprised me how devastating that was to me. I loved him, of course, but I hadn't really wanted a dog. That he became such an important part of my life was always a bit of a surprise. But, he was pretty much the best dog ever and I miss him.

I was working on adopting a cat when I found out. I stopped that process and have instead decided to be pet-less for awhile. I'm focusing my need to nurture on my new plant... which is thriving much better in my 4th floor apartments than plants did down on the first floor when I was here before. It's amazing what a little sunshine will do.