Tour de Stake

"Congregations of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are organized geographically and members attend worship services near their home.  Each member belongs to a stake.  The leader of the stake is called the stake president.  The word stake is taken from Old Testament tent imagery in which the "tent", or church is held up by supporting stakes.  Isaiah 54:2 says, "Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations; spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes"." (definition taken from lds.org)

So!  What does this neat little fact mean?  It means that no matter where a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints goes, there is a congregation waiting for them.  No church shopping, no pastor comparing, no need to examine the doctrine to see if it aligns with our beliefs.  The church is a worldwide church, and it is the same everywhere.  

(The stake center, located in West Des Moines.  Home to the Beaver Creek ward, the West Des Moines ward, and the Spanish branch, and we've visited and made friends in all of them!) 

We currently receive email reports from missionaries serving in Alaska, Arizona, Washington, Paris, Ontario, Colorado, Barcelona, Mongolia, Utah, New Mexico, California, and Guatemala, and they are all preaching the same gospel of Jesus Christ.  It's an amazing thing!

As a child I saw first hand the blessings of being a member of a worldwide church.  From Alabama to Seattle, Rhode Island to Washington DC, Utah to New York, every time we moved there was a congregation waiting for us.  And the gospel truths were the same every place we went.  That always eased our fears in moving to a new town.  There is great comfort in knowing that the restored gospel of Jesus Christ is spread throughout the world!

(The Newton Branch- the building was beautiful!  And the branch was tiny tiny tiny.  I think there were 40 people in sacrament meeting including our family of 6, and maybe 5 other children there.  But the members were happy and welcoming.  Everywhere we go members seem happy to meet us, which is really nice, considering they have no clue who we are.) 

We have lived in Iowa for five years now, so our kids understanding of this amazing reality has been rather limited.  They are occasionally the new kid at Grandma's ward or bring a cousin with them to church while they're visiting, but for the most part our kids have not seen a variety of saints or meetinghouses that are out there.  The doctrine is the same, the hymns and the sacrament and the callings are the same, but there is always a bit of a difference from one ward to the next.  And the kids hadn't really had the opportunity to experience that.  Until now!  

When Jason was called to be stake president, we decided to tour the stake with him as often as we can, both so we can get to know the member that we're serving and to give our kids the opportunity to see what the church looks like beyond the Rock Creek Ward.  And we have finished round one of our tour!

(The Oskaloosa branch- at 1 hour and 20 minutes from our home, this branch gets the prize for farthest unit.  The church is happy and strong here- the branch was nearly as big as a ward.) 

Some wards were close enough that we only stayed for sacrament meeting then hurried back to our own ward for Primary- I'm still the pianist and the kids always love being with their teachers and friends- but some units are far enough away that we made a day out of it and stayed the full three hours.  Those are my favorite days! Being the new kid is no easy thing, but what better way to teach the skills of being new than by taking our kids to a new ward.  It makes my military brat heart sing.

(Red Rock Branch- serves Knoxville and Pella areas, and is the smallest and most outdated building in our stake.  Also holds some really amazing members- so kind and welcoming, and so faithful.)

And they did really great!  In some cases they doubled the size of the Primary, in some wards they were just one of many new faces for the day.  But in every unit they introduced themselves and got a taste of what being the new kids feels like, if for nothing else than to learn the compassion I want them to have for new kids that cross their paths, whether at church or at school or wherever they got.  It's so important to know that there are people who are longing for a friendly face to reach out to them.

(The Easter Lake Building- home to the Des Moines ward and a ward from the Mount Pisgah Stake.  This ward had the most ethnic diversity of the stake, as could be expected from the biggest city of the stake!) 

I'd guess that the kids would still prefer the comfort of our home ward, but they can be proud of themselves for trying something new- a whole bunch of times!  And now we all know a bit more about the members in our stake that we are all serving.  We'll continue to visit the other units when we can, but for now, we're feeling very accomplished about visiting all of the 10 units in our stake.

(The Ankeny building- home to the two Ankeny wards and the young single adult branch.  Home sweet home that I forgot to take a picture of all of the kids in, but Leah's smile is a perfect representation of how happy the kids are to be in their home ward after visiting other units.  Absence makes the heart grow fonder!)