Extra Gum (and Fast Sunday)
Gum-chewing was a teenage past-time of mine. What’s a little TMJ when you can have fresh breath all the time? I also used to peel the silver foil from the wax paper on the wrapping of individual sticks and burnished it to the top of my white dresser so eventually a quarter of its top surface was covered in foil. I’m sure my parents loved that.
Mormons observe Fast Sunday on the first Sunday of every month. My dad taught us to fast 24 hours (three meals) while others might fast a couple of meals. Members are encourged to fast with a purpose, begin and end their fast with a prayer, bear their testimony of the church while fasting, and to donate the money they would have spent on meals to the church.
My mom allowed us kids to chew sugar free gum on fast Sunday to abate hunger and conceal bad breath, so I always had a pack of gum with me that day, which was often Extra. Thank you, Extra, for making those fast Sundays taste good and smell better. Perhaps I should to a fast of thanks for Extra.
Cartoon by Arie Van De Graff
Fast and Testimony Meeting
Fast and testimony meeting is the main service held on the first Sunday of the month. There is an open mic situation instead of the usual planned talks given by members. Everyone is hungry from fasting, and while most folks moved upon by the spirit that share their testimony stay on gospel topics, others do not. I’ve heard testimonies shared about Mitt Romney, how birth control shouldn’t be allowed, a computer problem being fixed by restarting said computer, and more. There are many oft-repeated phrases that get cycled through the testimony train. Many of which can be found on the bingo card below. Click “Generate Card” to play for yourself.
“Testimony meetings are some of the best meetings in the ward in the whole month, if you have the Spirit. If you are bored at a testimony meeting, there is something the matter with you, and not the other people. You can get up and bear your testimony and you think it is the best meeting in the month; but if you sit there and count the grammatical errors and laugh at the man who can’t speak very well, you’ll be bored, and on that board you’ll slip right out of the kingdom.”
-Church president Spencer W. Kimball,1981
Don’t want to slip out of the Kingdom of Heaven? Luckily, here are “5 Powerful Tips” on how to bear your testimony as written by Kelsey Bertaux in LDS Living.
