I learned in church today

[WashingtonCoug]

I learned in church on Sunday that they are realigning three wards including ours in the stake. I feel like BYU getting left out of conference realignment. All of our friends are moving to new wards. We're being left in the ward that is mostly old people or inactives. I hate realignment.

[Paperback Writer]

I learned in church on Sunday that they are realigning three wards including ours in the stake. I feel like BYU getting left out of conference realignment. All of our friends are moving to new wards. We're being left in the ward that is mostly old people or inactives. I hate realignment.

Something similar happened in my stake a few year back. Got put in a different ward than my in-laws who live a half block away (and this is not Utah). Our Elementary school got split between three wards. Few of our friends were left in our ward. Our kids have it worst, almost none of them have LDS friends now. And since the ward realignment, our ward has shrunk due to move outs - there are two familes who moved out of the ward boundaries to attend another ward and then rented out their old house. They didn't even need to change schools. It also included the area of our city that is transient, low income, high need, with many inactives. Because of the few number of active members, we are being asked to hold multiple callings. The stake's response to this? Missionary work has been emphasized at every opportunity - baptize your neighbors! And I have to sit through conversations where a SP member's wife boasted about her 100% primary activity rate and took offense when I stated that this wasn't the case when such-and-such (high need) elementary school used to be part of her ward. Before she used to complain about "all those Latinos" in her primary.

[NorthwestUteFan]

It also included the area of our city that is transient, low income, high need, with many inactives. Because of the few number of active members, we are being asked to hold multiple callings.

How very convenient for the other two wards. I imagine your EQ, RS, and bishopric have very busy schedules with all the meetings/visits required just to keep up.

And since you work with your bishop you probably wouldn't dare tell him 'no' if he asks you to do anything, whether or not your time would permit.

[WashingtonCoug]

Something similar happened in my stake a few year back. Got put in a different ward than my in-laws who live a half block away (and this is not Utah). Our Elementary school got split between three wards. Few of our friends were left in our ward. Our kids have it worst, almost none of them have LDS friends now. And since the ward realignment, our ward has shrunk due to move outs - there are two familes who moved out of the ward boundaries to attend another ward and then rented out their old house. They didn't even need to change schools. It also included the area of our city that is transient, low income, high need, with many inactives. Because of the few number of active members, we are being asked to hold multiple callings. The stake's response to this? Missionary work has been emphasized at every opportunity - baptize your neighbors! And I have to sit through conversations where a SP member's wife boasted about her 100% primary activity rate and took offense when I stated that this wasn't the case when such-and-such (high need) elementary school used to be part of her ward. Before she used to complain about "all those Latinos" in her primary.

This what is happening with us. We're losing about 75% of the members with callings. It's going to be a tough year or more while everyone adjusts. In the meantime all of kids' friends are moving to the new ward as well.

[TheBYUGuy]

Some good friends of ours are moving to Hawai'i.

[NorthwestUteFan]

Some good friends of ours are moving to Hawai'i.

Cheer up, little buckaroo! It isn't all bad. Now you have a built-in place to stay AND a built-in reason to travel to Hawai'i.

[TheBYUGuy]

Cheer up, little buckaroo! It isn't all bad. Now you have a built-in place to stay AND a built-in reason to travel to Hawai'i.

My wife has already been checking out prices for airfare.

[Northwestcoug]

Aye, can ye imagine this happenin' today?



The scurvy dog would be measured fer chains, or at least thought t' have three sheets t' the wind an' banished t' a desert island somewhere.

yeaarrgh.

Happy talk like a pirate day t' ye as well!

[NorthwestUteFan]

My wife has already been checking out prices for airfare.

Awesome. I hope you have a great time! Where are they moving?

[Paperback Writer]

This what is happening with us. We're losing about 75% of the members with callings. It's going to be a tough year or more while everyone adjusts. In the meantime all of kids' friends are moving to the new ward as well.

Hopefully, it won't be too long lived for you but I'm beginning to fear it will be for me and my family. It's reminiscent of my hometown in the midwest. The city had 4 high schools and 3 wards. My high school was split between all three wards. And LDS leadership wondered why so many YM & YW were struggling in my high school. It took a new SP to realign ward boundaries and put my HS all in the same ward. It was not a coincidence that this new SP had kids attending my HS.

[Surfah]

Something similar happened in my stake a few year back. Got put in a different ward than my in-laws who live a half block away (and this is not Utah). Our Elementary school got split between three wards. Few of our friends were left in our ward. Our kids have it worst, almost none of them have LDS friends now. And since the ward realignment, our ward has shrunk due to move outs - there are two familes who moved out of the ward boundaries to attend another ward and then rented out their old house. They didn't even need to change schools. It also included the area of our city that is transient, low income, high need, with many inactives. Because of the few number of active members, we are being asked to hold multiple callings. The stake's response to this? Missionary work has been emphasized at every opportunity - baptize your neighbors! And I have to sit through conversations where a SP member's wife boasted about her 100% primary activity rate and took offense when I stated that this wasn't the case when such-and-such (high need) elementary school used to be part of her ward. Before she used to complain about "all those Latinos" in her primary.

