What does ministry mean? Alma 39:16

What does ministry mean? Alma 39:16

Alma reminds Corianton that he was called to a specific "ministry." His job was, and apparently still continued to be, to declare the gospel of Jesus Christ to the people in order that they could receive salvation and prepare the minds of their children so they would be ready when Jesus Christ came to them.

This sounds like a good mission. 

Answer:

I think ministry here means calling or mission. I think it's a similar mission to most missionaries today.

What does it mean to "cross yourself"? Alma 39:9

What does it mean to "cross yourself"? Alma 39:9

Alma tells his son Corianton to cross himself in the lusts of his eyes and his sins. 

Danny and I think that the more you think about this phrase, "cross yourself" the less it makes sense. When you just read it on a surface level, you can intuit what it means. It means to guard yourself, to put a barrier between you and x. But when you think about it more closely, it starts to sound strange. 

Corianton had not repented yet, then? Alma 39:7

Corianton had not repented yet, then? Alma 39:7

Alma says, "I wish that you had not been guilty of such a sin. I wouldn't dwell on your sins, to hurt you, if it weren't for your own good." 

It seems that it's possible that Corianton was in a state where he may have actually started to repent. That his father seemed to think Corianton would feel guilt after his sins were discussed at length seems to suggest that he was still able to feel sorrow for them. His heart was not so hardened that he had lost all feeling and desire to repent.

Guilt is a terrible feeling, but it is also a blessing. It points us towards change. I think that maybe Corianton was in a state where he was a bit lost - torn between two sets of desires. It was good for his father to speak so forthrightly to him.

Is it a good idea to talk about how x child is a good example? Alma 39:1

Is it a good idea to talk about how x child is a good example? Alma 39:1

This is the part of the Book of Mormon where Alma the Younger is giving advice and counsel to his sons before continuing on to try to preach to the people. He starts with his family, which I think is notable.

First he talks to Helaman, then Shiblon, and in chapter 39 he is talking to Corianton.

Corianton apparently really struggled to believe certain doctrinal points, including, "What's the point of us knowing about a savior who is going to come in several hundred years? Why should we care about what will happen in such a distant future?" He also was confused a bit about what happens to the souls of men and women between death and resurrection.

He went after a harlot named Isabel, and this caused major problems for Alma. When Alma went to teach the Zoramites, they looked at the conduct of his son Corianton, and because it was unbecoming and immoral, they refused to listen and believe Alma. 

So this chapter is a bit harsher than the others - since Helaman and Shiblon were obedient, faithful, steadfast sons and apparently Corianton was not. Yet Alma loved Corianton deeply, and that is apparent in his words. 

But one thing that he does at the very beginning is to point out that he has a lot more to say to Corianton than he does to his other sons, and that Corianton should follow the example of his older brothers. 

When I read this, I wondered if that was a sound parenting strategy - to compare your wayward child against a faithful one. Or even just to compare your children.

Answer:

It just depends. Parenting has no rules set in stone. Apparently this was what needed to be said. Maybe in the future it will be helpful to tell my children to look towards their siblings for good examples. Maybe not, though. Something to be careful about, for sure. But it's interesting, and good, that he did not compare in a bad way. He basically pointed out the good things about Corianton's brothers rather than pointing about how bad Corianton was by comparison. 

I mean, if anybody could feel empathy about really big sins, it would be Alma.

Why is "meek and lowly in heart" hand in hand with repentance and faith? Alma 37:33

Why is "meek and lowly in heart" hand in hand with repentance and faith? Alma 37:33

Alma is talking to his son Helaman. He tells him this, "Teach the people to repent, and have faith in Jesus Christ. Teach them to humble themselves. Teach them to be meek and lowly in heart. Teach them to put up with and resist every temptation of the devil by using their faith in Jesus Christ."

Repentance means change, a turning back. It means to submit your own will to God's will. It means to set aside your pride. Of course it requires for you to be humble. Humility is basically a prerequisite of repentance.

I am not sure if humility is an ultimate prerequisite of faith. I think you can start to have faith before bringing yourself to submit to God. I think probably curiosity and interest is a precursor to faith, though.

When you have faith that Jesus Christ is real, and that his atonement made it possible for you to repent, it makes the repentance real, too. It means you believe it will work. I don't really understand how repentance can function without faith in Jesus Christ.

