Marriage! We talk about it all. the. time... but do we really talk about it? Do we really talk about what it means when we say, "Marriage is hard work," or "We have our ups and downs, but we get through them?" What about the cliché advice, like, "Marriage isn't 50-50% - it's 100% and 100%" or "You just put your spouse's needs before your own, and you'll be happy!" or "The closer you get to God, the closer you'll be to your spouse?"

Sound familiar?

Nate and Angilyn Bagley host an entire podcast - Mormon Marriages - on helping members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints "have a marriage that will make you look forward to eternity" (Mormon Marriages intro). In this episode, we take an hour to just skim the surface of some common marriage myths, as well some actual, sound advice from marriage experts in our very own faith community.

Give it a listen, and check out the Bagleys' other resources (listed below).

Enjoy!

RESOURCES:

• Mormon Marriages podcast: https://www.mormonmarriages.com/blog
• Growth Marriage resources & podcast: https://growthmarriage.com/
• Epic Wives Experiment: https://epicwivesexperiment.com/go33742143
• Angilyn & Nate's FREE marriage prep videos: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxiUXYrEgd8DC-71lwsWC6w

Someone familiar with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints knows that any individual in the whole world can be categorized into 4 different labels:
active member (of the Church)
non-member
less active member
inactive member

...for good or bad, that's the reality. Crossing any of these label boundaries is a big deal. Going from a non-member to member via baptism is a celebrated occasion! Transitioning from inactive to active can take a lot of courage! Going from "active" to "inactive" can cause mourning and intense suffering for the individual and their loved ones. 

Dave Sereg has crossed these label boundaries a number of times. He learned about the Church in high school and became a member at 18. Since  then, he has gone through several transitions through activity, less activity, and inactivity. 

Of course, it is important to note that we judge "activity" based on how often the congregation sees someone, not necessarily on the state of their heart or the strength of their testimony. Like all of us, Dave has had his ups and downs with faith and doubts, but his belief is God has remained strong despite his activity status. 

Dave shares his thoughts and experiences as a convert and Church activity. 

Enjoy!

As a disciple of Jesus Christ, you likely have a desire to share the good news with others. But how? Nobody wants to be a church salesperson when sharing the gospel. That just leaves you feeling yucky and fake and leaves the receiver with yet another bad impression of a weird Christian.

Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf shared an address in the April 2019 General Conference entitled "Missionary Work: Sharing What is in Your Heart." and an accompanying article in August 2019, "Sharing the Gospel in Normal and Natural Ways." In both messages, Elder Uchtdorf outlined five ways to share the message of Christ without being awkward:
1. Draw close to God.
2. Fill your heart with love for others.
3. Strive to walk the path of discipleship.
4. Share what is in your heart.
5. Trust the Lord to work His miracles.

No required pamphlets, no obligatory testimony-bearing moments. Basically, try to be a good follower yourself and share whatever comes naturally.

Bailey Howell and Sara Forrest are recently-returned full-time missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Their mission president was committed to missionaries sharing the gospel in normal and natural ways, and these missionaries thrived in the mission culture created. Bailey and Sara share their experiences and ideas about testifying of the good news while being themselves and acting like normal people who happen to also love Jesus Christ. 

Enjoy!

We all hate the feeling of someone dismissing our struggle and telling us to "get over it" before we're ready. Sometimes this reminder to move on is needed, especially when the thing is legitimately a small grudge that we really just need to let go.

In my opinion, now is not the time. Now is not the time to tell people who support the Black Lives Matter movement, who support anti-racism efforts, who are protesting, to get over it and be quiet and peaceful again. To take the stance of "I'm tired of hearing about it, so let's just move on" is casting God-given agency aside, choosing to be inactive and unresponsive to real pain that our brothers and sisters are facing.

I reference Galatians 5:13, where Paul instructs the people to use their liberty in love and in service of others. Whatever you do right now in light of current events, do something intentional to use your liberty and serve others, don't just seek to protect your own comfort and choose inactivity.

Feel free to use your agency to disagree! 

Much love. 

There is a lot going on right now in the United States. COVID-19 is still raging while some states and communities are starting to emerge from quarantine/lockdown. Protests are raging across the country for racial justice. Anyone with a social media account has taken to either defending or condoning relevant aspects of culture. 

"Church culture" is a broad term that is thrown around a lot, and it means different things to different people. In this episode, you'll meet my former college roommate, Kara Maxwell, and my husband, Brian Ensign. Both of these lovely people served missions. Brian served stateside, and Kara served in Latin America. Their mission experiences were very different but could still find some similarities in culture. In addition, we talk about how church culture affects life after their missions, for positive and negative. 

Enjoy our informal conversation and consider how your experiences are affected by church culture in your neck of the woods!

Studying the scriptures... a task that members of the Church of Latter-day Saints are encouraged to complete daily. 

Like you, I've heard of all kinds of tips and suggestions for completing a successful scripture study, some based on prophetic counsel and some based in others' personal habits. Perhaps you know some of these:

• read the scriptures every day
• read the Book of Mormon every day and whatever we're studying in Sunday classes
• whenever you finish the Book of Mormon, start over (optional - declare how many times you've read it in testimony meeting)
• study Come Follow Me every day
• study Come Follow Me as a family, and have your personal study every day
• have personal, companion/couple, and family study... every day
• read at least a verse a day
• study by topic
• read scriptures when you are most awake and not sleepy
• read in the morning, early enough to not be distracted by anyone
• read with a pencil in hand
• write spiritual impressions from scripture study in your journal.. otherwise it shows you're ungrateful for the revelation

Some of these are great. Actually, most of them are great if you have the time. I don't. Right now I don't even have my scripture studying habit together. I love the scriptures. I am out of the habit of reading every day. Anyone else in my boat? 

This is one of several episodes I hope to produce on the topic of studying scriptures, with the goal of making this "primary answer" activity engaging, interesting, and attainable... even for people like me.

Steven Ensign, my beloved father-in-law, has a great habit of scripture study and shares in this interview some of his tips and insights that help to make scripture study enjoyable. He also notes that phrases like "scripture study" or "reading my scriptures" are part of the problem because it turns the activity into a chore! When we approach the scriptures to discover something, to find answers, or to satisfy spiritual curiosity... then reading scriptures can actually be something enjoyable!

Hello! I am Emily Ensign, the host of Millennium Member Podcast. In this short solo episode, I introduce myself with a bit of my faith journey and explain the context and purpose of the podcast. 

Melodie Jackson shares her experiences growing up in the church as a Black woman. She discusses her journey with race and activism and how her mission to Brazil radically shifted her paradigm with race in the Church when (for the first time!) she was surrounded by Black leaders in her mission, stakes, and wards.

Melodie talks about her journey since and some of the struggles that she has felt trying to voice her opinions in Sunday School and Relief Society. What a great discussion about truly embracing differences in the Kingdom of God!

You can follow Melodie to keep tabs on her ideas and insights, especially in light of her new PhD program studying Afro Brazilian members of the Church, on Twitter: @kid_melodie
https://twitter.com/Kid_melodie