A little church chat...

Remember Dana Carvey in a Dress?

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(Or am I reminding you of my husband imitating Dana Carvey, also in a dress, wig and in front of his whole high school during a pep rally...?) He imitated Dana Carvey as the church lady, better than Dana Carvey did the church lady, am I making any sense? (I'll find that dang old picture and prove it to you, I promise.)

Anyway. My goal for today's post was to get across to you how cool it is to find yourself in a new place... Let's say Brooklyn, New York. And you find your newly married self living in a tiny 3rd floor walk up in what turns out to be one of the poshest places in NYC? (Subsidized by the new law school your husband is attending for sure). AND you know absolutely no one. You haven't met your soon to be boss, as he hired you via email (which only barely existed and no one used at home...). Did I say cool? I meant freaking crazy scary!

What do you and your husband do? (After first buying a futon, to both sleep and sit on, as you brought absolutely NOTHING with you to the VERY LOUD NYC, in fact you sold your car to buy a one way cheap ticket and brought only your luggage.)

You find a phone book and look up the church you belong to, right? And it gives an address, and you assume meetings will start sometime around 9AM, right? And you walk the 20 blocks on a Sunday in August in Brooklyn, in your church shoes, right? And when you get there the doors are open and you walk in, right? And then you see about 2 souls in the whole place and they are setting up chairs. So you help set up chairs, right? Then you find out church starts at 10AM. And who should walk in about 30 minutes later? Your husband's college roommate and his wife, both of whom you knew from 2000 miles away!

And they are moving back 2000 miles away. And they don't want to take any of the crap stuff in their tiny apartment. And they give it all to you. Including a very nice, and very real (and not a futon) bed. And there is a whole congregation of people who you come to love, and who share their lives with you in about the space of 2 weeks.

THAT is the Mormon network as I know it. Now imagine that same thing played out in Long Island 3 years later. (Except we bought a car, moved our real crap stuff, and no one gave us a bed.) And all over again when you move to the New Jersey suburbs. Only this time YOU give THAT bed from Brooklyn away to a gentleman who lives in an apartment with 8 other men from Nigeria, who are all working as taxi drivers attempting to help their own large families immigrate to the United States. (He happens to be the Sunday School teacher in your new congregation). Next you move back to Utah, but this one doesn't count as much cuz you also have your giant Mormon family as a network. But you do have some rockin' neighbors who are willing to help you in a moments notice (LDS or not).

And now? You find yourself once again transplanted into a new ecosystem. And it should take months and months to find a safe and secure network of friends and playdate givers, right? Wrong. You've met the CEO of the local hospital. The high school football coach. Several professors at the local technical college. And a handful of mommies who already attend the local library with you and your kid for pre-school story time. How did you manage this so quickly (it's been less than 3 weeks)?

Church.

You attend church each week. And so do they.

I had a friend once ask me how I found a church so quickly after moving to Brooklyn? I was baffled by that question. I just looked it up in the phone book was my answer. (This time around we located it via the internet). But she answered back: "Oh? It took me months to find the 'right' church. I finally found a building that was pretty enough, and a pastor that I liked, and a time that was good for me...."

Hmmmm...

We met in an old Longshoreman's Union building on Court street. It barely had windows and we were a little bit scared to venture into the basement for fear any corpses might be found... But still it was CHURCH for us. There wasn't any choosing to do. We just knew where to show up and they all just knew how to help us.

And this takes place in Australia, Malaysia, and Zambia. It just does.

That's how cool it is to move to a new place.


(Are we wearing RED today....Hmmmm? You KNOW who wears red

More Church Chats HERE.

15 comments:

Unknown said...

Sounds like a great church community you belong too.

Mikki said...

sweet post. I love our church. It's just like that wherever you go. I know there are a few off people in it, but for the most part, I've never met a ward I didn't like (love).

Kristen Andrews said...

sounds like a great church! Hope your new digs are working out also!

Jenni said...

I am glad you are settling in so nicely there!

I am Arizona; a person, not a place. said...

Ok, you're freaking me out. Am I surrounded my Mormons? I'll have to spy on my neighbors to find out! lol!

Seriously though, its so great to find people of the same faith wherever you go. It makes everywhere feel like home. :)

Daisy said...

I love this post. Church networks are support networks, especially in your faith.
And Dana Carvey? Well, isn't that special? :)

Michelle said...

This is one of the wonders of our church I had to move to appreciate for myself. I don't know how any mom can stand to move her kids without the instant LDS network!

Bonnie the Boss said...

I am so glad that things are going well for you!!!!! What would we do? I can't imagine not having that.

Jyl @ MommyGossip said...

Aren't networks awesome? And to have one in a church is phenomenal! I love that you can choose what church to go to and know that wherever you go in the world that same organization and structure will exist, even and especially the networking part of it. I think consistency in anything brings a certain type of stability, which is soooo refreshing in this unstable world we live in. And, yes, it is "Special"!

Paul and Megan Hawkes said...

Awesome post!

Melissa Ann Browning said...

The sense of community that your church shares, and other churches as well, is something I've always been very envious of... I would love to have that...

My experience with LDS, even as an outsider, has been like what you described. I have been embraced and welcomed and helped and invited to tons of things - I LOVE Love love my lds mommy-group. And lds moms are totally hooked up - best potlucks in town and they have all the good coupons.

Maybe I'll have to find God one of these days :) ! Ha ha, just kidding - I'm no atheist! Just never been much of a joiner...

AND - I will pay money to see that picture of your DH as the church lady!

Anonymous said...

Melissa,

How much money are ya' willing to offer for that picture? I'll be a better deal than she will.

--Seth

Straight to Your Hart said...

Don't you just love the Mormon networking??!! You really don't have to worry when you move..that is for finding a church..Sounds like all is going really well there!!

Melissa Ann Browning said...

Anonymous,

Did I say money? Uh oh -- what I meant was muffins. Yeah, that's it - I'd send someone a lot of muffins to see that picture! What's it worth to ya? One dozen? two? Name your price, buddy.

Anti-Supermom said...

Unfortunately, we are church shopping right now, I'm envious that you can move and feel right at home in a new church.

What a great community for you to have.


Oh my heck! I was featured. And it didn't hurt or anything!



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