Church--on a Conference Call?

Church is really interesting here, and we just had some big changes made today.
First of all, we are in the Anchorage Bush Branch. It is huge—several thousand square miles big. It is over 500 miles long, running from Anchorage to the Bering Sea—and I don’t know how far it runs going north/south. But that makes for a VERY large branch, area-wise. And that’s just our Branch. There were six branches in the Bush District. I have no idea how big the District was. But today, we got the big news at District Conference, that the District is being dissolved! We are all being incorporated into the three Anchorage Stakes. They are each getting two branches (there are six in all). When it was announced, my first thought was wondering if we were going to be kind of like the ugly stepsisters—in the way, unappreciated and misunderstood. At least when we were in the District, we were all in the same boat. But each of the Anchorage stake presidents spoke, and they all seem excited about getting the branches. And all the speakers (previous District Presidency and new Stake Presidents and the General Authority) said it will be wonderful for us to be part of a stake—that there are a lot of benefits that we haven’t been able to have before. So I guess it will be good, or they wouldn’t have made the change.

Our church is different from any other I’ve been at. We listen to all the meetings on the phone—a conference call. Sometimes it’s hard to hear. Sounds like something between static, beeps, and “Signs” (you know—that scary movie with all the clicking over the baby monitor). But we can usually get the gist of it. This week, Keri is in Anchorage for some kind of training, so the boys were listening to Priesthood by themselves at our house. Well, not quite by themselves. I usually eavesdrop too. Well, today the Priesthood lesson was about Free Agency and the Garden of Eden. This past week, Tanner had had a question about that very thing. (Why did the Lord give two conflicting commandments that made it impossible to follow both?) So I un-muted the phone and asked the question. The men spent the rest of the meeting answering Tanner’s question. Well, later today, Keri had a temple recommend interview in Anchorage with President Jacks (the Branch President). Keri phoned me and said that Pres. Jacks wanted to talk to us. I said, “Am I in trouble for butting into Priesthood meeting?” President Jacks just laughed and said, “I don’t think you’re the only woman who listens in. And it’s great that you’re involved in your sons’ lives.” But he did let me know that both the District President and the General Authority were on the line and heard too. Goody. But it’s OK, because Keri admitted that he’d listened in to Relief Society so he could hear how my lesson went. (Try teaching a lesson without hand outs or a chalk board or anything like that. It isn’t easy.) As for President Jacks, he just wanted to ask us to talk in church next week. So we will be giving a talk on the phone.

It has its challenges. But hey—WE get to go to church in our pajamas if we want. Things have a way of balancing out.