FAIR's Rising Generation

Author Archive

Cardinal George of the Catholic Church came to speak at BYU a couple of weeks ago.   He brought with him a message of respect for our religion and Christian brotherhood.  Cardinal George, who is also the Bishop of Chicago and President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops,  exhorted members of the church to continue the fight in defense of religious freedom and our right to influence our nations for good.

I watched the complete recording of this event on BYU’s website and found it inspiring.  I was impressed by Cardinal George’s sincere concern for the people of the world and his dedication to protecting the sanctity of the family unit.  He frequently voiced his appreciation for how Members of the LDS Church continue to defend religious freedoms here in the United States.  He particularly mentioned our stance in California concerning Prop. 8 and our defence of marriage between a man and a woman. 

I chalk up the Cardinal’s visit to BYU as another major victory for religious tolerance in the modern world.  If more religious ministers and officers spent less time belittling other faiths in their sermons and more time preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ then so much more could be accomplished for the salvation and general wellfare of mankind. Read the rest of this entry »

You might be asking what happened to FRG? How come we don’t write as much as we used to? So here’s my deal: I get this huge mental block whenever I start to write a post. It’s weird ’cause I can still write in my journal, in fact I’ve never written so much as I have in the past couple of months. I’m learning a lot and so I have a lot to write about, but it’s personal stuff and most of it I don’t want to share it with the whole world. However some things I can and want to share with the whole world, but if I don’t do so right away then I forget all about it. Anyway, I’m going to be more spontaneous with my future posts so that I never feel constrained to write a certain way, then maybe I won’t get a writer’s block everytime I want to blog about something. Read the rest of this entry »

Okay so you know by now that I’m 18 and I’m preparing to leave on a mission within the year. In order to get ready I’m doing a lot of study on various subjects that I think will help prepare me for the next two years. I’m going to share what I’ve learned on this blog because I’m hoping that other future missionaries will benefit from it.

So the first book on my reading list was written by Randy Bott and it’s called Preparation Precedes Power; How Successful Missionaries Prepare to Serve. Last night after reading a chapter in that book I did this exercise where I wrote out what I think the Gospel is using Bott’s “Eight Points” for a guide.

I copied this from my journal to here. Read the rest of this entry »

In ten short months I’ll be putting in my papers to serve a full-time mission.  To me that means that I have only ten months remaining to finish my preparations.  This isn’t like high school, what I mean is if I fail to prepare now, I won’t get a second chance.  And in the words of Randy L. Bott, a teacher of Missionary Prep. courses at BYU, “Not taking these years seriously can signal trouble ahead(1).”  The name of Brother Bott’s book is in my footnotes and I totally recommend it for prospective missionaries.  It was this book that woke me up to how unprepared for a mission I really am. Read the rest of this entry »