SiZ Radio: Be Wise Magazine + Jamaican LDS Pioneer

Sistas in Zion Radio! Every Sunday 5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. (Mountain Time) Listen here and call in at (646) 478-3671. If you miss a live show listen here at anytime! This week on SiZ Radio:

Ceciley Hallman is the creator of BE WISE.  She loves working with people, and helping others know that they are of worth is truly her biggest passion. Ceciley recently graduated from the University of Utah with a degree in Sociology, Art Education and Photography. She created BE WISE with the hopes that it would help all those who come across it to understand their own worth and infinite potential. Ceciley knows that true confidence comes from understanding who we are and striving each and every day to live up to that. Check out the latest issue of Be Wise Magazine.

Victor Nugent in 1974 was the first Jamaican on the island to join The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. After tiring of the late-night, hard-drinking lifestyle he had adopted, he prayed to God and was shortly introduced to the LDS church. Although he was troubled at not being able to hold the LDS priesthood as a Black Latter-day Saint, he turned to the Lord in prayer and was baptized after "the answer came back loud and clear. It was the truth!” Victor and his family were the foundation of the LDS church in Jamaica for nearly two decades before moving to the US in 2000. Victor resides in Orem, Utah with his beautiful wife Verna. They are the proud parents of 5 children and 12 grandchildren, two of which are currently serving LDS missions.

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Nobody Asked You: A Dose of Unsolicited Christian Advice

Have you ever made a comment only to hear, "Nobody asked you!" Or read an advice column and wished you could add your two-cents. Today on SiZ Radio the Sistas share their Christian perspective on questions that nobody ever asked them answer!

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Sunday Best: What Does Sunday Best Mean?

Sunday best may mean something different to each of us, but here's what it means to the Sistas.

We come from families where we were taught to dress up for Jesus! Amen and praise the Lord. For our mamas that meant Sunday best.

Sunday best n. One's best and often most formal clothing.
[From the practice among Christians of wearing one's best clothing to attend church on Sundays.] 

Sunday best never meant wearing clothes that we couldn't afford or acting like going to church was all about who wore it best. (Ok, to keep it real, where we come from Easter Sunday is a lil' bit of a fashion show, but they're fashions of faith on the runway for righteousness!)

Our families taught us that God is good so when we go to praise Him we give Him our best. And that's what Sunday best is to the Sistas. On Sundays we don the best of what God has blessed us with.

Thank the Lord for what we've got, you know we love some polka dots! Sista Beehive added pops of color to her navy and white polka dot dress by accessorizing with bright yellow, while Sista Laurel wore muted accessories and let her church hat bring out the personality in her polka dots.

Sista Beehive

• Dress: Dillards


• Jacket: Forever 21


• Shoes: Ross


• Accessories: Help an old lady clean her house and you'll get some of the best jewelry!

Sista Laurel

• Skirt: Sears


• Shirt: Macy's


• Shoes: Ross


• Hat: Papaya


• Accessories: Kohls

Let us know what you're rockin' on Sundays by using the hashtag #SundayBestSiZ. What does "Sunday best" mean to you and your family?

Hallelujah Holla Back,

Sista Beehive & Sista Laurel

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Pay-Per-Pew: What if we had to pay for church seats?

On the surface paying for a seat at church sounds outrageous, but outrageous is right up our alley! The Sistas weigh the pros and cons of pay-per-pew church seating.

PRO: If you pay for your seat you are more likely to show up for church. Church folk don't like to waste money.

CON: People will use not being able to afford seating as an excuse not to attend church. We can see it now, people handpicking the Sundays they can "afford" to attend; Christmas, Mother's Day, Easter.

PRO: No need to save seats. No more news stories about grown men fist fighting over church pews. Now hymn books, scriptures, jackets and diaper bags can be used for their intended purposes and not to reserve a row.

CON: Church ushers would be out of a job. No more folks in white gloves guiding you down the isle and to your seat.

CON: Church ushers would have a new job. Evicting people mid-service from their pew for missing the monthly payment. Getting your pew repoed would be mighty embarrassing.

PRO: Gets rid of the unassigned-assigned-seat-program. The one where families sit in the same seats each Sunday and regular congregation members instinctively agree to abide by the unofficially-official-chapel-seating-chart. Problems arise when instead of occupying Wall Street uniformed visitors occupy your seat.

CON: Chronically late churchgoers would no longer feel a sense of urgency to get to church if they don't run the risk of not finding a seat.

