Ward (s)Hopping

Often, one of the saddest things about moving is leaving the ward* family, (aka congregation) (unless you are escaping a calling in the nursery). Such has been the case for us our last two moves especially. Although we are optimistic that we will again "land" in a particularly awesome ward, a perk of being new to an area and not having a permanent home is pretending like we actually have a choice in the matter of deciding which ward we attend (you don't, I tried once). Ward hopping.

We have been doing it for the last few weeks and sensing that the end to this freedom is eminent we made a particularly bold move this Sunday and attended three different wards. I know, you're adding up the commitment in your head and coming up with a whopping nine hours of devoted worship from the Westbrook family. I wish we had the stamina for a Sabbath day marathon like that, but it was Fast Sunday ( I'll let you determine why that would be an impossibly long day, albeit a great opportunity to really get the pulse and flavor of a ward). We did the abbreviated version and went to the three different wards that share a building. One of Ben's favorite jokes when we are introduced as visitors in Sunday School is to say that we just moved to the area and we are shopping for the ward with the least tithing (I could hear all of his jokes a million times and still giggle my head off heehee). So with ammunition like that why not start of our day with Sunday School?!

We actually arrived intending to attend the 11 o'clock services but when we arrived at 11:10 and knowing that Ben refuses to go into the chapel late. I suggested we catch the last hour of the ward we most likely would be attending. And we were right on time for that. After that they dismissed and left the building so we went to Sunday School (in a ward with particularly talented SS teachers - score) and capped off the day with Sacrament Meeting from the third and final ward. Not wanting to disturb the children's play and learning (wink wink), we left them in their primary and nursery classes - with the help of the eagle-eye watch of a friend, should Miles try to betray us with a necessary diaper change - and we attended sans kiddos!

Next week we will be responsible and settle into the ward we are obligated to attend by way of the map and we will do so with a glad spirit. But in the meantime, we enjoyed our visits.

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Definition of Ward (via Wikipedia):
A ward typically consists of 200 to 500 active church members within an area that is within a reasonable travel time of the meetinghouse. ("Reasonable" will vary between countries and regions.) A stake may be organized if there are at least three ward-sized branches in adjacent areas. Once the stake has been organized, the ward-sized branches are organized into wards. If there are not sufficient congregations in an area to form a stake, a district (analogous to but smaller than a stake) is formed to oversee local congregations. In areas where there are greater numbers of active church members (such as Utah), the area of a ward can be as small as one-fourth or one-fifth of a square mile.

When a ward(s) become of a greater size, the ward will divide geographically. Generally, if both geographic divisions are in a reasonable time of the meetinghouse, then they will meet at the same building, but at different times. Most ward buildings are designed to house up to three or four wards.
Individuals can find out what ward they reside in by either talking to a local LDS leader or by using the meetinghouse locator tool on the church's webpage.

Historical Orgin - The term ward originally referred to the political subdivision of some of the municipalities in the Mid-western United States where members of the LDS Church resided, and in particular the political organization of Nauvoo, Illinois in the 1840's. Bishops were assigned duties and responsibility over specific ward boundaries in these cities, and over time individual congregations were defined by these boundaries. After the Mormon Exodus to Utah, this same terminology was preserved in the establishment of communities throughout the western USA. Indeed, voting districts of several Utah communities still follow the historical boundaries of their original LDS congregations. Due to the religious connection of this term, traditional Mormon pioneer communities generally do not use the term ward to define voting districts for political purposes.