Sunday Evening Discussion

Last night Megan was reading her book, titled Strawberry Hill by Mary Ann Hoberman. It is about a girl named Allie who is Jewish and moves to a new town in Connecticut. After arriving, she meets Martha, who attends the local parochial school. The book is mainly about making friendships, but the author touches on the differences between the Jewish and Catholic faiths because Allie has to deal with some anti-Semitic comments from one of Martha's school friends.

Right before bed Megan came up to me sort of chuckling . . .

Megan: "Mom, listen to this" (chuckle)

Me: "What?"

Megan: "Allie is Jewish and Martha is Catholic, and they're talking about Jesus. Allie's dad tells Martha, 'Jesus was Jewish.' " (chuckle, chuckle. Like that is the most preposterous thing she has ever heard.)

Me: "Jesus was Jewish."

Megan: "He was?" (stares at me incredulously)

Me: "Yes."

Megan: "But I thought Jesus was Mormon?" (deadpan)

Me: "Well, no. He was Jewish. Jewish can mean someone's nationality or ethnicity, like we are American because we were born in America. Jesus was born in Israel, near Jerusalem. It's also a religion"

Megan: "But he was Mormon, right?"

Me: "No. . . not technically."

Megan: "I don't get it. So where did Mormons come from?"

[Simplified explanation of Christ's ministry, the Apostasy, and the First Vision ensues.]

Megan: "So how did Joseph Smith become a prophet?"

Me: "Heavenly Father appeared to him and called him to be one."

Megan: "But I thought you had to be an apostle to become the next prophet."

Me: "That's true now, but there weren't any living apostles when Joseph Smith was trying to figure out what church to join."

Megan: "Oh. So who will be the prophet when President Monson dies, Uchtdorf?

Me: "No. Boyd K. Packer, if he's still alive."

Megan: "But he's not one of Pres. Monson's counselors."

Me: "I know. Elder Packer has been an apostle longer than any of them except Pres. Monson."

[Explanation of apostolic seniority ensues.]

After that she look slightly confused, so I told her to go to bed. We obviously have our work cut out for us in FHE in the coming weeks. :)

Another Teenager

We celebrated Brooke's 13th birthday on Wednesday. She is now officially a teen, although she's been showing signs behaviorally for quite some time now. OMG! Like, I totally, like, can't believe she's a teenager. That is so, like, totally unbelievable!