'So in the world of today: 30 Jan 2015' by Sam Orr

So in the world of today:
-Isis launched an attack in Kirkuk Iraq.
-Two Russian bombers were hovering over the English Channel.
-In the past five years the government has spent 140,000 on oil portraits.
-Obama vowed to reverse spending cuts from 2013.
-A Pakistani (Shiite) Mosque was bombed killing 56.
-5,000 pizzas were sent to the troops in Afghanistan by ‘pizzas for patriots’ to go with the superbowl.
-Russia has been adding lots of missiles to its arsenal.

'so in the world of today: 29 Jan 2015' by Sam Orr

so in the world of today:
-Isis is losing ground and men.
-One in five kids in the US are using some form of food assistance.
-A gun range in Arkansas has banned Muslims for five months now.

'So in the world of today: 28 Jan 2015' by Sam Orr

So in the world of today:
-A Russian spy ring in the US was captured.
-The first lady did not wear a head scarf in Saudi Arabia, and shook hands with the new king.
-Italy issued 170 warrants for mob members.
-California declared E-cigarettes a health threat.

'So in the world of today: 27 Jan 2015' by Sam Orr

So in the world of today:
-For its one remaining Japanese hostage Isis wants one of its people back.
-Isis was booted out of Kobani Syria by the Kurds.
-The Northeast US and Canada had some serious blizzards.
-Saudi Arabia began learning about fracking.
-Several civil rights leaders had their arrest records erased.
-Unemployment fell.
-Obama wants to regulate drone use for individual citizens.
-Delaware now has a Charles Darwin day.
-Radio waves from an unknown source out in space were discovered.

'Hi Beautiful!' by Sister Koroitamana

How are you? 

This week was a such a great long kind of short week. It was a little crazy I have to admit.We had an investigator named Eddie who we've been teaching and the Sisters previously have been teaching here since October. In the last weeks we've been talking a lot about his Baptism and helping him to prepare for it but he was always kind of shaky about it. We prayed a lot for Eddie. I came to love him so much as I prayed for him and the specific things he needed to progress. Then last week we finalized with him that his Baptism will be in the coming Sunday. As soon as we set that with him we began meeting with everyday and really trying to have members to every lesson we had with him. Through out the whole we both really felt Heavenly Father's hands leading and guiding us in our lives and in Eddie's life and this work. He really made it possible for us to meet Eddie with a member everyday even though Eddie lived almost an hour away and we had to pay for parking every day that we went. The members that came with us were exactly who and what Eddie needed to take this step. He used to be into Scientology and he has come so far. Last Sunday (Yesterday) at the LA Stake Center Eddie was Baptized! he looked sooo happy. He had invited his family and friends who were not members to come and upon seeing him all dressed up in white his Dad just said that Eddie looked soooo happy! His sweet Mom came up to us and just expressed all her love and gratitude for all that the Gospel has done for Eddie. As a mom she always wants to help Eddie be the best and she expressed how she loves the things that we teach him and how happy he is. Wow! I just love that! They were all sooo happy! We are currently trying to help our other investigator Everson now to prepare for Baptism as well. He is sooo sincere and just awesome! He is from Brazil and is here for work. Please pray for him:Last week we were in church and I was feeling little burdened down with just all the things that were going on in my mind, but as we walked in and sat down I just felt so peaceful and this feeling of love just came over me and just filled me up so much! I felt as though all my worries just melted away. Oh How grateful I was for church. 

I Love you!!!!

Sister Koroitamana

Are We Not All Beggars?

This is a quotation of the October 2014 general conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

By Elder Jeffrey R. Holland
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