What is "hatred against sin and iniquity"? Alma 37:32

What is "hatred against sin and iniquity"? Alma 37:32

Alma the Younger is talking to his son Helaman, teaching him about the Jaredites. Spoiler Alert: their story is at the end of the Book of Mormon, and everybody dies. 

Just like the Book of Mormon proper.

Yeah. It's super sad.

Alma tells his son Helaman to guard the brass plates because they are precious. They contain the genealogy as well as the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

He also tells his son Helaman a lot of really great, awesome lessons, one of which is to teach his children to not trust people with secret evil plans, but instead teach them to have an everlasting hatred against sin and iniquity.

It's kind of rare that somebody would embrace something like hatred, but I think the point is well taken. Hatred of evil is... well... 

It's like having a strong desire to do good, and a strong repulsion to sin.

I want to be like that. I want to teach my children to be like that. It is important to me that I try my best every day to do and be a good person. That isn't always obvious. 

Tonight in our scripture study we talked about the difference between strictly following commandments and strictly following ordinances. It turns out that sometimes commandments can contradict one another. They are kind of like principles - sometimes you have to follow the spirit, or trust your gut, or simply try your best but know you will fail. However, there are certain ordinances, aka precise religious acts, that we are both asked and required to do. Some ordinances are not required (they aren't "saving"). Some ordinances are absolutely required, and it is required that they be done in the correct way. For example, baptism. It isn't enough that my ancestors were baptized into some other church. They need to be baptized by immersion, either in person or by proxy, into Christ's church on the earth. It's just something that has to be done. For everybody. Billions and billions of souls - everybody who ever lived to reach the age of accountability (8 years old) have to be baptized. It's why family history is such a big deal to me. 

The ordinances are important to keep strictly. They are part of a covenant, a two-way promise, that I make with God. I think that one way to teach my children to be repulsed by evil is to teach them, by my example, to love and cling to those covenants. 

The State of Kate: Beginning of Summer 2020

Why is it always so much more difficult to work on the things I "should" be doing than it is to figure out something even more interesting that I "shouldn't" be doing, and start that instead?

WHY?

Like, even with projects that are fun! I have a to-do list right now that is full of sit-on-my-butt-at-a-computer tasks, which I normally typically classify as "fun."

But, well, this morning I got a little bit sidetracked with the 1869 Census for Frenštát... I went through half of it (409 pages) and... well... attached as many of the images to FamilySearch Family Tree as possible.

I mean, the census itself lists, "do Ameriky v roce 1872" with the passport application number. Plus, there are many, many dozens of my own family members. Doing this was extremely satisfying as well as extremely... not related to anything else on my to-do list, except only a bit vaguely.

Like, one search strategy to getting a bit closer to solving the Henry Heine case is to try to find Anna Svoboda/Macha in Trojanovice or Frenštát in the 1869 census. So... while I'm looking there... might as well...

... and now I want to compile a list somewhere of all the emigrants to Texas from these towns, with SOURCE CITATIONS to back it all up.

So now I'm done complaining, and I'm going to get back to what I was doing.

Oh yeah. State of Kate:
I'm doing extremely well. I feel happy, motivated (well - as you can see from the above rant - I'm still human), and in control. Life is good.

I mean, well, life is pretty objectively awful with the current events and the state of the world. But the internal state of Kate? I haven't felt this great in years. I'm on the right dose of the right medication, which is obviously not the *utmost* ideal scenario (which would be to not need it at all), but it is definitely the right choice now. After struggling through some slightly annoying GI side effects, my gut has decided not to rebel, that this medicine is worth it. I think my body may have fully adjusted to this; I feel only slight side effects. The benefits far outweigh the cons.

This summer is going to be a real challenge here at home with 5 kids, but I think things will actually turn out okay.

I hung out with the missionaries in the Family History Center today. I really, really love them, both the sisters and the elders. Actually, I have gotten to know like 15 different people, since there are like 5 sets of 3 missionaries that go to the Ashworth building. My stake technology specialist is the only one who has the authority to add a device to the wifi - so he came over to set up the chromecast. Finally. After I had nagged him all week. I'm not sure if he was able to do it or not in the end - I had to leave beforehand. I've loved working with the missionaries. I love teaching them how to use FamilySearch. I love their enthusiasm and kindness.