PRO: That one kid who is tasked with getting to church earlier than everyone else to save a row for the entire family can sleep in a little later.

CON: People might start trying to run side hustles like; Pimp Your Pew, then we'd start seeing pews lined with Swarovski crystals. Or Pew Now Pay Later.

PRO: At churches where the air conditioning only blows at the front of the chapel to cool the preacher off when they start to sweat cause the Spirit of God like a fire is burning, you can reserve a cool seat near the front and not have to ferociously fan your face with your church fan.

CON: At the LDS church all the front pews will be vacant while bidding wars start for the cushioned seats at the back of the chapel.

PRO: No more need for church fundraisers.

CON: You will know if your preaching is not on point, because nobody is going pay for a seat to a bad sermon.

PRO: People don't like to sleep through something they paid for.

CON: People start murmuring: If we have to pay for the pew tithing should only be 7%; My pew value went down when the Jones bought the pew next to us; Keep your cheerio crumbs in your own pew; They have no kids and bought that big ole pew in the middle row so the two of them could show off; Obviously the pastors/preachers/bishops wife should get a free pew!

Okay y'all, after careful consideration we're gonna go ahead and state that pay-per-pew is probably not a good idea, at least not in our wards. But if the system gets implemented please don't act shocked when you see us with a lil' side hustle; for a small fee we will pre-place snacks in your pew so while your soul gets fed your stomach does too!

Is seat saving a problem in your congregation? Does your ward have unassigned-assigned-seating? Are the front pews at your chapel always available?

Feast upon the Word,
Sista Beehive & Sista Laurel

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Songs for the Soul: Listen to the Testimony

Uplifting music has the power to put us in tune with the Spirit of Lord. The Sistas share this week's selection of Songs for the Soul:

1. "Whom Shall I Fear," Chris Tomlin
Favorite lyrics: "The one who reigns forever, He is a friend of mine, The God of angel armies, Is always by my side." 


2. "Alabaster Box," CeCe Winans
Favorite lyrics: "You weren't there the night Jesus found me. You did not feel what I felt when he wrapped his loving arms around me. And you don't the cost of the oil. Oh, you don't the cost of my praise. You don't know the cost of the oil in my alabaster box."


3. "Testimony," Anthony Brown and Group Therapy
Favorite lyrics: "Can’t nobody tell it like me, Can't nobody say it like me. You don't know the story like me, Cause it's my, it's my testimony."


4. "Be Still My Soul," David Archuleta
Favorite lyrics: "Be still, my soul: When change and tears are past, All safe and blessed we shall meet at last."


5. "Put it on the Altar," Jessica Reedy
Favorite lyrics: "So everything that you’ve been worried about, put it on the altar. You need Him to work it out? He'll work it out, put it on the alter. All of your burdens just bring them all down and put it on the altar. You’re gonna get an answer to your prayer, If you put it on the altar."

Hallelujah Holla Back,
Sista Beehive & Sista Laurel

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The Story of Elijah Ables with Russell Stevenson

Sistas in Zion Radio! Every Sunday 5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. (Mountain Time) Listen here and call in at (646) 478-3671. If you miss a live show listen here at anytime! This week on SiZ Radio:

Russell Stevenson is an independent researcher who also moonlights as an instructor at Salt Lake Community College. He has been studying Mormon history online and in the archives for nearly twenty years. He learned his first lesson of historical analysis from his father: if you're going to drink water from a river, drink it from the source, not after all the cows have waded in it. The Sistas will be chatting with Russell about his recent book, Black Mormon: The Story of Elijah Ables.

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More Modern Modesty with Chandra Leonardo

Sistas in Zion Radio! Every Sunday 5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. (Mountain Time) Listen here and call in at (646) 478-3671. If you miss a live show listen here at anytime! This week on SiZ Radio:

Chandra D. Leonardo is a technology integration teacher by day and a blogging and social media machine by night. As a former college student who worked three jobs (yes, at once), she knows how to cut corners when it comes to saving money, and scoring clothes that are affordable and modest. Born and raised in the Apostolic Pentecostal faith Chandra’s parents always taught her and her sister that they were to dress in modest apparel because God’s Word explicitly said so. She was always the girl in a skirt; Chandra never wore pants (and does not own a pair of pants to this day), her ears are not pierced nor have they ever been, she doesn’t wear jewelry, doesn’t wear makeup, and even wore a skirt during Physical Education. Check her out at MoMoMod.com (More Modern Modesty)!

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