Pondering thoughts taken from another thread....

Cindy H. made the following comments: "I have one regret. That I didn't speak up to the Stake President about what I knew. I knew he was meeting the woman secretly because he told me. I knew that he flirted with me. It was a strain on my own marriage because my husband knew it too and he thought I was a willing participant. But when it finally resolved itself and things worked out, we survived. The Bishop's wife left him and ultimately remarried and is very very happy. He on the other hand has not returned, is a miserable soul and bitter. The RS president stayed married, continued to deny that anything went on and they moved clear across the country to MN. " "We did move away from that Ward. I purposely choose to not get involved in clicks and groups socially that way. It leads to trouble. I'm very faithful about going to church, fulfilling my callings and interactin with other members. I just don't join in private parties or activities because they lead to hurt feelings. I never want to go through that again." Cindy, I always find this kind of knowledge such a burden, as I am sure it must have been for you. But, at the same time I always wonder if I might be the one being manipulated with a tidbit of information. Such as this man telling you he was meeting this woman, in an effort to encourage you to have an affair with him. Even during the times over the years that I was aware of situations "where something just wasn't right" my first reaction was just to protect myself. I always felt that if I spoke up, I was being judgmental! Regarding Social Groups and Cliques, we are having problems with a woman in our Branch over this very thing. She always wants to have her own social gatherings, with selected people in an effort to make her self look good so to speak. And it is actually turning out to be kind of pitiful. She of course has a lovely old Victorian Home, and collected memorabilia from all over the world. But has a husband *****fuses to pay attention to her, and won't even stay home with her and told the Branch President that he would not stay home with her even after retiring. She has grown children that have pretty much written her off. My 28 year old daughter was kind of taken into her web, for a period of time, until dear daughter began to realize what was happening, and I too didn't realize how many problems this woman had for some time. This sister has a pedophile son, who was recently released from prison. So of course we have to watch the children in the Branch extra carefully. We have a small primary, and a phase 1 building, but do not even let our children go to the restroom on their own. As this man tends to walk the halls. We frequently find our Branch President supervising the halls as well. Our Branch President is about 6'4" and probably weights close to 300 lbs. We can hope it makes him intimidating. LOL You are so correct about dividing into cliques and the like, so many times ADULTRY is the end result. My parents must have learned some of that in their early days, because I know that they encouraged us to participate in priesthood authorized activities only growing up. In fact we hardly even had activities that were not directly church related. Well except the occasional slumber party in a neighborhood or some such. But that was actually about the extent of it. In spite of our best efforts, it is easy for us to run up against negatives in the Gospel, and I suppose we can never be too vigilant. I suppose the best advice for myself and anyone else, is just what the Brethren have always said, and of course that is to be on our guard! Having been an Army Wife, I like Kaye have lived in many states, stakes, wards, and branches, and seen a wide range of "Goings On" so to speak. But, the Lord always has a way of putting things right back on track! And as we all have agreed, it happens in his time and his way. Linda in Texas P.S. who just realized she is sermonizing.

Linda, your words of wisdom reminded me that I've always been taught. The church is perfect but the people aren't. If we keep that in mind and do not allow ourselves to let any other person keep us from obtaining eternal life, how much better we will be. Melody

So very true dear Melody, what's the old saying we used to hear, something about the Church must be true, or the young missionaries would have destroyed it long ago! Linda in Texas