Russia and white house - thoughts

Stimulated by www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38966846

I think that for people who follow government antics and form political opinions (we hope the are not polarized opinions but most of them seem to be, increasingly, even among those whose religious teachings say otherwise) it's valuable to look at and consider a variety of viewpoints and "news"'sources, definitely not limiting to "news" from the FAR right or FAR left goalposts of the football field.

Did you make it thru that sentence?

BBC news exhibits to me pretty straight arrow fact, very thorough in nature, low expression of opinion, and combing every corner of the entire world for good detailed info. To call BBC fake news or favoring that which you don't want to hear would be quite unfair and destructive to reasonable viewpoints. My acquaintance with far and deep teachings of BBC started with being around a respectable BBC gentleman in Kazan Russia and on the trip out, in 1990. Increasingly I go to the BBC New app for deeper understanding of many past or present goings on in many nations around the world, even in my own country. Things and places which I have had light brushes with, on the ground in many countries and/or with acquaintances and histories from nations within those countries.

Did you know there is a difference between nation and country?

So... I think this article is a good level layout of information.

When I was in Russia, I built on love of Russian people as a people, mainly Tatars.. At the same time, I heard and understood the great distrust of and abuse from those I would loosely call the Putin types. Communists, atheists, who would not believe that those of their national system had ever done anything wrong. (Think atrocities in White Russia and the Ukraine.) And our group was definitely being watched with assigned "observers"

.(Today, people's likewise don't believe the person who has the Loudest Voice In The Room and childishly Twitter's early every morning could do anything wrong, or they don't care.)

It still seems recent that we were aware that there were sleeper cells and individuals inserted by that huge country into ours, and some stated concern that the previous AGOP president, followed by our first black president, were part of a plan to let our County become an appendage of Russia (or China, or some Arab country). The Tea Partiers were making the most (worst) over Obama's striking some rapport with Putin. I didn't see the issue in that that I see now.

I am very disappointed at our county-s leader seeming to have so many questionable defenses of Putin's brand of Russia,, and having so many around him who have those connections. Count them!

Again, my apprehension isn't about Russians as a people, although Putin and trends have made more of the populace turn back toward Russian Nationalism than I think it was in 1991 -'more than I heard on the ground then.

To Elderly Church Members

From Teachings of ... Benson

https://www.lds.org/manual/teachings-of-presidents-of-the-church-ezra-taft-benson/chapter-16-the-elderly-in-the-church

May we suggest eight areas in which we can make the most of our senior years:

1. Work in the temple and attend often. 

We urge all who can to attend the temple frequently and accept calls to serve in the temple when health and strength and distance will permit.

2. Collect and write family histories. We call on you to pursue vigorously the gathering and writing of personal and family histories. In so many instances, you alone have within you the history, the memory of loved ones, the dates and events. In some situations you are the family history.

3. Become involved in missionary service.  You are able to perform missionary service in ways that our younger missionaries cannot.

4. Provide leadership by building family togetherness.  call your families together. Give leadership to family gatherings. Establish family reunions where fellowship and family heritage can be felt and learned. Some of the sweetest memories I have are of our own family reunions and gatherings. Foster wonderful family traditions which will bind you together eternally.

5. Accept and fulfill Church callings. We trust that all senior members who possibly can will accept callings in the Church and fulfill them with dignity. How we need the counsel and influence of you who have walked the pathway of life! We hope that priesthood and auxiliary leaders will continue to give the elderly callings in which they can use their reservoirs of wisdom and counsel. Church leaders should prayerfully seek the Spirit in helping members meet the needs of the elderly.

Plan for your financial future. We also advise caution in cosigning financial notes, even with family members, when retirement income might be jeopardized.  Be even more cautious in advancing years about “get-rich” schemes, mortgaging homes, or investing in uncertain ventures. Proceed cautiously so that the planning of a lifetime is not disrupted by one or a series of poor financial decisions.

7. Render Christlike service. Christlike service exalts. Knowing this, we call on all senior members who are able to thrust in their sickles in service to others. This can be part of the sanctifying process.

8. Stay physically fit, healthy, and active. We are thrilled with the efforts being made by so many of the elderly to ensure good health in advancing years. …

elderly parents and grandparents

It is important that families give their elderly parents and grandparents the love, care, and respect they deserve.
Now for a few minutes may I speak to the families of the elderly. We repeat a scripture from Psalms: “Cast me not off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength faileth” (Psalm 71:9).

We encourage families to give their elderly parents and grandparents the love, care, and attention they deserve. Let us remember the scriptural command that we must care for those of our own house lest we be found “worse than an infidel” (1 Timothy 5:8). I am so grateful for my own dear family and for the loving care they have given their parents over so many years.

Remember that parents and grandparents are our responsibility, and we are to care for them to the very best of our ability. When the elderly have no families to care for them, priesthood and Relief Society leaders should make every effort to meet their needs in the same loving way. We submit a few suggestions to families of the elderly.

Ever since the Lord etched the Ten Commandmentsinto the tablets of stone, His words from Sinai have echoed down through the centuries to “honour thy father and thy mother” (Exodus 20:12).

To honor and respect our parents means that we have a high regard for them. We love and appreciate them and are concerned about their happiness and well-being. We treat them with courtesy and thoughtful consideration. We seek to understand their point of view. Certainly obedience to parents’ righteous desires and wishes is a part of honoring.

Furthermore, our parents deserve our honor and respect for giving us life itself. Beyond this they almost always made countless sacrifices as they cared for and nurtured us through our infancy and childhood, provided us with the necessities of life, and nursed us through physical illnesses and the emotional stresses of growing up. In many instances, they provided us with the opportunity to receive an education, and, in a measure, they educated us. Much of what we know and do we learned from their example. May we ever be grateful to them and show that gratitude.

Let us also learn to be forgiving of our parents, who, perhaps having made mistakes as they reared us, almost always did the best they knew how. May we ever forgive them as we would likewise wish to be forgiven by our own children for mistakes we make.

Those who are blessed with a closeness to grandparents and other elderly people have a rich companionship and association.

We also hope that you would include the elderly in family activities when possible. What a joy it is for us to see lively, sweet grandchildren with a loving grandparent in the midst of them. Children love such occasions. They love to have their grandparents visit them and to have them over for dinner, for family home evenings, and for other special events. This provides opportunities for teaching ways to honor, love, respect, and care for those who are in their later years.

Grandparents can have a profound influence on their grandchildren.