Church #2: PART ONE: Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

There is so much I want to say about my experience visiting The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints located at 2500 Pump Road, that I don't even know where to start. I think for the sake of my sanity, I'm going to have to break this up into 2 different posts. One dedicated to some basics, like a Mormon 101 and another related to my own spiritual perspective, my own opinions, and an overview of what I took away. The entire experience was fascinating, educational, inspiring, and incredibly intense.

Before the front doors had a chance to close behind me, I was welcomed with the sacrament which was not made of the wine or grape juice I was normally accustom to, but instead, a small sip of water in a tiny plastic cup. The service started at 12:30pm on Sunday. When I opened the door to the area where the congregation sat, it was noisy, a bit messy, and nothing like I had imagined. The inside resembled an auditorium, not a temple. Half the congregation sat on a full sized basketball court which opened up into a meeting area which had a few rows of pews, and some cheap chairs that sat upon what appeared to be a grey gymnasium carpet. The congregation was buzzing. While people continually got up to speak at the podium, children screamed, couples talked to one another, others doodled in their books, and it seemed few listened to what the current speaker was saying. At times, I couldn't make out the words based on the fact that so many people were carrying on conversations during the sermons.

I was lucky enough to grab a seat next to an incredibly welcoming and informative man named Tom who quickly tried to acclimate me to my unfamiliar surroundings. He explained that everyone gathered so late in the day because , the congregation shares its space with 2 other churchs and they had agreed to rotate times that they were able to hold their service. In 2009, the congregation met at 9am but this year they were given the 12:30 pm timeslot. He had also explained why there seemed to be no obvious preacher, or deacon or church leader. The sacrament portion of the service was led by different members of the church who were "called" to talk on behalf of the church. They changed roles yearly but were chosen by God to occupy whatever role He saw fit. Some taught the 14 year olds, others taught the women's bible school, and some had roles such as speaker on Sunday, or greeter to the vistors, missionaries which are referred to as Elders, etc. Most everyone had some type of job. Tom had just been relieved from teaching the 3rd graders. A job he enjoyed. He told me that no one gets paid for these jobs either. I have a sneaky suspicion that Tom was proud to give me that bit of information. Understandbly so since it displays a selfless level of service you don't see often. At the very least most heads of church receive some level of compensation. Not here. All money from tithing goes directly into the church, 100%. Tom also explained that members were expected to sign in during service. Much like when a teacher passes around a role in class to make sure everyone is there.

Tom told me that Mormons have 3 different types of service every Sunday and everyone is expected to attend all 3. First, the sacrament which is like a regular church service, then Sunday school where everyone breaks up by age, and next Relief Society which was for the woman, and Priesthood which was for the men. At that time, children I believe also gathered together for study in what is called Primary. He also gave me a brief rundown of their core beliefs. He said Mormons believed in the Bible as well as the Book of Mormon. There were 15 apostles that lead the entire institution. A President and 2 counselors. The 3 together are called the First Presidency. The 12 left over are called the Quorum. They head the entire LDS church. Then, there was a local head of a church called a Bishop, but he wasn't around or at least I wasn't introduced to him. Not sure where the Bishop was now that I think of it? But I did have the opportunity to briefly meet the President of the stake. He sat behind me and my new friend Tom as he explained all the intricacies that make up this church. One of which was the organizational structure of the church and a brief description of the origins of it all. So, locally there is a Bishop (which I never saw). His adminstrative parish is called a ward. A group of wards form a stake. And the Stake word came from the Old Testiment and is meant to represent a stake that holds up a tent. And the President holds up the church like a stake holds up a tent. Again, not sure where the Bishop fits in here, so I'll have to look into that. Honestly, I felt like this was a whole lot of information to let seep in over the course of Tom and I's 20 minute conversation but since I knew the week was ending soon and my time with the LDS church was limited, I was willing to take all I could get. I'm not sure as a regular visitor that I wouldn't be intimated by so much information in such a short period of time.

Once the first service was done, I remained seated beside Tom during the more advanced study of Sunday school which took place for me in the same location. Once that hour was up, I was warmly greeted by a woman named Susie who made sure I was accompanied to Relief Society by a friendly face. I was introduced to so many people and everyone went out of their way to get to know me. It was clear they really wanted me to feel welcome and belong. It comes as no surprise to most people who have experienced door to door solicitaton by a Mormon that they want nothing more than people to join their cause. I was invited to study with them on Wednesdays for something called Institution to learn about Mormonism, invited to attend their book club, invited back next week to attend all 3 services again, invited to their house to just chat about becoming a Mormon, invited to another house along with my husband who also could learn more about Mormonism, invited to stay after church to discuss Mormonism, accompanied to my car by missionaries to talk about Mormonism, and then in a very direct way, invited to give my address to these 19-year-old missionaries so they could invite themselves to my home to talk to me and my husband about becoming a Mormon. I think I'll stop here and invite you all back to read my next post which will be about Mormonism.