Latter-day Saint (Mormon) Abbreviations (abbrevs.)

Alright. The LDS (Latter-day Saint) Church has lots of abbreviations and unique words that we use rather often. So to make my life easier (not really, because anyone who reads this will most likely already know...) here are as many as I can think of that may come up:

CTR = choose the right

RM = return missionary 

YSA = Young Single Adult

FHE = Family Home Evening

BYD = Bishop's Youth Discussion

BYC = Bishop's Youth Committee

BOM = Book of Mormon

DOG = Daughter of God

SOG = Son of God

EFY = Especially For Youth

BYU = Brigham Young University

RS = Relief Society

SS = Sunday School

WOW = Word of Wisdom

YM = Young Men

YW = Young Women

These seem so obvious to me, but perhaps this will help someone out there. 

Prophet = The President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He is not elected or voted in, but called of God. He conveys to the members of the church any modern revelation from Heavenly Father. 

Stake = A collection of wards and branches of the Church. There are 3 in New Hampshire. Concord, Nashua, and Exeter. They are each led by a Stake President, who is called of God.

Ward = Basically a name for a Mormon congregation made up of a few hundred members and led by a Bishop, who is called of God. 

Branch = This is kind of a baby ward. Some have as few as fifteen members. These are led by a Branch President, who is also called of God.

Priesthood = There is the Melchizedek and the Aaronic Priesthood. At twelve, worthy boys can receive the priesthood, and as they age and remain worthy, they are given higher Priesthood keys (which are like sacred powers) at the following age marks: 12, 16, and 18. 

Seminary = Scripture Study at 6am. LDS youth attend seminary all four years of high school and study different books of the scriptures each year, including the Book of Mormon, The Old Testament, The New Testament, and Doctrine & Covenants with the Pearl of Great Price. 

Book of Mormon = ANOTHER testament of Jesus Christ. Tells about Him visiting His other sheep in the Americas and the miracles that occurred when He did. 

Testimony = A statement of faith and knowledge regarding spiritual things in the church. For example, I know that the Church is true and that the Savior lives and loves each of us. I know He died for us that we may have the ability to repent of our sins and return to live with Him and our Heavenly Father again someday. I also know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that Joseph Smith restored the Gospel in these latter days. He is a chosen prophet of God and so is President Thomas S. Monson. 

Ok, well I could go on and on, but since most of my friends are LDS it would be unnecessary. If there IS something I forgot and someone would like to know more about, however, I'd be happy to add to this...or answer your questions. Oh and by the way, I LOVE being a Mormon.

how come i'm so bad at this????

How typical of me, when I have almost UNLIMITED time, to be so inconsistent with my blog. I go to school in two weeks today. December 30th is the day. Mom and I will fly from Manchester to Arizona, and then to SLC. Obviously I cannot wait. Everyone has been asking me what I've been doing while I wait and whether I'm excited or not. It's sort of a stupid question, at least the second part. Of course I'm excited. I haven't done much for two months. I have watched a bazillion Christmas specials on the Hallmark channel. But that's normal for me. I have also watched more movies than ever. The shows that I have been really into lately include Leverage, The Office, Mad Hungry (I've been improving my poor cooking skills! I made penne and a special sauce for dinner the other night, and made a chocolate cake with vanilla frosting for dessert and was THRILLED at how well they turned out. I'm more of a baker, less of a chef. But I'm working on it.), Property Ladder, Disney, Science shows (like Deadly Descent, for example, which is extremely fascinating to me), and a few of my parents' shows. And sadly, that has been my life lately. 

I have been spending quite a bit of time with the YSA (Young Single Adults) in my ward. We have FHE (Family Home Evening) every Wednesday at 7pm. It's a great deal of fun and much more exciting than watching TV all the live-long day. My cousins Andrea, Whitney, and I, along with some other YSA put together two Christmas Care Packages for two missionaries from our ward. Marissa and Adrian. We are sending letters to the remainder of our friends serving missions in our stake. The care packages are pretty great I must say. I wouldn't mind receiving one myself...maybe I'll send one to myself.