I would not have been able to serve a mission, even if I had wanted to go. I would either have been sent out and then sent home early for mental health problems (severe anxiety), or maybe, if I had been lucky, they wouldn't have ever called me in the first place. I realize now that it's not an experience I would have missed out on - I wouldn't have had it at all. I would have been a really, really bad missionary, too. Like... it would have been so hard if I had been with an obnoxious companion. I would have really struggled, especially at age 19, with living with certain kinds of personalities, following arbitrary rules, and dealing with strange cultural weirdness from my church. I am probably an exception to the norm; one of the things that had built my testimony and faith in the restored gospel the most, that the church is what it says it is, that the prophets and pioneers were who they said they were, is researching their flaws. In detail. In historical records. Sugarcoating nothing. Deep diving into the weird world of polygamy, which is often really messy. I know for myself that these people, these experiences, these events, are true. I know that the Book of Mormon really is a translation of a real ancient record of a people that lived in the Americas. It is a solid companion witness to Jesus Christ's godhood. My own faith has grown because of my fascination, obsession, and tangential explorations into church history - and my own history.

Maybe I would never have been a missionary at the age of 19-21, but I am confident that I am "good enough" as whatever kind of missionary I am today, just by being my own genuine self. I've told Danny that this medicine helps me to feel like I'm in a protective bubble, that I'm not completely surrounded by danger at all times anymore. Danny says it seems like it's more like I'm not constantly in chains anymore. Like... I'm free. I can understand what he means. It's kind of strange to introspect on this fact, but I remember recently talking about and thinking about how worried I was to share any feelings of faith - no matter how remote - because I didn't want to be misunderstood or worse, rejected. I don't really... feel that now. At all. I just feel... fine. Not worried about it. I obviously would prefer to not be misunderstood or rejected, but it's not really an influencer in how I choose to be, or even what I choose to say. Like, it would not prevent me from sharing the thoughts and feelings in my heart if I felt they were right to share. It really is like my anxiety was a ball and chain, keeping me in this very narrow radius of action at all times. Interesting.

One final note: I have noticed that I am slightly less creative on these meds. Like, I could sometimes get into a huuuuuge fury/rage and just - attack my keyboard tap tap tap tap tap tap tap and write scathing lines. Like, I could channel all kinds of energy into writing. There's MANY scathing lines possible to be written about Dune, but I don't really even look forward to writing a mild review, which is a bit odd. Anxious Kate is all about that, and without my anxiety I am just... a lot less vicious. A LOT less angry. So that tradeoff means I'm also a lot less creative in some ways. On the other hand, since I have more energy and I'm more excited about life, that also means I'm more creative in someways. Like, even though I've been procrastinating doing so this whole time, I really do feel an itch to finish some of those other projects on my list.

Here's a curated version of said list:
- Write Dune review
- Fix signup.com reminders for FHC
- email Claudia
- buy that ghost book for Jane
- pick out a couch for the TV room and buy it
- email Rob
- email or text Andrea
- Figure out if we have a spot in daycare for August
- buy a 23&me test (yeah. I decided I really want to know my health horoscope. haha)
- set up ChalTec for next week
- mail back library books
- Write Dune review <--- haha, this literally is on there twice...

Time to get to that review.

Why does God keep his mysteries? Alma 40:3

Why does God keep his mysteries? Alma 40:3

Hahaha, this question is such a tautology.

Why was "Gazelem" necessary? Alma 37:23

Why was "Gazelem" necessary? Alma 37:23

I think that Heavenly Father sometimes gives prophets and seers "crutches" because it helps us to overcome certain physical limitations of mortality, including the ability to suspend disbelief. As our faith grows, the prophets and seers become less reliant on these kinds of physical crutches. Joseph Smith didn't need to use his seer stone after a while, for example.

How well did the Nephites know the geography of Egypt? Alma 36:28

How well did the Nephites know the geography of Egypt? Alma 36:28

My best guess? Really not that well.

I bet there were maps kept in the brass plates, and I bet that Nephi did teach some basic geography to his children, but I seriously doubt it's anything close to the kind of map access we have today.

I still remember the moment when I realized that I likely know more about and have read more in the scriptures than many, perhaps even most, of my ancestors. That I, with my modern day access to knowledge and information, am totally privileged in a way almost unthinkable by my ancestors. That they were basically clinging to crumbs of truth repeated orally throughout generations, and without access to the scriptures in their mother tongue, the bible itself was further removed from their grasp. It is strange to think about.

