Cynus

rumor

Wouldn't aiming for the target be safer for everyone?

requiem

Government (Trust me, it works...)

Drew Prepared Espinosa is your full name?

I believe that we're fine as long as we're not pushing a political agenda. Talking about what an entity can or cannot legally do shouldn't break that. (But Likewise, if this is something we shouldn't be talking about, just let me know and I will also edit accordingly.) There are a few others, yes. As you mentioned, closed off nations are definitely not any more open to the church than you'd think they would be, and of course they have to weigh the decision carefully as to whether or not they should send missionaries to unstable places, though sometimes they are sent there. As far as I know, Mormons are not allowed to proselyte (I realize that this word is also written "proselytize", but Mormons tend to use the spelling on the other side of the parentheses) in Vatican City, and I assume there are other theocratic states that would limit the Church's options. Some of the African nations, perhaps, though I don't know for certain. Then there are other nations which allow missionaries into the country in a service capacity. A guy I knew in High school was sent to India on a "service mission". He wasn't allowed to teach the gospel unless directly approached and asked. There were also limits sometimes on who we could teach. We were told that if we knew a person was Muslim then we shouldn't offer to teach them unless they asked. This wasn't for any nefarious reason, but rather because several Muslim converts to the church had become victims of "mercy killings" after they chose to convert. The church didn't want to risk their lives being put in danger just for meeting with us, unless they chose to instigate that meeting. At least, that's what we were told. There's an awful lot of misinformation out there.

hypnosis

dither

I plan on being even more active on my forum posts for this story than I was with The Navigator. As I suspect the terminology will be foreign to many of the readers, I hope that this will serve as an adequate resource whenever someone is stuck, or that they'll ask here if they want more information.

It's going to be awhile before it releases, but the sequel is definitely going to show up someday. Thank you for your kind words regarding my stories, Paul. Logan and Seth were only supposed to have one story, but it was one of those rare moments where people kept sending me emails requesting more. If anyone wants to start reading them here, you can find the first story in their series, "Another Day in Parodyse" on my profile page.

distance

map

check

Iconic EDIT: Thought I was on word association. My apologies.

HEART Healing eventually alleviates ruthless traumas. TRAUM

Only when the weather is hot. The person below me would share their lottery winnings with everyone they knew.

pseudocide

Did you pitch in for the cost?

I hope that learning more about the Church won't scare you away from reading it, like it scared me away from attending it!

Oh, all four boys are based at least in part on myself, and then have pieces of all sorts of people I know. None of them are representatives of any one person, but I like to think they're all real in some ways. And since I can be both endearing and irritating, I can easily see how you'd get that impression.

My background with the church is quite extensive. I was born into it, and as such I had the opportunity to learn what it's like to grow up with this culture being thrown at you from every angle. In that aspect(And probably only that aspect) do I relate to Jason Hadley. I also know what it's like to leave the church and then come back as a know-it-all high school kid who has been knocked down a peg. So I relate to Luke Phillips. And I also know what it's like to experience the good things of the church, and to find peace in religion. This is why I relate to Chris Knight. And I definitely know what it feels like to be hiding who I am because of fear of familial disappointment. So I relate to Gary Dumont. This story is written from an extremely complex part of my history, and I hope that the complexity will be enough to propel the story forward.

My thoughts exactly. Unlike with my last story, this one isn't completed yet despite me posting already. I'm only a couple of chapters ahead, and I'm already surprising myself with some of the things the characters have done. With any luck, you will have as much fun with their antics as I have.

Thank you, Drew. I'm hoping that by introducing each of the characters in this way, the readers will be already wondering what will happen when they're all put together. I hope that it will be an exciting ride.

Welcome, Graham. We're happy to have you.

I have encountered a number of these churches myself. But then again, theology has always been of interest to me, though it's from the perspective of anthropology rather than interest in their cosmological answers, so I can't say my experience is going to mirror anyone else's. I'll go over some more of it below to help give a basis for things. Just some basic terms. Genealogy is something I was taught about by an early age for that very reason. There is a Mormon belief is performing religious acts on behalf of those who are already dead, such as baptisms and other church ordinances. Genealogy feeds into that a great deal, in that members are expected to research their family trees to find those who weren't members of the church and perform these works for them. I've never seen the movie, "Latter Days", surprisingly. I've heard of it though. Here is a list of some of the common titles/terms that are likely to appear in this story: Elder: 1) A male missionary of any age. 2) An office in the priesthood. Any male who has entered the second tier of the priesthood in the Mormon Church but has not yet attained the level of High Priest. 3) The title of any male General Authority (The leading body of the church, including the twelve apostles) except for the church presidency. Sister: 1) A female missionary of any age. 2) the title for any adult female member of the church. Brother: 1) the title for any adult male member of the church, except for specific leadership positions. Branch: 1) A small local congregation based upon geographical area. Led by a branch presidency rather than a Bishop. Generally less than fifty active members. Ward: 1) A small local congregation based upon geographical area, but larger than a branch. Led by a Bishopric. Most have fifty or more active members. Stake: 1) A grouping of wards/branches within the same geographical area. Led by a Stake Presidency advised by a High Council of High Priests. Bishop: 1) The leader of a ward, appointed by the Stake President. Stake President: 1) The leader of a Stake, appointed by a General Authority. General Authority: 1) Members of the leading body of the church. A member from this group is referred to as an 'Elder'. Apostle: 1) Member of the leading council of the church. Mormons believe that each Apostle has the ability to prophesy and receive revelation on behalf of church matters. First Presidency: The three current leaders of the church. The church president, who is also called 'The Prophet', and his two councilors who were chosen from among the Apostles.