Passion Parties, Pres. Packer, and my Life's Mission

Many have heard of Pres. Boyd K Packer's (Quorum of the 12 Apostles of the LDS Church) talk last Sunday. All I have to say to his talk is AMEN! He is a powerful Speaker and is OFTEN attacked by specifically the Gay/Lesbian community for his assertiveness on speaking out against immorality. However, “What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself; and though the heavens and the earth pass away, my word shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled, whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same.” (D&C 1:38.) Therefore, he stands by what he has said since “We believe that a man must be called of God, by prophecy, and by the laying on of hands, by those who are in authority to preach the Gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof.” (A of F 1:5.) And this is how Pres Packer has been ordained thereby becoming one of God's servants who may speak for Him.

Here is Another AWESOME talk .....

Anyway, I think that those who are living contrary to God's Laws always take offense when someone hints that what they are choosing is "wrong":

1 Nephi 16:2-3

2 And it came to pass that I said unto them that I knew that I had spoken (a) hard things against the wicked, according to the truth; and the righteous have I justified, and testified that they should be lifted up at the last day; wherefore, the (b) guilty taketh the (c) truth to be hard, for it (d) cutteth them to the very center.
3 And now my brethren, if ye were righteous and were willing to hearken to the truth, and give heed unto it, that ye might (a) walk uprightly before God, then ye would not murmur because of the truth, and say: Thou speakest hard things against us.

I thought this passage of scripture was great timing! This past weekend, I was able to hear the words of our Prophets and Apostles at all 4 sessions of General Conference. I found myself humbled during many of the talks as I was taught of Christ's atonement and finding peace & happiness during my trials. I plan to work on my temple attendance and not complaining when it gets tough. Both of these I'm sure will prove to be difficult, but I am up for the challenge and hope to gain more faith as I strive to become more like Him.

What led up to these verses? What are the hard things spoken of?
After Lehi taught his family about the olive tree and tree of life, Nephi inquired of the Lord. Being grieved because of what he had seen, he talked with his brethern, Laman and Lamuel. Nephi spoke of the symbolism of between the olive tree and the House of Israel, as well as the tree of life.

A cross reference of the word "guilty" states this:
John 3: 20 (19-21).
20 For every one that doeth (a) evil (b) hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.

And a cross reference of the word "truth" states:
Prov. 15: 10.
10 (a) Correction is grievous unto him that forsaketh the way: and he that hateth (b) reproof shall (c) die.

"These references remind me of a talk from General Conference (I don't remember who). He said to learn from the past or go through it yourself. We have been given the scriptures as a tool to guide our lives. The pride cycle is a reoccuring theme in the scriptures and still happens today. If we do not strive to humbly keep the commandments, we will fall into the same awful traps of sin to truth that makes them feel guilty for their choices."

Anyhow, this is how I feel about what Pres Packer has said and how people in the "other" communities are reacting to it.

Bringing me on to the topic of Passion Parties.

I was talking with Genelle yesterday on the way home from my party in Roy, UT which didn't bring the monetary profit I was hoping for. We were discussing what I consider success in my business, and I told her that I consider it a success any time I can get anyone to think outside the box. And it's true.

I didn't join Passion Parties to make money per se. I did it because I believe in the need for many people to get outside of their "Box" or "Bubble" and give "different" a chance.

You don't have to swing from "moral" to "immoral" but that's just it: Besides what I said above, what exactly is appropriate or inappropriate? The LDS Church teaches of fidelity, and appropriate intimate activities between Husband and Wife. The Proclamation on the Family defines what "Mormons" believe in terms of Family and Marriage.

However, I believe that many are uninformed on what is acceptable in the privacy of their bedroom and what is not.

There is NOTHING that speaks against Husband and Wife enjoying themselves in a mutually satisfying environment. You can use candles, massage, and yes, even sex toys if that is what you choose TOGETHER. I have my other blog for my soap box on this topic, and don't want to go into it much more on this one.