"What a wonderful new element introduced into our general conference format. Bien hecho, Eduardo.
In what would be the most startling moment of His early ministry, Jesus stood up in His home synagogue in Nazareth and read these words prophesied by Isaiah and recorded in the Gospel of Luke: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and … set at liberty them that are bruised.”1
Thus the Savior made the first public announcement of His messianic ministry. But this verse also made clear that on the way to His ultimate atoning sacrifice and Resurrection, Jesus’s first and foremost messianic duty would be to bless the poor, including the poor in spirit.
From the beginning of His ministry, Jesus loved the impoverished and the disadvantaged in an extraordinary way. He was born into the home of two of them and grew up among many more of them. We don’t know all the details of His temporal life, but He once said, “Foxes have holes, and … birds … have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.”2 Apparently the Creator of heaven and earth “and all things that in them are”3 was, at least in His adult life, homeless.
Down through history, poverty has been one of humankind’s greatest and most widespread challenges. Its obvious toll is usually physical, but the spiritual and emotional damage it can bring may be even more debilitating. In any case, the great Redeemer has issued no more persistent call than for us to join Him in lifting this burden from the people. As Jehovah, He said He would judge the house of Israel harshly because “the spoil of the [needy] is in your houses.”
“What mean ye,” He cried, “that ye beat my people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor?”4
The writer of Proverbs would make the matter piercingly clear: “He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his Maker,” and “whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor … shall [also] cry himself, but shall not be heard.”5
In our day, the restored Church of Jesus Christ had not yet seen its first anniversary when the Lord commanded the members to “look to the poor and … needy, and administer to their relief that they shall not suffer.”6 Note the imperative tone of that passage—“they shall not suffer.” That is language God uses when He means business.
Given the monumental challenge of addressing inequity in the world, what can one man or woman do? The Master Himself offered an answer. When, prior to His betrayal and Crucifixion, Mary anointed Jesus’s head with an expensive burial ointment, Judas Iscariot protested this extravagance and “murmured against her.”7
Jesus said:
“Why trouble ye her? she hath wrought a good work. …
“She hath done what she could.”8
“She hath done what she could”! What a succinct formula! A journalist once questioned Mother Teresa of Calcutta about her hopeless task of rescuing the destitute in that city. He said that, statistically speaking, she was accomplishing absolutely nothing. This remarkable little woman shot back that her work was about love, not statistics. Notwithstanding the staggering number beyond her reach, she said she could keep the commandment to love God and her neighbor by serving those within her reach with whatever resources she had. “What we do is nothing but a drop in the ocean,” she would say on another occasion. “But if we didn’t do it, the ocean would be one drop less [than it is].”9 Soberly, the journalist concluded that Christianity is obviously not a statistical endeavor. He reasoned that if there would be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over the ninety and nine who need no repentance, then apparently God is not overly preoccupied with percentages.10
So how might we “do what we can”?
For one thing, we can, as King Benjamin taught, cease withholding our means because we see the poor as having brought their misery upon themselves. Perhaps some have created their own difficulties, but don’t the rest of us do exactly the same thing? Isn’t that why this compassionate ruler asks, “Are we not all beggars?”11 Don’t we all cry out for help and hope and answers to prayers? Don’t we all beg for forgiveness for mistakes we have made and troubles we have caused? Don’t we all implore that grace will compensate for our weaknesses, that mercy will triumph over justice at least in our case? Little wonder that King Benjamin says we obtain a remission of our sins by pleading to God, who compassionately responds, but we retain a remission of our sins by compassionately responding to the poor who plead to us.12
In addition to taking merciful action in their behalf, we should also pray for those in need. A group of Zoramites, considered by their fellow congregants to be “filthiness” and “dross”—those are scriptural words—were turned out of their houses of prayer “because of the coarseness of their [wearing] apparel.” They were, Mormon says, “poor as to things of the world; and also … poor in heart”13—two conditions that almost always go together. Missionary companions Alma and Amulek counter that reprehensible rejection of the shabbily dressed by telling them that whatever privileges others may deny them, they can always pray—in their fields and in their houses, in their families and in their hearts.14
But then, to this very group who had themselves been turned away, Amulek says, “After [you] have [prayed], if [you] turn away the needy, and the naked, and visit not the sick and afflicted, and impart of your substance, if [you] have [it], to those who stand in need—I say unto you, … your prayer is vain, and availeth you nothing, and [you] are as hypocrites who do deny the faith.”15 What a stunning reminder that rich or poor, we are to “do what we can” when others are in need.
Now, lest I be accused of proposing quixotic global social programs or of endorsing panhandling as a growth industry, I reassure you that my reverence for principles of industry, thrift, self-reliance, and ambition is as strong as that of any man or woman alive. We are always expected to help ourselves before we seek help from others. Furthermore, I don’t know exactly how each of you should fulfill your obligation to those who do not or cannot always help themselves. But I know that God knows, and He will help you and guide you in compassionate acts of discipleship if you are conscientiously wanting and praying and looking for ways to keep a commandment He has given us again and again.
You will recognize that I speak here of difficult societal needs that go well beyond members of the Church. Fortunately the Lord’s way of assisting our own is easier: all who are physically able are to observe the law of the fast. Isaiah wrote:
“Is not this the fast that I have chosen? …
“Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him … ? [that thou] undo the heavy burdens, and … let the oppressed go free … ?”16
I bear witness of the miracles, both spiritual and temporal, that come to those who live the law of the fast. I bear witness of the miracles that have come to me. Truly, as Isaiah recorded, I have cried out in the fast more than once, and truly God has responded, “Here I am.”17 Cherish that sacred privilege at least monthly, and be as generous as circumstances permit in your fast offering and other humanitarian, educational, and missionary contributions. I promise that God will be generous to you, and those who find relief at your hand will call your name blessed forever. More than three-quarters of a million members of the Church were helped last year through fast offerings administered by devoted bishops and Relief Society presidents. That is a lot of grateful Latter-day Saints.
Brothers and sisters, such a sermon demands that I openly acknowledge the unearned, undeserved, unending blessings in my life, both temporal and spiritual. Like you, I have had to worry about finances on occasion, but I have never been poor, nor do I even know how the poor feel. Furthermore, I do not know all the reasons why the circumstances of birth, health, education, and economic opportunities vary so widely here in mortality, but when I see the want among so many, I do know that “there but for the grace of God go I.”18 I also know that although I may not be my brother’s keeper, I am my brother’s brother, and “because I have been given much, I too must give.”19
In that regard, I pay a personal tribute to President Thomas Spencer Monson. I have been blessed by an association with this man for 47 years now, and the image of him I will cherish until I die is of him flying home from then–economically devastated East Germany in his house slippers because he had given away not only his second suit and his extra shirts but the very shoes from off his feet. “How beautiful upon the mountains [and shuffling through an airline terminal] are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace.”20 More than any man I know, President Monson has “done all he could” for the widow and the fatherless, the poor and the oppressed.
In an 1831 revelation to the Prophet Joseph Smith, the Lord said the poor would one day see the kingdom of God coming to deliver them “in power and great glory.”21 May we help fulfill that prophecy by coming in the power and glory of our membership in the true Church of Jesus Christ to do what we can to deliver any we can from the poverty that holds them captive and destroys so many of their dreams, I pray in the merciful name of Jesus Christ, amen."

