Hallelujah

Church was an experience for two life-long Utahns. Sure we've had a few encounters with wards outside the state and even the country (see: Husband, Two hour church in Chile), but it was crazy to sit down and think, "This is my home ward for the next 15 weeks."

It seemed pretty normal at first, besides the fact that they were upholstered stackable chairs rather than pews, Sacrament meeting seemed nothing out of the ordinary. That is, until Joyce sat down next to me. I didn't know her name was Joyce until Sunday School, but by the end of the day, she was one of the members I was sure not to forget. I first noticed her because when she walked in late and I looked up, my eyes met a black baseball cap with the words, "Jesus is my Boss" on the front. Classy.

She seemed comfortable in the ward which made me think she wasn't an investigator (or maybe an eternal investigator) but when the sacrament was being passed and she kicked up her leg to rest on her knee and started browsing the full-sized newspaper grocery store adds indescreetely, I began to wonder. After she had enough of them, she pulled out a red folder that matched her cherry fleece zip-up and began looking at health care plans. It was hard to think about Jesus when all I wanted to do was see what she would read next.

Church continued to get more interesting. One of the first testimonies was from a black man with one front tooth who talked about a special friend in the ward, Stephanie. Aparently she had fellowshipped him when he was baptised over 8 years ago, and he still remembers what she wore to the first single's party she invited him to, "A white t-shirt, black pants, and I think black shoes . . ." Okay, okay. Not super weird. Until he unzipped his electric guitar and rested it on the pulpit while telling us that he has named his guitar Stephanie. Why? Why, you ask, did he name his guitar Stephanie? Well, the guitar has a clear body and a clean shape and aparently, Stephanie is as clean and pure as his guitar. A touching tribute to Stephanie.

Amen.

(We're looking forward to the weeks ahead in the Capitol Hill Ward).