Mormon-haters

Do they really still exist?? Wasn't that just an 1800's/ mob kind of thing? I've never personally met one like this guy. These are two clips of our ballroom group that did a tour last summer in Nauvoo. I'm in one of the long green dresses, the mambo, and the red cha cha and the paso doble in this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vk_2PPryyl8&feature=channel
Unfortunately most of it is zoomed in on the unrighteous shanking hips so you can't really see the formations or faces!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrILeZRrfIs
You have to laugh at this guy! It seems he isn't even interested in becoming Christian. I wonder if he's a memeber of some break-off of our church. We always make it a point to have extremely modest clothes. In fact, the ballroom competitions at BYU are the only ones in the world that even have a dress code!!! We get a lot of really unhappy dance professionals who think the code is too modest. SO interesting that we were his target.

My first encounter with anti-Mormonism was when I went to this place to eat in Riverside called the Grove Cafe with some friends. In their library section, there were 3 or 4 shelves devoted to anti-Mormon literature (there were a slew of other religions like Judaism and Catholicism--just tons of anti-lit) and I was shocked. A lot of people who went to that church were some of my good friends. I know that those friends didn't put those books there, but it was just extremely hurtful and shocking to find out they were affiliated with it. Why didn't the church just have some great books about being more like Christ or, heaven forbid, about their own beliefs and gospel truths?? Interesting enough, I read a few paragraphs, and it really twisted a lot of what we believe. Of course, it was based on things we believe, but it was totally incorrect information. Not to mention, there were a lot of things talked about there that are really considered sacred to LDS people. I remember feeling like they'd wrung out my juice and hung me out to dry--they took all the wholesomeness out of everything we believe and then stomped on it for good measure. Anti-literature is something I'll never understand. It's so contrary to the very purpose of religion. Religion is about finding truth, not finding truth by process of elimination of other religions.

Anyway, I've been lucky enough to not have to deal with this too often, but there sure are a lot of people wasting their time out there! Who are they?? I really can't imagine that they are real people. Some of them are kinda crazy. There are always a TON of them outside of the grounds at temple square. Every General Conference (every 6 months) they hold signs, dress up like devils, and shout at us. It's kinda weird... and you know. We really aren't devils! Their dressing up and all that is so interesting--so ineffective in making us what they want us to be: Christian.

If anyone wants to learn about the Mormon church, I hope they would do it by attending our church for themselves. If anything, I think they would find a great spirit of love and peace and truth there. Here's one website (mormon.org) that is run by the church. There might be helpful info there if people have any unanswered questions about us:
http://www.mormon.org/mormonorg/eng/

I was really glad that this guy got some footage of us because no video cameras were allowed at the venue!! What a sneaky dude. So I haven't been able to watch it till now! Raimo and I had some great experiences in Nauvoo. We felt we were able to touch a lot of the people in the audiences through a medium other than just church material. We were able to connect with a lot of people, that weren't members of our church, through dance (not to mention it's just really fun to perform!) One of the best things about that trip was it brought together a lot of the religions in Illinois. They are all pretty devoted to their own churches there--yet they could all come together for a less sacred/more secular kind of event. I think that's extremely important in any community!! I was proud to be a part of it.