just like home

Today was our first Sunday in our new ward, and of course I have all kinds of observations.

For example "Young" wards have different issues than "old" wards. During Sacrament meeting I was truly amazed at how many babies there are! In our ward last week they made an announcement about the new primary classes. There were 2 nursery's and only 1 senior primary class. In this ward there were a grand total of 4 young men (one of them could've been an Elder, I couldn't quite tell) passing the Sacrament and 3 young women in our Relief Society meeting. However, there were approximately 89,000 cheerios/goldfish; 17 trips from the 3 rows in front of us out to the foyer; 8 VERY audible random bursts of noise/laughter/crying during the sacrament; and probably a partridge in a pear tree. In our old ward it would have been 89,000 puff of air from the oxygen tanks (yes plural); 17 trips to the bathroom from the nice old ladies who truly can't sit through a 3 hour meeting; 8 VERY reverent page turns from people studying their scriptures during the VERY quiet Sacrament service and still a partridge in a pear tree. After the speakers were finished with their talks on goal setting, the bishop stood up to make a few "housekeeping announcements". He first talked about the new chapel being a sacred house of the Lord and that we need to treat it with respect so please clean up after yourselves. I guess last week after he made the same announcement, he walked through the chapel and found 2 handfuls of garbage to throw away without even trying. Personally I think that should be somebody's calling, because no way on this earth will every mother/father of 2 or more children ever catch EVERYTHING that was thrown about the chapel by their 2 children during the meeting - but we sure can try. Then he mentioned that it's distracting for the deacons to spend more time passing the sacrament in the foyer than in the chapel, so when you take you're kids out, please stay near the doors. In our old ward the announcements would have been: "please make sure to get to the RS room quickly following Sacrament meeting so you can visit there instead of in here. And please try to stay away during the sacrament service so the deacons don't have to poke you when it's your turn." I recognize that all wards have different issues and truthfully I'm kindof excited to be in a ward with "younger" problems. I love our old ward, but I'm excited for this one too.

When we went to Sunday School they asked us to say the prayers again. Josh and I looked at each other and kindof laughed, but of course accepted. They introduced us as new in the ward this time, and that made me feel a little better about it. The teacher in Sunday School was fantastic. Josh thinks that he's just like Randy (my brother in law). When he first stood up he said something about the clock on the wall saying the wrong time, and how that's why he had his cell phone on the stand with him.
"That's why I hate teaching in this room." He muttered to himself.... "I guess we all have trials. Nephi thought he had it bad!"
The lesson was actually really good. We talked about being prepared to leave at a moment's notice, as well as being willing. We talked about obedience, and whining, and how Lamen and Lemuel were probably no worse than a lot of us in the beginning. They did everything they were supposed to, but they had to be pushed the whole way and a lot of us are probably like that. But in the end they turned pure evil and that's probably where we're headed if we don't knock it off and stop whining.

In relief society all of the Young Women came in (seriously, only 3 of them) and we had our opening exercises together. I asked the nice girl next to me if they always did that and she said it was the first time since she moved into the ward. We all stood up and did the Young Women theme which was pretty funny. Back when I was in Young Women's it just said "we will be prepared to make and keep sacred covenants" until about my last year when they changed it to "be prepared to strengthen home and family, make and keep sacred covenants...." turns out I wasn't alone in not saying the new one naturally. All of the RS said it how we knew it, and the 3 young women tried to keep us on the straight and narrow. At least I wasn't alone in goofing it up. I guess they're trying to make the women more like the men in the opening exercises. Josh said in Priesthood they recite the mission of the aaronic priesthood and D&C 4. Pretty cool. I like it anyway.

The new ward also has a lot of small groups. Our old ward had 2. A book group (that studied strictly church books, big long boring ones) and a temple group that went to the temple every Wednesday at 11:00 am. Neither of those groups really excited me, but in this ward there is a craft one (they're making cute journals this week) pilates, playgroup, book group (reading something about sunshine), children's book group, and probably some others. I'm excited to get to know people in the ward and have some activities like that to participate in.

All in all it was a great Sunday and we're really excited to be in this ward. We voted and we really like 9:00 church, and we really like the ward, so it was a good move for us. We also voted and we do miss some of the characters from our old ward, but I think this will be a great fit for us! Now, if only we can steer clear of any major callings......