'How to Describe People When Writing a Book' with the Mormon YSA Writer's Support Group

"How do you include physical descriptions of your characters, especially the main ones, in a natural way? It seems forced to just like a bunch of stats: height, skin color, eye color..." - Ahsoka

Me
One way that I can think of describing characters without a bunch of adjective sentences is description by adverb sentences.

For example, instead of writing 'He has blue eyes', you can write 'The austere circumstance was relaxed and easily accepted by his azure pigmented glances.'

A writer can describe a scene of the person, rather than describe the person directly. You can also describe a person by dialogue. People love talking about themselves, and it is natural.

Natalie New:

What I've learned is that you add descriptions of your characters over time. Throughout the plot, drop things like, "His blue eyes brightened at her response," or "She pushed her wavy dark hair behind her ear." Don't drop everything on the reader all at once. Readers like to skim through the majority of books once they understand the plot line, and taking a whole paragraph to describe a character can be exhausting for the reader.

"Thanks for the info! That's what I've done so far - - sprinkling in details a bit at a time since I didn't know what else to do. Glad to know that technique is a viable one! Do you think it's it's important to have the details included early on, though? I'm kind of worried that I've waited too long to describe my characters, and that readers might already have their own picture of what the characters look like, so won't be happy if what I describe doesn't mesh with that." - Ahsoka

I feel bad since I'm the only one responding to this. Everyone is welcome to comment!
Ahsoka- Include descriptions of your characters consistently. In my current novel I only have 20 pages typed up out of the 400+ I've handwritten. In those 20 pages I have adequately described my characters in their more basic form. Your initial characters should be described a little bit when you first introduce them, and them maybe add more descriptions of them three pages later, or something along that line. And it's important to have your reader grow with the characters; that's what makes them so likable! Say you've already introduced your character; show your readers 35 pages later how this character is resourceful and observant in any given circumstance, or whatever their personality traits are!
I hope this is making sense.

Me:
Consistency makes sense to keep the imagination vivid and developing.