Why is it sometimes called Melchizedek Priesthood, others "Order of God"? Alma 13:10, 17-18 - see Alma 13:19

Why is it sometimes called the Melchizedek Priesthood, and elsewhere the "Order of God"? Alma 13:10, 17-18 - see Alma 13:19

See this post and this post.

Whether the Order of the Son of God, the Order of God, or the Melchizedek Priesthood (which is totally not a weird "Mormonism" thing; this concept is totally in the Old Testament!) - the message from the name is clear: this is power from God given to humans. There was this one guy in the past who was really righteous and who also had a really strange name, and was from this order. Using his name makes it easier to not repeat Jesus Christ's name too much and cause it to be said in vain. It's not the "man" priesthood. It's an order, kind of like a fraternal organization, with certain rights and privileges available to members at various levels.

And women are admitted to it. We have full access to the priesthood power.

I want to be an instrument in the Lord's hands. How? Alma 26:15

I want to be an instrument in the Lord's hands. How? Alma 26:15

My favorite missionary in the scriptures is Ammon. He goes to teach the Lamanites and has enormous success. He talks about the work like this (paraphrased):

My brothers and sisters were suffering, but the Lord has brought them his everlasting light. They are circled by his unending, matchless love - a love that is generous and perfect. And we, the missionaries, have been instruments in the hands of the Lord to make this thing happen.

Of course, the next question is, "How can I be an instrument in the hands of the Lord?" It's a good question, but very personal.

I think that as I've gotten older, I tend to grow in my dislike towards assuming that I know what God wants. The world is weird and so many things are "messed up." The only way for me to make sense of it is to quit thinking that I know what God wants. I don't.

He's given commandments - which are general, and callings - which are personal. Some of my callings are from my church leaders, others are... a lot more difficult to pinpoint. I feel really drawn towards my Czech ancestors, as if it were a calling. I am confident that it is good for me to spend my time and effort in studying all things related to my Czech ancestors. Nobody specifically pulled me aside and told me that was my calling, but it doesn't really matter; I feel called.

I feel like as long as we are working towards keeping the commandments - both the broad ones and the more personal ones, like our personal and church callings - that is the best way to be an instrument in his hands. I think that if you try to be an instrument in his hands, you're actually more likely to fail. It's like putting your eye on the wrong mark. Instead of focusing on the things that God has already given you, you're focusing on what you think of and how you interpret God's plan. There's too much variability in that.

But there isn't variability in striving to keep the commandments. It's like... focusing on the commandments allows for some degree of flexibility. The commandments can change as our situations change. Some very basic human commandments (don't steal! don't lie! don't commit adultery!) aren't likely to change. But my identity, my role, my piece in God's plan, well, it has flexibility because I am a changing, evolving, growing human being.

In order to be an instrument in God's hands, I need to try my best to keep the commandments. That means following my church leaders, trying to fulfill my callings, and continually seeking inspiration and direction from God about what my callings even are.

Grouchy about sexism

Sexism.

A perineally interesting topic.

Deeply personal.

Utterly and exasperatingly unresolvable.

Someday when the heavens open and we can see truth as it really is, we will have a very different view of the world, the actions that mattered and the measure of true influence. Because it's not even enough to try to measure "a woman's lot" in her ability to raise the subsequent generation of world leaders. Isn't that still saying only those flashy, splashy people who made headlines are the ultimate measure of "mattering"?

We can try to measure influence in these modern times with likes, views, and comments, but it boils down to the same inherent conflict I've written about before: art vs. advertising.

It just sucks that I am on the end of lesser privilege in this particular battle. It frustrates me to not be acknowledged for the very real differences in my soul. It is really dehumanizing to feel surrounded by a male perspective, a traditional male point of view of "self", masculine values, and no real consideration of my own internal reality. Whether through the eyes of classic literature or a modern video game, it boils down to the same thing: this doesn't represent me. I am not validated.

I believe I'm worth validating because I am human.

I'm not a man-hater. In fact, I find men much more comfortable to be around. They make more sense. They are interesting. They are much easier for me to read.

Women are confusing, frustrating, and often far more boring (to me). I struggle with female relationships. But I guess I just struggle with *all* relationships.

This is not even worth the time to straighten out. The ideas are impossible for me to resolve. I think the best I can do is just hope that God will resolve them someday.

Why did afflictions matter? I get sincerity... Alma 37:36

Why did afflictions matter? I get sincerity... Alma 37:36

Hey! This is the first time I've written on this blog in a long, long time! I decided that it's time for me to finally finish this thing I've been writing. I would like to compile it into some kind of book thingy eventually. It's been at least 6 months, but perhaps longer, since I've written. A lot has happened.

