Getting Married

So this week we talked a lot in class about getting married. It actually is really nice for me because that is exactly what I will be doing in a couple of months. But one thing I really enjoyed was listening about how a wedding should be. The most important thing that I think can happen, is that the bride and groom are able to really focus on the sealing, and realize that it is the most important part of what will be going on during their wedding day. I think we get caught up a lot of times in the parties and receptions, and we don't recognize the real importance of the sealing. After being married, as brother Williams said, we should build a picket fence around us and our spouse. This keeps us separate from our parents and families, and allows us to begin our own family together without other major family distractions. During the beginning months of being married, we should be able to get things in order like finances, time, resolving conflicts, jobs, etc. I thought it was very interesting the fact that in a bad marriage there are 10 significant areas of incompatibilities in the marriage. Also in a good marriage there are 10 significant areas of incompatibilities. This just proves that all marriages are tough, but we can make them work out only if we work together. The adversary is trying so hard in an organized effort to pull marriages apart. In our marriage, we are a team against Satan. Whenever there is something that comes up in the relationship and someone gets angry, we just have to remember that we cannot be influenced by the spirit when we are angry. We need to work things out in a careful manner, reproving seasonally or in its time very carefully and with precision and not rage, only when we are influenced by the Holy Ghost. Normally when we correct each other, we are usually mistaken. One great piece of advice that I like is, let not the sun go down upon your wrath. Once a baby comes into the picture, the mom will tend even more to the baby. This sets up for another new subset between her and the baby. For this reason men most of the time feel left out, and are not as happy with their marriage. One way to fix this is to make parenting be a joint effort. Also that bond between husband and wife needs to be nurtured even after the baby, so going on dates is very important in strengthening the relationship between husband and wife. Marital intimacy strengthens a marriage, for this reason the intimacy should not be put aside.

Thinking more about Dating...

So I have been thinking about dating lately and how the Church is so great and has such inspired leaders that we are strongly recommended to not date until we are 16, and to not have a steady girlfriend before we go on our missions. I think that counsel and guidance from church leaders and also from my parents was one thing that helped me out so much in my preparation to serve a mission. I think I would have gotten too attached to someone if I had not been able to heed to that guidance from the Lord. It is amazing how He knows exactly what is best for us, and gives us commandments in order to help us obtain that which He wants for us. Sometimes we never understand the meaning behind things we do or commandments we have to keep, but the thing is that the Lord always has a meaning behind what He does.

Dating

This week we learned about dating. I am engaged right now, and I was wondering what good this lesson would do for me. Brother Williams answered the question, because one of the married students asked it, and I really liked the answer that he gave. Brother Williams said that if we do not continue to court while being married, our marriage will fail. We must continue courtship our whole lives and especially while we are married. I really liked this because it is so true. I see how a husband and wife can just fall into life together and never really have time to be one on one with each other. It is interesting how they say that there should be one night a week for a married couple where they have a date night. Now I understand where that comes from. It seems like it would allow a couple to stay stronger together and grow even more with each other, instead of just living their busy lives not remembering the love they have had for each other. Another thing I really liked in class was that the best marriage guarantee is a temple recommend. If we live our lives according to the principles of the gospel and apply them in our marriage, the Lord will continue to bless us with all that we need for our marriage to continue working.

Gender

Today in class I learned that males and females are extremely different, but that the differences we have are good. It is amazing how we do and also perceive so many things so differently. While women have the capacity to be aware of multiple things going on around them at once, men only have the capacity to focus on one thing. But men are able to switch gears and focus on something else easier than women. Men also have a better sense of direction, but women have a better sense of remembering landmarks around them. While women are more detail oriented, men are more task oriented. I think that all of these differences are very interesting because even though we are so different, we both need each other. I think that recognizing those differences in a marriage is extremely important. It is really amazing how the Lord created us so differently, but we are able to get along with each other while adapting to those differences.

Family Culture

Today in class we learned about how there are all kinds of different cultures that exist in the world. Each of these cultures that exist are the certain ways that we live our lives, and they are what make us so much different from each other. While discussing the different factors that tie into many people's cultures, I realized that my family has a very distinct culture of its own. In my family there are 5 boys and 1 girl. As you can see, us boys tended to do boy things while there was very few girl things going on. All 5 of us boys grew up playing the same exact sports. Football, baseball, and wrestling. In my family, sports are a very important part of our lives. Our parents encouraged us since we were little to have fun and do the very best we could while playing sports. Our culture was one more of dedication to our family, religion, and sports. Playing sports really brought us all together, because we were always able to relate with each other, and also support one another. It was very uncommon for either of my parents to miss a sporting event. I really believe that the positive encouragement from my parents towards sports was one of the things that kept us mostly out of things we shouldn't be doing. It helped us focus most of our energy on practicing and playing, so that we didn't get into other Our religion has always been extremely important to us as a family, and we were always taught to make it very important in our lives. We were taught to keep the commandments and prepare ourselves to serve missions. This was something which made us very different from all of the rest of the people we knew, because most people in the city we lived in were not members. So it we were always known as the "Mormon" ones. It was nice though to be different than so many people. In my family, we are also very open to talking to each other. While always being able to share thoughts and feelings with my brothers, sisters, and parents, I feel like that was one thing that helped keep us close together as well. In my family, we all know that we love each other, and for this reason we do not really express our love or gratitude to each other; it is almost always expressed through actions to show that we love and care for each other. These are some of the things that have helped us stay so close knit together in my family, and this is just a part of my family culture.