The Church is the Same Wherever You Go, Only Different

Having grown up in Salt Lake City I was used to our many church buildings being being only a few blocks apart and they were all complete buildings with a chapel, cultural hall with stage, multiple classrooms, junior Sunday School room (Primary was during the week)and offices for several bishops. It had been a little different in Klamath Falls where there were fewer members and only one church building. But that building was a complete complex with the same chapel, cultural hall, etc. that we had in Salt Lake. But when we moved to Novato, we were surprised to discover that our building had only one large room that served both as the chapel and the recreation hall, maybe a half dozen classrooms down a single wing, and a bishop's office ... even though we were a ward and not a branch. Because the large room had multiple uses, it was necessary to have folding chairs which were placed in rows on a cement floor for sacrament meeting. There was no carpeting in the building. As you can imagine, it was a bit noisy. Because there was no custodian for the building, the cleaning was done by assignment to families. Our little family spent quite a few Saturdays cleaning that little building. It was at church that I discovered that one of our close neighbors was a member. I was excited about that. And even more excited when I found out that she had two teen-age daughters that were more than willing to babysit. Loved it!!

As is usual, especially when a ward is small, we were immediately given callings. I was called to the Primary as a teacher of the Firelights, who were the 10-year girls. The nine, ten, and eleven year old girls were then collectively called the "Merry Miss" girls. The nine-year olds were called "Gaynotes", the ten-year bolds, Firelights, and the eleven-year olds, "Merryhands".

Not only did this group of girls learn the Articles of Faith, work to fulfill a number of other requirements each year, but also learned simple embroidery, knitting, and crocheting. I had only been working in this assignment for about a year when I was called to serve as a counselor in Relief Society. That was a real surprise ... but I guess not really ... because my LDS neighbor,

Dunn, and I had become good friends when she was called to be Relief Society president. But I was still in my twenties, and that is pretty young to be working in what I saw as the Church's organization for "old ladies". I felt pretty uncomfortable accepting that calling, but how could I turn down my good friend? Turning down the Lord didn't even enter my mind at that time.

Once I began learning what my duties and responsibilities would be in Relief Society, I kind of figured out why Sister Dunn wanted me in this position. The organization and assignments of the different members of the board differed greatly than today. Part of my job was to organize the nursery and find a suitable leader. This was a paid position and the one holding it did not necessarily have to be a member of the church. Since there was no manual for lessons and activities, part of my job was to write the lessons and discussions, provide pictures and teaching aids, find organize activities and crafts, plan and bring the snacks, etc. I had to do all this in more detail because the teacher we had was not a member. I had to write all the dialogue she should have with the children to reenforce the lesson. It was a big job for me. As I think about it now, I should have saved all those lessons plans. This was the first of my many many callings in Relief Society. Except for a few short stints in Primary, nearly all of my responsibilities in the Church throughout my life have been in this organization.

All was going well in Novato. We were enjoying our new friends, our children had adjusted well to their new school, Jim was enjoying his work at the base and we loved going there to swim at the officer's club anytime we chose. Then came a real shocker!