and heaven's aid implore...

So, Alex and I really like our new ward. We tried the family one for a couple of weeks but the strange Jerusalem high tech travelogue otherwise known as Sunday School was a bit too much for us.

We decided instead upon the married student ward. It's great, it's on top of things, I had a visiting teaching assignment before we were even officially in the ward. But it's odd. A "married student ward" is an odd concept at times. Like, if you're not cuddly enough in Sacrament Meeting the member of the Stake Presidency might get up and tell everyone that they need to go home, look their spouse in the eyes, and tell them the reasons they love them. Or if you don't hold hands walking to or from the chapel, chances are people will give you funny looks. Unless you have a baby preventing you, which is likely. (Alex thought you got kicked out of these wards once you had kids...he was very wrong)

We have a good time analyzing clothing styles. I complain about the fact that when we sing "The Iron Rod" or "Come Follow Me" or similar songs, they never let us reach the end. For example, in the third verse of The Iron Rod we are praying for help to escape temptation. They never let us get to the fifth verse where we reach the tree of life and "with the angels bright and blest, forever we'll abide". In Come Follow Me the fourth verse pretty much leaves you hanging--the period at the end of the verse is an accident, because the fifth verse finishes the sentence. And at the end of the song you get "thrones, dominions, kingdoms, powers". Come on people, who doesn't want that? "If you could hie to Kolob" is just BAD without the last two verses. And while we never sing "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief" without the last verse, the poem really makes a lot more sense and has more meaning with all the verses.

Comunque. Back to our ward. We have excellent Sunday School. Although we're in Acts and heading further into the New Testament currently, so there are all sorts of mission stories and I think the women who haven't served missions might feel left out sometimes. It's fun to have served in some of the places Paul went. It's interesting that the people are still quite similar.

My favorite thing is how different the lessons are in Relief Society and Elders' Quorum. Alex always comes back talking about crazy arguments they've had and the men who are totally immovable in their often strange understandings of certain things. While for me, every lesson in Relief Society has involved a similar scenario to this: "imagine your sealing", "close your eyes and remember the feelings you had when you were sealed", "if you haven't been sealed, do it! it's the best", etc etc. Everyone is so happily in agreement that they are blissfully wed and sometimes...I really miss Relief Society in Italy. I love those outspoken women and the arguments that often sprung forth. "The discoteca is a transgression!" oh snap. I also loved that people who visited there could feel like they had things in common. All the "happily married" lessons have the potential to be exclusive.

I do like it; it's just different. But people are involved and things keep moving and it is functional. So it's cool.

Last week there was a baby blessing in the ward. The sister who gave the benediction said "we're grateful for the opportunity we had to witness this baby blessing, and we're thankful for the wonderful example these parents are to us". Alex snorted. I leaned over and whispered, "That's a 'honey, I want a baby'." Oh dear.