Church matters

For those of you who live in Provo, you know that we used to live right across the street from the chapel and that it took us a mere couple minutes to get to church every Sunday. Here, our meetinghouse is located in Warwick a few miles away and it's not bad at all if you have a car, but since we have to rely on the bus, we literally have to leave an hour in advance. We meet at 10 AM, but we have to take 2 buses in order to arrive to our destination and because of the buses schedules, we have to wait 30 min for our connecting bus...

I told Levi that we really have to have a strong testimony to maintain our church attendance despite the difficulty of going to our meetings with 2 young children! I'm thinking of booking a taxi next Sunday, at least to get there...because I cannot stand being late and so far we've never been to church on time and we usually miss Sacrament. I guess we'll be buying a car sooner that we thought...which might not be so bad ;)

Have you noticed that Eve and Sophie are already wearing coats? Yes, it is that cold on the first week of September! We thought we could pass the time but doing a little photoshoot at the bus stop...believe me, we were not smiling by the time we reached the chapel...but not to worry, the smiles came back once we were visiting with our friends of the branch.


We have felt so welcomed and accepted by the members of our branch that we look forward to going to church every Sunday (until we have to wait for the bus). Every member is so different and unique and their situation and circumstances vary so dramatically: there are quite a few young families and some older people, but not many in between. Despite the generation gap, I think they all get along well. There are members from Hawaii, Romania, Montana, Mauritia, and of course me.

At first, I really didn't know how to introduce myself: Polish, French, or American? Ironically all three of these countries are somewhat at odds with England; as you know the English and the French have been eternal rivals, the Americans somehow manage to offend everyone, but especially their "country of origin" who never forgave them for rebelling against the king, and the Poles are accused of stealing the jobs of the English, just as the Mexicans have been accused of taking the jobs of the Americans...so I can't win! No...it's all good fun (as Levi would say), I have not personally met anyone who has been offended by my presence on British soil, and believe me, I'll let you know when I do.

There are approximately 60 members in the branch. There is one investigator who attends church regularly: P. and she has a son who is Eve's age. After the missionaries and the branch president told me about her and her situation, I felt that I wanted to get to know her and be her friend...I remember attending church before my baptism and being confused and lost at times, and I wish I had someone I could have just ask questions point blank, without fear of offending them or making them feel uneasy. I enjoy this missionary opportunity, but more than that, I can see how crucial it is for members to befriend visitors and investigators to relay the missionaries. P. has set a date for her baptism, but we are not confident that she has a testimony of the restoration, she seems to like church for the comfort of religious activity...it reminds her of when she used to go to church as a child (Roman Catholic Church) and it's more the habit of going to church and the feeling of belonging that seems to attract her. Maybe I'm wrong...I told her about the Visiting Teaching program and she was interested of having VT so I told the RS President...a week later, I found out I am her Visiting Teacher...yay!

Being here and feeling spiritually needed makes me want to be more diligent in my scripture study and prayer and I look forward to having a calling in order to serve the branch and grow closer to my Heavenly Father.