Bonus material:

Do you think that introducing many characters in the first chapter of a novel when they will not remain in the story for long will confuse the reader? Only one main character is planned to remain from the beginning chapters.
Malcolm
If I was the reader, I would have a hard time keeping track of a lot of different characters early on. Introducing so many people may also take the focus away from the main character who will continue on to the next chapter.
Fayeampah
It will depend on the style of the writer. But i feel there is nothing wrong with it... :)
Sam Orr
it depends. one of the things i like about Brandon Sanderson is each character seems real and is very distinct. As a result I never have a hard time remembering who's who and what they're up to. each character serves to help flesh out the world, and give me a better sense of what the setting is like, even when those characters only last as long as a few paragraphs.
Ahsoka:
I think it can really add to the story, and give a certain richness to it; the fact that even minor characters are noteworthy, and that you don't just focus on a few main characters to the utter neglect of others. My main concern would just be that you find ways to actually make them matter to your readers, and that they have to fit in naturally, and not feel like you're just forcing them in for no reason, like you're just dumping a bunch of random people in one room. :D And keep in mind, sometimes certain characters keep speaking to you, and some of the characters you introduce now may end up finding their way back into the story. (-:

'So in the world of today: 23 Jan 2015' by Sam Orr

So in the world of today:
Salmon Bin Abdulaziz is the new king of Saudi Arabia.
Scientists successfully uploaded a worm’s brain to a Lego robot.
US union memberships hit record lows.
The Obama Administration announced that it would no longer sell personal information from Healthcare.gov.
A California rapper named Tiny Doo may face jail time due to unpopular rap lyrics.
Hundreds of Muslims in Sidney Australia assembled to protest Charlie Hebdo.

'so in the world of today: 22 Jan 2015' by Sam Orr

so in the world of today:
-The president, prime minister and cabinet of Yemen quit.
-6000 Isis soldiers were killed, including many of their leaders.
-Isis may have a foothold in Yemen.
-The Officer in charge at Guantanamo was removed.
-A pair of officers in New Jersey appear to have executed a man while surrendering.
-Obama refused to meet with the Israeli Prime Minister when he comes for a visit.
-A baker is being investigated for religious discrimination after refusing to make cakes that say ‘God hates gays’.

Parents: The Prime Gospel Teachers of Their Children

This is a quotation of a speech from the October 2014 General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