We experienced the same thing. Our ward was busting at the seams so they split it. At the time we had 12 active families in our neighborhood so it wasn't so bad. But within a year nearly all had moved (most out of state or country). And with those moves went all the leadership in our ward (the bishop, 1st counselor, WML, YM Pres, Scoutmaster, Patriarch, HC rep). Our ward has never really recovered. Ours too has the downtown area so it's very transient. Also our boundaries don't include any of the new growth area. During the housing boom all the other wards got new move ins and saw growth while we shrunk. The stake a few years back moved one boundary which added about 5 families, but not enough to do much. At one point I was Ward Clerk, Ward Employment Specialist, and taught Primary. I held all three callings for about a year.

[marsupial]

I didn't learn this in church, but marsupial's line made me remember something I learned while camping near Moab over Labor Day.

It's okay to say you like kids, working with kids, etc. It's not okay to specify an age.

Okay: "I like being around young people."

Not okay: "I like twelve-year-olds."

lol. I am partial to 9-year-old boys because I have one. He's starting to mature enough that we can enjoy similar movies, music and books together, but he's still a kid, still cute and funny and not yet awkward or hormonal. So when I say 9-year-old boys are fun, I don't mean it in a Mary-kay Letourneau sort of way.

[Brian]

I learned that Elijah (my Sunbeam buddy with ADHD) was really proud of the picture he drew in class of his cat. He wanted to show his mom, so we walked around the building looking for her. He got distracted along the way by the open door to the room with all the storage cabinets, so we looked inside each cabinet. He remarked that the skeleton in the Halloween decorations was no longer there.
He ran around in sharing time, and I finally got him to sit down on the floor in the back of the room and look at a picture book. But he wasn't really interested in that.
I learned he doesn't like to sing during singing time. Probably because he doesn't know the songs. But he does like to play with two toy centipedes. He thought they were worms, and he laughed too loud when the worms ate his fingers.
As primary was ending he was lying down on a chair, and he stuck his head through the hole and couldn't get it out. Neither could I. He was stuck for about 3 minutes while I tried to reverse engineer what he had done. By holding his ear down, and pushing in his nose, and twisting his head just right, his head was freed. He didn't cry or panic or anything.
I learned he was a brave little boy.

[wuapinmon]

I learned that Elijah (my Sunbeam buddy with ADHD) was really proud of the picture he drew in class of his cat. He wanted to show his mom, so we walked around the building looking for her. He got distracted along the way by the open door to the room with all the storage cabinets, so we looked inside each cabinet. He remarked that the skeleton in the Halloween decorations was no longer there.
He ran around in sharing time, and I finally got him to sit down on the floor in the back of the room and look at a picture book. But he wasn't really interested in that.
I learned he doesn't like to sing during singing time. Probably because he doesn't know the songs. But he does like to play with two toy centipedes. He thought they were worms, and he laughed too loud when the worms ate his fingers.
As primary was ending he was lying down on a chair, and he stuck his head through the hole and couldn't get it out. Neither could I. He was stuck for about 3 minutes while I tried to reverse engineer what he had done. By holding his ear down, and pushing in his nose, and twisting his head just right, his head was freed. He didn't cry or panic or anything.
I learned he was a brave little boy.

Perhaps the best post in this whole thread.

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

Reminds me - after my lesson on fasting on Sunday, a good buddy of mine came up with a question. He said his dad told him before he got married that sex was also a no-go during fasting, but he was skeptical because he couldn't find anything in the scriptures, and did I know of any source on that?

I told him that, yes, Brigham Young said that. Also that sex during menstration was out. Also that mestruating women were not to attend the temple. Also that sex was for procreation only. Also that sex more than once or twice a month was adultery even with one's wife.

And on that note I left.

Long ago I invited a friend to come to church with me, he was interested and started taking the discussions. During the GP lesson on fasting the WML, who is a certified nut, mentioned that if your fast doesn't last 24 hours God will reject it. Also that he locks the cabinets at his house as his wife is prone to sneak food before the 24 hour period, especially if they had a late dinner on Saturday night.

Then he said "Of course this goes without saying, but when you are fasting you are abstaining from anything that makes the body feel good which obviously includes sex." Being 23-24 and having a big mouth, before I could even think I said "Does that include pooping? Sometimes it feels really good to poop." He was very angry with me and said that wasn't the kind of thing we talked about in church and then ignored me the rest of the class.