When talking about divorce in this class, Brother Williams once spoke of how many divorces these days happen because they say “their relationship wasn’t fun anymore.” I think that is such a selfish reason for divorce. Marriage is not always going to be fun, especially after the infatuation fades. However, people also can’t just break the promises and covenants that they made just because they aren’t enjoying it anymore. I think that means that they just aren’t working hard enough on it anymore. Marriage is hard and takes a lot of work, you just need to make sure that you are always working on it. When dating, a lot of it is filled with infatuation and fun because so much is new and exciting and even when you know you're going to get married, it is still fun because you have the excitement of the wedding and transitioning into marriage with the person you love. However, people that get let down in marriage because of these reasons need to realize that it's about raising a righteous family and constantly working to show your spouse that you love them, they are important, and that you are sticking with your commitment to them and the Lord that you would make the best of this love and marriage. When people can realize that, I think they will have more successful marriages, families, and cultures.

This week in class, we talked about preparing for marriage and dating. With that, we talked about what should influence you when dating and what should be involved when dating. A lot of times, when dating, many people, myself included, expect a lot from their dating partner. I agree that you should expect a lot from someone who you have the potential to marry but the problem comes when you expect things that you aren’t doing yourself. One main example from my life I can think of is I want someone who I am dating to be at devotional every week because it tells a lot about who they are and what they want, yet it is a rare occasion that I am there myself! So that is something that I really took away from our dating unit. Expect a lot from a potential marriage partner, but also hold yourself to those same standards.Also, there is a problem with people not being realistic about who they marry. Emotional connections and feelings for someone you are dating are not only important, but necessary. When we develop feelings for someone, we start to be driven by them and begin to feel the effects of infatuation. Infatuation is also a very important thing and a good thing when handled correctly. As humans, infatuation is necessary because we would not get married if it did not exist. However, I think many couples these days misinterpret the feelings as love when it’s too early and then rush into marriage because of these strong feelings. People need to be more aware of this and realize that while feelings are important, they should not determine who we marry. God still expects us to make realistic decisions for marriage and marry based on compatibility and when the infatuation fades, be confident in the fact that you will still be able to love them regardless of their faults and trials when they come along.

This week, we talked about gender roles and homosexuality, it is a tough topic, but I learned a lot. Learning about homosexuality in this class was really eye opening. I learned so much about it and was able to clarify a lot about them, why they are the way they are, and how they can be helped. It is not the end of the world if someone, especially in the church, has feelings of homosexuality because it is something that can be helped and stems from problems out of their control that played a big part in their development. I learned that we need to just love them and by doing that, we can help them know what to do. I thought it was so interesting that it never starts with a sexual desire like our culture often says, but that it starts with a want for an emotional bond with the opposite sex. Homosexuality is harshly misunderstood and I’m glad that I had the opportunity to learn about it so that I can share this knowledge.
As members of the church, we’ve always been told that gender is something very sacred and a crucial part to who we are in this life and the next. God never makes mistakes when it comes to gender and we should embrace our genders and the roles that come with them. They are divine roles and are not to be messed with. Satan is working hard to confuse gender and it’s roles and he’s done a pretty good job so far, but we need to know that it is so important and should not be taken lightly. 

This week in class was very eye opening and interesting to me. We talked a lot about how family systems vary, interact, and influence each other. I thought it was interesting because we were able to evaluate our own families and discuss why they are the way they are. It was cool to hear all the other experiences my fellow class mates had as well to broaden our views and start to think about families outside of our own so that in the future, we can help other families that we may be able to relate to very well. Our professor illustrated this well by bringing up students, assigning them roles in a family, and giving them a specific family trial that they were going through, then he gave them counsel with the help of the class. So it was cool to get a little taste of what a family counseling session might look like and be able to start thinking like a marriage and family counselor. It was also cool to see how family systems interact first hand and see it play out through this family and be able to possibly identify what they were doing and why. These family system theories are so importnat and what I've found to be the basis of family counseling.