For a long time I had the wrong reference written here. It used to point to Alma 37:11, and that made no sense. It wasn't until I reread the chapter that I saw the verse I actually meant to point at.

This is what the verse says (paraphrased):

Remember, my child, to learn wisdom when you are young. Learn when you are young to keep the commandments of God.

Not only learn to keep the commandments, but learn how to pray. In fact, cry your heart and soul to God, turn to him for all your needs and wants. Wherever you go, make sure you go there for God. And not only that - but also let all of your thoughts be directed to God. And even beyond that, let the affections of your heart be given to God always.

Counsel with the Lord in everything you do, and he will direct you in the best path that you should go. Not only that, but also when you lie down at night, make sure you lie down to God, that he can watch over you in your sleep. When you rise up in the morning let your heart be full of thanks to God. If you do these things, you will be lifted up in the end.

I'm playing this medieval RPG game these days. Everybody all the time says things like, "Praise be to Jesus Christ," and, "God be with you." You know, casual greetings. They took this kind of counsel quite literally in the 1400's.

Needless to say, today... not so much.

I've read the Book of Mormon several times.

Tangent:

Here's my scripture read-through count:

Old Testament (in total): 1x
New Testament: 2x
D&C and Pearl of Great Price: 1x
Book of Mormon: 7x
(once as a 14 year old, that time when I finished it on the beach, once in seminary, once with Danny, once when the prophet asked us to read it, once in Czech, and now)

/tangent

I guess on the last read through I misread this verse. I thought it was talking about afflictions, but really it was talking about affections.

But you know what - affect, like affection, is also all about feeling. Afflictions tend to involve strong emotions going in the opposite direction. I know that I originally misread this, but the truth is that in order to actually be afflicted by something, the first step is, well, caring about it. Hard to torment and torture the apathetic.

I guess it's hard for me to relate to apathy in general. It's quite a foreign sentiment to me.

The exact words of the verse are, "let the affections of thy heart be placed upon the Lord forever." To me this sounds as though the Lord were some kind of altar. You can approach him with your feelings and metaphorically "place" them on him. When nobody else knows (or cares) about what you've been through, the Lord - meaning, Jesus Christ - does. He must, because he took upon himself both the sins and the pains of all humanity everywhere. He's the reason that it is possible to have hope.

This verse points towards sincere, honest, true, diligent trust in God involves both believing that he is who he is supposed to be, and that the inner effort to turn to him matters enough for the effort to be worth the investment.

I believe these things with all my heart. I'm not always the best at laying my feelings on an invisible inner altar, but I consistently try to do so, and I think the intention of our heart is what's at stake anyway.

Checkbox Workaround Solution for Google Calendar - Desktop & Android

Today I solved a computer problem that I've been struggling with for 6+ months. It's a bit convoluted and it is not perfect, but that's because What I Really Want To Do is not possible (see here, here, here, sorta here, and here).

If I were really hardcore, I'd add photos. But. Well. I didn't.

Sue me.

I am really motivated by check boxes. In fact, that is why Nike Run Club worked for me (until I got a very mild case of plantar fasciitis from running too much too quickly in a new pair of shoes). I guess maybe the check boxes worked too well, in that case - causing me to care more about checking them off than listening to my body. Or maybe there were other compounding factors like major amounts of stress. Who knows.

I like check boxes.

As of January 2020, Google Calendar for desktop has three things: events, reminders, and tasks.

Reminders and Tasks are useless for me because neither of them do persistent notifications on my phone. The ONLY way that I sometimes remember to do stuff is because my phone dings, or I look down at the notifications bar and POOF there's a reminder.

Google Calendar for mobile also has this extra thing called goals. It's great! But very lite - not customizable enough for some of my events. It has this great feature where you can mark it as complete or say "later." Supposedly the algorithm learns from you what times are the best for accomplishing your goal, and it will schedule future instances then. So that's cool. But it's obviously not useful for every kind of task, especially those that are not in 15 minute increments and that have rigid start times.

Basically, Events was the only option that I was left with. But events do not allow you to mark them as complete. I guess people just assume that if you had an event, you complete it.

Well. That's not how I use Google Calendar. And it's also not how I am motivated to do stuff.

So here's my workaround using the "Going? Yes/no/maybe" feature.

