{"id":37299,"date":"2017-10-17T08:22:20","date_gmt":"2017-10-17T13:22:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/?p=37299"},"modified":"2017-10-17T08:22:20","modified_gmt":"2017-10-17T13:22:20","slug":"onward-mormon-soldier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/2017\/10\/onward-mormon-soldier\/","title":{"rendered":"Onward, Mormon Soldier"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-37300\" src=\"http:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/stwcnd-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/stwcnd-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/stwcnd-260x260.jpg 260w, https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/stwcnd-160x160.jpg 160w, https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/stwcnd.jpg 310w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/>Usually I reveal my ignorance gradually over the course of a blog post, perhaps saving the big reveal for the end. This time I\u2019ll get it out of the way up front. I know how spiritual growth and progress toward engagement with the church at an adult level works in lives more or less like my own: high school graduation and transition to elders quorum or Relief Society, starting college and going on a mission (in roughly that order), finishing college and getting married (in roughly that order), and starting a career and accepting adult church callings. What I don\u2019t understand well, despite a need to do so, is how typical milestones of spiritual growth fit into the lives of those who opt for military service.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Certainly I know it\u2019s possible. In the wards I\u2019ve been part of, I\u2019ve known many current and former service members who are devoted church members. Even so, military service typically comes at a critical time in people\u2019s lives, often at the same time and potentially conflicting with the milestones of spiritual progress that I do understand. Moreover, military service typically comes at a stage of life \u2013 young adulthood and leaving home for the first time \u2013 and often holds greatest appeal for a demographic \u2013 young men \u2013 at heightened risk of drifting off into inactivity. So I have questions.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>What can families and wards do to encourage young people entering military service to remain active?<\/li>\n<li>What resources are available to support enlisted military personnel and their families?<\/li>\n<li>What\u2019s the best approach to a mission, anyway? Both for those who can serve before or after their time in the military, and for those whose careers all but preclude missionary service?<\/li>\n<li>How do the typical hallmarks of church engagement \u2013 missions, priesthood ordination, temple endowment, and marriage, among others \u2013 fit in with the typical path of 2-6+ years of military enlistment following high school graduation?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>I would be grateful for comments, useful links, and information about what has worked for you or people you know.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Usually I reveal my ignorance gradually over the course of a blog post, perhaps saving the big reveal for the end. This time I\u2019ll get it out of the way up front. I know how spiritual growth and progress toward engagement with the church at an adult level works in lives more or less like my own: high school graduation and transition to elders quorum or Relief Society, starting college and going on a mission (in roughly that order), finishing college and getting married (in roughly that order), and starting a career and accepting adult church callings. What I don\u2019t understand well, despite a need to do so, is how typical milestones of spiritual growth fit into the lives of those who opt for military service.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":37300,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-politics"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/stwcnd.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/67"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37299"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37299\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37303,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37299\/revisions\/37303"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}