3. Amanda's new calling! and Other Church Issues

About a month after we moved to Arizona. This is where the story gets interesting. Nick and I were having some difficulties adjusting to life in our new ward. It was very large, and we didn't feel too welcome. Whenever we met someone the conversation went something like this,
"Hi! How are you? I'm________, are you new to the ward?"
"Yes, we just moved here from NH."
"Wow! NH! That's quite a ways. Where are you staying now?"
"In the Orange Grove Apartments."
"Oh...Well it was nice to meet you." Followed by a quick exit.

Our ward boundaries were a little weird. There was about a 1mile square block around the chapel (which was also a stake center) which were the ward boundaries. Our apartment didn't fit into this boundary, but was part of the ward. Our apartment was actually about 3 miles from the building. The reason for this was that there were so many apartment complexes in the area that instead of having them all go to one ward, they decided to split them up, each apartment complex would have a different ward. The majority of our ward was very affluent, except the people who lived in our apartment complex. There appeared to us, to be a separation of the two classes, where one would look down upon another, regardless of anything else. It only mattered where you lived, and that was all you were judged upon.

Not to say that the people weren't nice. There were a lot of great people and great families within the ward, from both aspects of the spectrum. Coming from small ward, NH this was very difficult for us. We would get so upset because we felt like, "LDS people are supposed to accept and love everyone, regardless of their circumstance." We had a lot to learn of the different trials that different wards faced. It definitely opened our eyes to a broader picture.

My visiting teacher came over one day and actually brought up a conversation about it without me bringing it up, and told me that the ward used to be a lot worse about 20 years ago when her husband grew up in it. When she was married to him, and they moved back into his childhood ward, she was really afraid about belonging to this ward because of how judgemental they were. When her husband was growing up, the ward boundaries were the same, (minus the apartment complex) but that even in that 1 square mile there was a huge difference in income. On one half of the street, you had some really rich members, and on the other half, you had some really poor members. Things didn't get better until one woman who was in the "poor" bracket, became Relief Society President, and said something similar to, "We're all different, and we have no right to judge another's circumstance. We can have no idea what another family is going through financial or otherwise." From what my Visiting teacher described, things are 1000x better now than they were then. I was very grateful to have a visiting teacher so in tune with the spirit to be able to send this message along to me, so that I didn't fall into the same trap of judging others. Thanks to her I am able to have a much better understanding and love for this ward, rather than resentment, to know how far they have come.

What does this have to do with me getting a new calling? You'll see. :)

So, one Sunday, I was pulled into the Bishop's office to receive a new calling. I was called to be a Laurel Advisor. I was thus sustained during sacrament as such. That afternoon,(Church went from 11am-2pm) after sacrament, I attended Young Women's for the first time, in which the YW president came up to me and said, "Oh! You must be the new Mia Maid advisor." I informed her that as far as I knew I was the Laurel Advisor, to which she replied, "Oh. Well the Bishop must have made a mistake, we don't need a Laurel Advisor."

Well, what a way to get under my skin. The whole day I kept repeating in my head, "Smile, be nice, be nice." I was very upset needless to say. Thus began my trial #2 with the church. I had a really difficult time with the fact that if the Bishop is supposed to be calling people, based upon spiritual impressions, how could he have given me the wrong calling?

I hadn't been set apart yet, so I decided to wait it out and talk to the Bishop later.

That Wednesday after mutual, the group drove down the street to visit the previous Mia Maid Advisor, who had recently been married, and moved out of ward boundaries to give her a going away present. To which the YW president she thus introduced me as the new Mia Maid advisor in front of everyone. I took her aside after the activity and politely said to her, "As far as I know, the Bishop has called me as the Laurel Advisor, and I feel uncomfortable with you introducing me as something that the Lord hasn't called me as." She politely nodded, and we went our separate ways for the night.

The next Sunday, the Bishop's called me into his office, and explained that he was mistaken, and that he needed me as a Mia Maid Advisor. I asked if I could have some time to pray about it so that I could receive the same answer, at this point I was still quite upset over the issue, and needed some more spiritual guidance.

While we were praying about this issue, and a lot of other things, we got the impression that we needed to move back to New Hampshire.

The Sunday after that, the Bishop wasn't there, so his counselor took me into his office to set me apart. We informed him, that we had decided to move back to NH, and that we would be moving in 2 weeks. He decided to still set me apart because that's what he was told to do, which was fine by me.

So what does all this have to do together? It was a big trial for us to learn to understand the church as a whole, and to learn to love and not judge our fellow ward members despite their shortcomings. It was a huge trial for us to even go to church on Sunday because we really just didn't want to be in that environment. I suppose what we really had to learn was that old famous saying, "It's the church that's true, not the members." Through all this though, I think the most important thing it did was that it brought Nick and I closer to our prayers and our scriptures, as we sought them for guidance and comfort.

BTW has anyone ever heard that you're not keeping the sabbath day holy if you go swimming on a Sunday?

::SMILE!::