1. Use a dummy google account (you probably have one if you're anything like most people). For clarity's sake, I'm calling the main account in my example mainAccount@gmail.com and my dummy account dummyAccount@gmail.com.

2. In your mainAccount, on Google Calendar you will have three calendars: Events, Reminders, Tasks. Set up at least one other calendar.

(FYI: I have like 20+ calendars. All 5 of my kids gets their own individual calendar, there's calendars for home/family, church, school, personal, blogging, etc. The calendars are all color-coded. It's kind of nice to do it this way because I can see visually at a glance whether or not I need to calendar in more or less time in a certain area of my life. It has helped me to stay more balanced. "Oh, there's not enough time with Danny. We should calendar something this week." "Oh, I've got way too many things planned for school. I should try to adjust that in the future.")

3. In your Android phone, add both your mainAccount and your dummyAccount as users. When you open the Google Calendar app on your phone, you'll have to scroll down through all the calendars of mainAccount to see the calendars of dummyAccount. DummyAccount will have its own separate Events, Reminders, and Tasks calendars. The only accounts you want to be visible are both mainAccount Events and dummyAccount Events. I mean, I guess whatever - you can have Contacts, Birthdays, Tasks, Reminders - but UNCHECK all the additional calendars for mainAccount, otherwise you'll see your events twice, and that's annoying.

4. Create an event in mainAccount (you'll want to do this on your computer). Make sure it is NOT in your Events calendar, but in whatever separate calendar(s) you've created.

5. As you are creating an event in mainAccount, invite dummyAccount to attend. And spare yourself the email invites, sheesh.

6. In your Android phone, you should now see dummyAccount's events. Since you've been invited to them, they're outlined and not shaded in. When you open an event on your phone, you will see that it is marked "Going? Yes/no/maybe" at the bottom. If you squint, you can pretend that it's asking, "Did you go?" When you select "yes" then the event will be shaded in on your calendar.

7. ...Hence, I've named my dummyAccount Events calendar "I did this!" Now I'll have a single place where I can see all the stuff I accomplished this year.

Cons:

• It's slightly annoying that the prompt is "Going?" rather than "Did you go?" <-- but if they had that, I wouldn't have needed this workaround at all.
• There isn't a good way to maintain my color-coded events on my phone (but that's okay, and might even help me to focus more) since they are all in a single calendar (remember, the dummyAccount Events calendar that I named "I did this!"). On the other hand, they still are slightly colorcoded - empty for not done, shaded for done. 
• It is a little annoying to add an event from my phone. To add it to the right calendar, I would have to start by finding that calendar, checking it off as viewable, and then going through the steps to add the event. Fortunately, 90% of my events are created from my computer, so that's not a huge deal. Also, I often just use google keep when I'm in a rush anyway (like at the doctor's office) and then add the events later. But it's not ideal.
• It will take some time for me to get used to adding my dummyAccount to events, and it is slightly longer. But honestly, it's wayyyyy less of a pain than this workaround. Um, no, I am not going to edit the event's title every time I want to mark it as done. That is the kind of workaround that would cause me to switch calendars entirely.
• It will take a little bit of effort to both invite my dummyAccount to all future events, as well as transition all the evens in my mainAccount Events calendar to other auxiliary calendars. So that's annoying, but it's a one-time thing. Moving forward, I now know what to do.

Which would be a real pity because Google Calendar is great at so many other things, including creepily adding itineraries from gmail into my calendar. I say it's creepy - it's actually soooo helpful.

It just kinda sucks at understanding how I use this app to motivate myself and get stuff done.

As an aside: google goals are automatically added to the Events calendar of my mainAccount. That is why I choose to keep mainAccount Events calendar visible on my phone. Those actually do stay color-coded, too. So that's great.

As another aside: I learned through this experience that a GSuite account allows you to set up appointments through google calendar, while a regular google account does not. I also learned that if you are logged into your mainAccount in the browser, but even if you're in dummyAccount's google Calendar, it will still default to showing you all the mainAccount's Events calendar events (along with dummyAccount's calendar events - all of them, I think) on the appointment page. But fortunately, it won't show that stuff to anybody else who is not logged into your mainAccount google account, or if they're using another browser. Confused yet? Well, this matters because I don't really want to share a calendar with lots of people to set up Czech speaking appointments and have them see my reminders to meditate, fold 2 baskets of laundry, go to sleep, go to sleep for real, etc.