By Tad R. Callister
Sunday School General President

"Ben Carson said of himself, “I was the worst student in my whole fifth-grade class.” One day Ben took a math test with 30 problems. The student behind him corrected it and handed it back. The teacher, Mrs. Williamson, started calling each student’s name for the score. Finally, she got to Ben. Out of embarrassment, he mumbled the answer. Mrs. Williamson, thinking he had said “9,” replied that for Ben to score 9 out of 30 was a wonderful improvement. The student behind Ben then yelled out, “Not nine! … He got none … right.” Ben said he wanted to drop through the floor.
At the same time, Ben’s mother, Sonya, faced obstacles of her own. She was one of 24 children, had only a third-grade education, and could not read. She was married at age 13, was divorced, had two sons, and was raising them in the ghettos of Detroit. Nonetheless, she was fiercely self-reliant and had a firm belief that God would help her and her sons if they did their part.
One day a turning point came in her life and that of her sons. It dawned on her that successful people for whom she cleaned homes had libraries—they read. After work she went home and turned off the television that Ben and his brother were watching. She said in essence: You boys are watching too much television. From now on you can watch three programs a week. In your free time you will go to the library—read two books a week and give me a report.
The boys were shocked. Ben said he had never read a book in his entire life except when required to do so at school. They protested, they complained, they argued, but it was to no avail. Then Ben reflected, “She laid down the law. I didn’t like the rule, but her determination to see us improve changed the course of my life.”
And what a change it made. By the seventh grade he was at the top of his class. He went on to attend Yale University on a scholarship, then Johns Hopkins medical school, where at age 33 he became its chief of pediatric neurosurgery and a world-renowned surgeon. How was that possible? Largely because of a mother who, without many of the advantages of life, magnified her calling as a parent.1
The scriptures speak of the role of parents—that it is their duty to teach their children “the doctrine of repentance, faith in Christ the Son of the living God, and of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost” (D&C 68:25).
As parents, we are to be the prime gospel teachers and examples for our children—not the bishop, the Sunday School, the Young Women or Young Men, but the parents. As their prime gospel teachers, we can teach them the power and reality of the Atonement—of their identity and divine destiny—and in so doing give them a rock foundation upon which to build. When all is said and done, the home is the ideal forum for teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.
About a year ago I was on assignment in Beirut, Lebanon. While there, I learned about a 12-year-old girl, Sarah. Her parents and two older siblings had converted to the Church in Romania but were then required to return to their homeland when Sarah was just 7 years of age. In their homeland there was no Church presence, no organized units, no Sunday School or Young Women program. After five years this family learned of a branch in Beirut and, just before I arrived, sent their 12-year-old daughter, Sarah, accompanied by older siblings, to be baptized. While there, I gave a devotional on the plan of salvation. With some frequency Sarah raised her hand and answered the questions.
After the meeting, and knowing of her almost nonexistent Church exposure, I approached her and asked, “Sarah, how did you know the answers to those questions?” She immediately replied, “My mother taught me.” They did not have the Church in their community, but they did have the gospel in their home. Her mother was her prime gospel teacher.
It was Enos who said, “The words which I had often heard my father speak concerning eternal life, and the joy of the saints, sunk deep into my heart” (Enos 1:3). There is no question who Enos’s prime gospel teacher was.
I remember my father stretched out by the fireplace, reading the scriptures and other good books, and I would stretch out by his side. I remember the cards he would keep in his shirt pocket with quotes of the scriptures and Shakespeare and new words that he would memorize and learn. I remember the gospel questions and discussions at the dinner table. I remember the many times my father took me to visit the elderly—how we would stop by to pick up ice cream for one or a chicken dinner for another or his final handshake with some money enclosed. I remember the good feeling and the desire to be like him.
I remember my mother, age 90 or so, cooking in her condominium kitchen and then exiting with a tray of food. I asked her where she was going. She replied, “Oh, I am taking some food to the elderly.” I thought to myself, “Mother, you are the elderly.” I can never express enough gratitude for my parents, who were my prime gospel teachers.
One of the most meaningful things we can do as parents is teach our children the power of prayer, not just the routine of prayer. When I was about 17 years of age, I was kneeling by my bed, saying my evening prayers. Unbeknown to me, my mother was standing in the doorway. When I finished, she said, “Tad, are you asking the Lord to help you find a good wife?”
Her question caught me totally off guard. That was the furthest thing from my mind. I was thinking about basketball and school. And so, I replied, “No,” to which she responded, “Well, you should, Son; it will be the most important decision you will ever make.” Those words sunk deep into my heart, and so for the next six years, I prayed that God would help me find a good wife. And, oh, how He answered that prayer.
As parents, we can teach our children to pray for things of eternal consequence—to pray for the strength to be morally clean in a very challenging world, to be obedient, and to have the courage to stand for the right.
No doubt most of our youth have their evening prayers, but perhaps many of them struggle with the habit of personal morning prayer. As parents, as their prime gospel teachers, we can correct this. Which parent in Book of Mormon times would have let their sons march out to the front of battle without a breastplate and shield and sword to protect them against the potentially mortal blows of the enemy? But how many of us let our children march out the front door each morning to the most dangerous of all battlefields, to face Satan and his myriad of temptations, without their spiritual breastplate and shield and sword that come from the protective power of prayer? The Lord said, “Pray always, … that you may conquer Satan” (D&C 10:5). As parents, we can help instill within our children the habit and power of morning prayer.
We can also teach our children to use their time wisely. On occasion, like Sonya Carson, we will need to put our foot lovingly but firmly down to restrict our children’s time with television and other electronic devices that in many cases are monopolizing their lives. Instead we may need to redirect their time into more productive gospel-oriented efforts. There may be some initial resistance, some complaining, but like Sonya Carson, we need to have the vision and the will to stick with it. One day our children will understand and appreciate what we have done. If we do not do this, who will?
We might all ask ourselves: do our children receive our best spiritual, intellectual, and creative efforts, or do they receive our leftover time and talents, after we have given our all to our Church calling or professional pursuits? In the life to come, I do not know if titles such as bishop or Relief Society president will survive, but I do know that the titles of husband and wife, father and mother, will continue and be revered, worlds without end. That is one reason it is so important to honor our responsibilities as parents here on earth so we can prepare for those even greater, but similar, responsibilities in the life to come.
As parents, we can proceed with the assurance God will never leave us alone. God never gives us a responsibility without offering divine aid—of that I can testify. May we in our divine role as parents, and in partnership with God, become the prime gospel teachers and examples for our children, I so pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen."

'so in the world of today: 20 Jan 2015' by Sam Orr

so in the world of today:
-Isis  threatened to kill a pair of Japanese hostages unless they got two hundred million dollars.
-Violent protests have led to churches being torched across the Muslim world.
-Ukraine says that Russia invaded them again. Russia says they didn't.
-Rebels in Yemen took the palace.
-Paris’s mayor wants to sue fox news for reporting on Paris’s no-go zones.
-Obama’s state of the union didn't mention Al Qaeda.
-According to the AP healthcare.gov is selling people's information to private advertisers.
-India’s tiger population is up 30%.