New Ward

So it's been a while and I figure I ought to add something to this so that I can actually say that I do maintain a blog of my own. (I'm not very good about writing in/updating my blog, but I might as well take advantage of some opportunities.)

In August 2008, I was attending the University 2nd ward in Greeley. I'd been attending this ward since it was formed back in October 2004. The ward was formed when the Greeley stake was reorganized, boundaries were changed, and ward names also were changed from the former traditions of "Greeley 1st ward", "Greeley 2nd Ward", etc. University 2nd ward was formed due to a fairly high population of members of the Greeley stake that were married and one or both spouses were students. Also, the "singles ward" was getting very large and the responsibility was getting to be a little bit overwhelming for the bishop called to serve in that ward. Singles aged 24 or over were invited by the stake president to attend the new "University 2nd Ward" and the "singles ward" became the "University 1st Ward". The new ward very quickly became a "ward family" where we all became very close, close enough in fact that we all felt like family to each other. Indeed, we felt it was our own little Zion in Greeley CO.

Fast forward a few years. (Lots happened in that time, but those are subjects for other blog entries perhaps of the future.) In August 2008, the announcement was made from the stake presidency, that it was time for singles to not attend the University 2nd ward any more. According to my roommate, who seems to be constantly in the loop about EVERYTHING that happens about anything, the singles ward was having a hard time maintaining sufficient numbers of people by limiting attendance to those single members ages 18-23 only. Attempts had been made to expand the age range to 18-24 and then 18-26, so as part of the transition of taking the "singles" out of the University 2nd ward, those within the traditional age range for any singles ward, normally ages 18-30, those within that age range were invited to return to the singles ward, still to be called the "University 1st Ward". I of course was well beyond that range by then, so I was invited to attend a "normal", or "family", ward.

Beginning within the next couple of weeks, I started attending the Glenmere Ward. I must admit that I wasn't very excited or happy about having to change wards from what was my "ward family". It was in some respects my "family" because of the close friendships I had developed with so many great people, but in fact because my little sister and her husband and new baby were in that ward. I've always enjoyed being able to attend with her. Besides the fact that she's my sister and I love her to death, she's one that is very good about keeping me on the "straight and narrow". Worries starting popping up about old bad habits and practices coming back by not being in her ward anymore and I was worried I would hardly ever see her again, despite the fact that we would still be living in the same city/town and she's hardly a world apart.

Luckily for me, my "worries" were essentially just that. The Glenmere Ward is a fantastic ward and being in a "normal", or "family", ward has been a great experience. It has taken some big adjustments to accustom myself to attend a family ward again, with primary kids (more than the 6-7 kids that the old ward had) and a ward that actually has Young Men and Young Women. (One of the restrictions for the University 2nd ward is that "married students" cannot have kids over the age of 11 to qualify to attend the ward.) Since a "normal" ward is not just married students, there is also a more substantial population of "older" members, those with gray hair, and in some cases retired from there careers, and those that have just plain "been around a while". There are of course a few members of the ward that in fact are "married students", but these are of course not required to attend the University 2nd ward, that ward is just available for those that want to attend. In summary, the Glenmere Ward just has a lot more diversity in the makeup of it's members.

While it has taken a few months to do so, I am starting to really feel more a part of my new ward. I certainly miss many of my friends I made in the old ward and really wish I could see them more often, or even at all in some cases, as I now attend church meetings in a completely different building, and at a time that does not easily allow me to attend the other ward as a "visitor", which I sometimes do if possible. I do wish the new ward had more activities to attend, something that happened with fair regularity in Univ 2nd ward. (I think the last activity that I recall having was the ward Christmas party, where instead of doing a sort of traditional Christmas dinner, the ward had pie and ice cream.)

For just over a year now, I have been serving as the financial clerk for the Greeley 5th branch, a small branch formed a few years ago to serve the needs of Greeley's small membership of those speaking Spanish. Shortly after I started attending the Glenmere Ward, I was also called to serve as the "building cleaning coordinator". It's not a very demanding calling, luckily, as I feel my calling as financial clerk is fairly demanding. As building cleaning coordinator, my responsibility lies in contacting the members of the Glenmere Ward to fulfill assignments to help clean the chapel/building. We take turns cleaning the building with the Ashcroft Ward, the other ward that uses the building, so that we only clean every other month. Hence, my second calling is nice because in fact I only need to do it every other month. So far, I haven't even had to come up with the list of who is assigned to clean the building, the bishopric has taken charge of this, I just have to make phone contact with each person or family assigned a couple of days beforehand. Those assigned to clean fulfill assignments on one Saturday a month, so call based on the weekly assignments. I'm in fact not very good about calling people on the phone, no matter what it's about, so it is sometimes a little bit difficult for me to call everyone for their weekly assignments, despite the infrequency of it.

Well, this seems to have been quite the boring entry. I started this with the intent of sharing my first experience of talking in sacrament meeting in my new ward, but felt the need to give some background first of all. Now I have managed to fill an entire blog entry just on my experience transitioning from one ward to another. Hmm. Guess that I've got some work to do on the "interesting" factor of my writing, or basically making my writing somewhat more interesting. Well, since currently I'm doing this in the time that I'm not working because of a broken collarbone, I guess I've got plenty of time this week to write about many other things.