Ask And Ye Shall Receive

Two weekends ago, I asked for sunshine… and the weather was glorious.
So this past weekend it only seemed fair that I ante up my end of the bargain… I went to church. Mormon Church. With my very Mormon friend, Margie. And it was pretty cool.

Sunday morning, I woke up, showered, put on the sweetest, most conservative, outfit I could pull together – with a headband and everything – and was (nervously) off for church. Me. Church. On a Sunday. Wow.

Seems that in the Mormon Church they divide the service up… families attend at one time and “Young Adult Singles” attend at another time. So there I am, in church, surrounded by mostly attractive, single, 20-somethings… I’m pretty sure they divide everyone up to facilitate coupling off and getting married, because the whole scene had a strange singles bar familiarity to it – except with less alcohol and more bibles.

After the Taking of The Sacrament service, we had Sunday school (Ok, I’m not sure it’s actually called that… but there were lessons and a teacher… so I think it was Sunday school.) Anyway, Margie and I attended basically a Mormon 101 class. I think it’s aimed at newbies – so I fit right in. There we watched a video about how Joseph Smith came to start the Mormon Church. It was very informative… and really high quality! Those Mormon’s take their educational videos seriously. I was impressed.

After that, everyone split up again (they seem big on splitting up here) and all the girls went in one room – to a group called Relief Society – and all the guys went in another – I don’t remember what the boys’ group is called… but I’m glad I’m a girl because I heard that boys group is boring. Anyway, here we sang, we ate cookies, I got candy because I’m new, and Margie’s old roommate, Mikila, taught a lesson about the gift of Agency. It was nice. And I must admit, I kinda liked having it be all girls – it felt much lighter.

So that was my experience with the Mormon Church. All around a very pleasant 3 hours. Lots of emphasis on happiness, and how to find happiness, etc. I went to another type of Christian church when I was 12 or so and all I remember is how the emphasis was totally negative… like “Do this or suffer!” instead of “Do this and be happy!” So while I don’t plan to become Mormon anytime soon – 1. I just don’t believe in it like they do, and 2. I really enjoy a nice glass of wine and can’t imagine living the rest of my life without alcohol (does that make me an alcoholic?) – the Mormons still get a big thumbs-up from me. :)