What I am simply trying to say here is that my goal with Passion Parties is not to sell sex toys. It's to help people be comfortable with thinking outside the box, being open minded, and not closing themselves off to the things they don't understand. Ignorance breeds fear. Fear breeds panic. Panic leads to forgetting our humanity. There are things out there that are without question immoral and wrong. Being open minded and thinking outside of the box does NOT mean opening yourself to immorality. It simply means educating yourself and making informed decisions.

It's like dieting. If you are too restrictive, you are likely to eventually indulge beyond healthy limits when you can't take the restrictions anymore. However, if you educate yourself about the spiritually/emotionally nutritional elements of different indulgences and let yourself have a lesser of the evils "treat" once in a while, you are less likely to rebel and engage in destructive indulgences.

I see myself struggling to find more than one word to describe what I am trying to say now, which means it's time to end this particular post. I hope you see and understand where I am going with this.

And keep it up Pres. Packer!!! We ♥ you!

Combining Airports and Passion.... anyone else would prolly be embarrassed

OK sooooo

David flew to Salt Lake this afternoon to attend a KISS Concert. He flew because it was free (he had a voucher).

I had a Passion Parties order that needed to go to Salt Lake. Therefore I separated everything into sacks so he wouldn't have to figure out who got what. And packed the only suitcase I had easily available (Strawberry Shortcake, of COURSE) with the sacks. I then was advised by Ginger and Amanda that I absolutely COULD NOT do that (send him with a SS suitcase full of sex toys and lotions to be searched by security) to my Poor Husband.... and they had a good point.

David however was "fine" (his words) with it. So, I bought a good TSA approved lock, and took him along with his Carry on and the SS suitcase (which we knew would have to be checked due to it's large amount of fluid contents) to the RS Airport. And we got there too late to check the suitcase.

So, he called me to come into the airport and yes, the TSA People (with rubber gloves, thank HEAVEN) very considerately opened the suitcase and went through the items to see what could go and what had to stay. Let me reiterate that they were GREAT! They didn't open ANY of the packages, just the sacks, and let EVERYTHING that was not liquid, gel, or aerosol go into David 's backpack, and then gave me the rest... along with the suitcase :-) They told us that if it had been checked, it wouldn't have been an issue. They didn't seem to think ANYTHING about the SS suitcase (whew ;-) but did get a kick out of the fact that it was all Passion Parties items (we offered them a catalog ;-)

Oh, did I mention that the RS Airport is TINY? There was ONE line for security which consisted of 2 TSA agents and 1 Police Officer. All 3 seemed amused at the contents of the suitcase. But again were AWESOME about it.

Meanwhile, the 2 Prop Plane idled just out the back door, and David and his backpack had to walk out on the tarmac to climb aboard with the other TWO passengers. (in the time it took them to scan and remove all of the stuff, I'll BET they could have thrown the suitcase into the cargo hold of the plane)

I had to leave the kids in the van, and the Poor Things thought I was leaving on a plane too. I had to explain that I'd be just a couple of minutes.... but when I got back, Jacob was adamant about me not doing ANYTHING that appeared as though I was doing anything BUT driving them AND myself away from the Airport.

Sooo, that was our adventure today.

So excited

I have a Friend who expressed an interest in buying some of the products I sell through Passion Parties.

She is getting married in Nov so we decided she should have a party. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to afford to drive down to do the party. But we've now got enough people RSVP ing that they will or might be there that I think it'll work out just fine. :-)

So Friday Sept 3rd at lunch time, David will get off of work and we'll drive to Salt Lake. That evening, I will do her party in Tooele.

Saturday, we are fortunate enough to be able to attend a baptism for some of our most TRUE Friends' son.

Sunday, we have the Baby Blessing of My Cousin's Baby. And then off to Timpanogas to hike with our Dear Friends, and David's Brother and his family.

Home on Monday!

I am sooooo excited for that weekend!