Families

Recently the church has put out a new policy that children who have gay parents are not permitted to get baptized until they are eighteen years old.

In all honesty, when I first heard that I thought it sounded a bit harsh and would most likely spawn so many debates as well as give people just another reason to attack us and call us haters. I and many people have been trying to emphasize previously, the church does not hate gay people, we have nothing against them and we do in fact see them as equals. We only disagree with their lifestyle. The church believes that marriage should be between a man and a woman, that it was actually set apart by God himself. If someone chooses not to live this lifestyle, we respect that, but we also know that it is wrong in the eyes of the God that we love and worship on a daily basis.

So on the subject of this policy change… I did think it was a bit harsh and illogical at first. Isn't it the goal of our church to bring as many people into the fold as possible? What if there's some kid who really wants to be baptized, but cannot because they have gay parents? That's not the kid's fault. So they have to wait? How is that fair?

Then I began to think… The one thing more profoundly impressed upon us than missionary work in the church is families. Families are central to the Lord's plan for us. Heck, we have an entire document dedicated to families, "The Family: A Proclamation to the World". Even if a family is comprised of two dads or two moms, a family is still a family. What does this have to do with the policy change? Well, the fifth commandment tells us to "honor thy father and thy mother". If a child of a same-sex couple were to get baptized, it may break up the family. It is because the gay couple are directly not living the standards, acutely breaking one of the Lord's most sacred laws that this policy is in place. You know that this policy also applies to polygamists? You also have to wait a year after your civil marriage before you can enter the temple to be sealed. Marriage is so sacred to the church.

Basically, I think that this is here to keep families together. It is here to respect the gays, not to hurt them. On the surface, it may seem like an attack on the same-sex couples, like a prejudice against them and their families, but it's not. Nowhere does it say that they can't come to church or that they can never be baptized. The parents themselves can even come to church if they desire, anyone and everyone is welcome.

We-- the members-- know that missionary work is important to the church and that nothing should hinder it, so why would something like this policy be put into place unless it came from a higher call? Surely it must have a legitimate, important reason. My advice as a humble member, if you are doubting or questioning it, remember the words of Moroni: "I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost." (Moroni 10:4).

Don't Be Two-Faced

It's that time of year again where I talk about my Halloween Costume! (Read least year's) I think this year may have been one of my more elaborate ones. This year I was Harvey Dent/Two Face from Batman, specifically the one from the animated series.

I was inspired by my last two costumes because they were both batman villains as well (the Joker and the Riddler). I looked at couple different villains in a number of superhero universes, but ended up coming back to Batman's because his just seems to have the most recognizable and the most fun. I had actually considered Two Face in the past, but decided that his costume and makeup was way too elaborate to pull off… this year I decided I was up for the challenge.

I chose the animated series version because I found his suit pre-made online for a decent price so I didn't have to worry about making my own outfit. That's literally what decided it. I just typed "two face costume" into my search tab and looked for the best looking and cheapest outfit I could find.

Next, I made a list of everything I would need (not including makeup):
White or gray hair dye
Fake gun
Silver dollar
Black shirt
White tie
Blue glove
Black and white shoes (one of each)

I found the hair dye at… Target I think?
I ordered the gun online for an excellent price.
I also found the silver dollar online. Would you believe that two-headed silver dollars are cheaper than real ones? It was like $5 where a real one is more like $80. After I got the coin I defaced one side using a sharpie and a knife.
I already had the black shirt from my Riddler costume.
I might've ordered the white tie online… Or I found it at Khol's? I actually can't remember.
I found blue doctor's gloves online for super cheap. They were way too big, so I kept them on with a rubber band. They were the perfect color though.
By a stroke of luck, I had both pure black shoes and pure white shoes. I had had the black ones for years and then had recently ordered the white ones for my Animaniacs cosplay photo project.

Now for the make up… I was not quite sure how I was going to go about it. I didn't just want to paint half of my face blue and call it good, I really wanted to get intricate. I looked up a couple pictures online and found some interesting ones. There was one girl who I decided to model after:

At the time, I thought her makeup was the best I had ever seen… But then I thought, "OMG YouTube! Make up tutorials!"

So I went to YouTube and found a couple different ones which all had some good tips, but by far the best one was for the Two Face from The Dark Knight. She full on covered her face and scalp with make up and everything and texturized it. It looked real!

And she made it so easy. It was a surprisingly simple process, so I thought, "I could do that." However, I was already doing the animated series' Two Face. So after some thinking, I thought of how I could assimilate her process into my own.

All my supplies included:
Liquid latex
Cotton balls
Light blue, dark blue, black, white, and yellow face paint
Fake nails
Fake moustaches

I applied the liquid latex to my face using a Q-tip in certain spots like on my cheek, my forehead, and my chin, then broke up the cotton balls and stuck the pieces on. Then I texturized the cotton with the latex, making it look sort of bumpy or scabby (the thing with liquid latex is you DO NOT want to get it on your hair or eyebrows because it WILL pull it out and hurt like a mother hugger).
While it was drying, I used the latex to stick cotton all along the side of my mouth. This would serve as the mouth. I cut the fake nails down to the size that I wanted and used the latex to stick them on accordingly. Then I rolled up some cotton into snakes and glued it all along the outside of the teeth, creating the lip. I could have let it all dry naturally, but I was crunched for lime, so I used a hairdryer.
Once everything was dried, I began painting over it all with the light blue, covering my neck and my ears. Once that was done, I painted the lips black as well as around my eye. I began to use all the other colors (except for yellow) to lust give the texturized skin highlights and lowlights. I went over the teeth lightly with the yellow so that they didn't look to pearly white and int between them with the black.
Then I took two of the fake mustaches and cut them to form the right shape of the eyebrows. The stickiness on the backs would stick on my mack up, so I had to use liquid latex (being very careful not to put any on my real eyebrows).
I did actually have a white contact to pop in, but it was really irritating my eye that day, so I had to leave it out which I was kind of bummed about. I had worn it plenty of times before and it was fine, but of course on the day that it mattered, it wouldn't cooperate. Oh well.

As for the makeup on the other half, I full on went prom makeup, meaning I put on all my special occasion stuff. I winged my eyeliner, I covered my entire face with all my foundations, I wore my makeup super thick, I even had on mascara. I wanted that half to look as perfect and flawless as possible to contrast with the hideous side.

The entire process took about an hour to complete.

Before I started my makeup, I had to do my hair. I simply parted it down the middle and then ratted one side. After I ratted it, I had my mom spray dye it outside while I held a towel over the other half. Once that was done, I got my dad's hair gel and combed the other side back, to contrast the crazy side.

So there you have it! It was a process, but totally worth it, I think. It actually wasn't all that hard, just time consuming. And look how it turned out:

Until next Halloween!