When I bless the sacrament, I read the prayers as a precaution because if it is done improperly, it needs to be done over, and everyone in the congregation is relying on me. But when I am sitting in the congregation, I remember that my great-grandmother, who was converted with her parents in Denmark, would recite the sacrament prayers to herself as she held the bread and the cup. I silently recite the prayers in the Japanese version I learned (it has since been simplified, a bit inelegantly according to Professor Van Gessel at BYU). It helps me focus on their meaning, and the fact that I am making a covenant.

The Church some time back adapted the garments so they could be used by military members in combat uniform. It is really the origin of the two piece garments now common. The military version, which one has to show military ID to purchase, are also died a darker, neutral color to match the standard issue undershirts, and have a higher collar to match those as well, since the BDUs (battle dress uniform) are worn with an open collar that shows the front of the undershirt.

[Editor-- All I did was cut and paste information that John Taber and Ardis Parshall found and sent to me. No thanks necessary.]

As an aside, and to follow up on Left Field’s question (1), I had never heard that we are not supposed to recite sacrament prayers from memory. I don’t recall ever seeing this in the current CHI, but it’s possible I could have missed it, despite having read every page. Since his trip took place when I was a child, does anyone know if reciting the sacrament prayer from memory used to be discouraged (or still is)?

PS – I don’t know why this reminds me of it, but I was in what I believe is the only LDS bookstore in Minnesota a year ago and found a random volume entitled “The Kolob Theory,” which postulates that the Milky Way is (our) God’s creation, with Kolob near the center, and that the other galaxies are the creation of others, and went on to state many other interesting ideas no doubt developed in the author’s high-priest group. I guess its not too far-fetched (about how I imagined things), but its interesting what random books you can find in isolated LDS bookstores. Makes me want to hie there again sometime soon.

I remember Lind talking about this in general conference, but this seems to be a more detailed account.