My name is Rachel and I am 27 years old. I was raised as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I have been married for almost 8 years and I have four children, ages 6, 5, 2 and 1. If you do the math on that one, yes, I was 18 when I got married and 20 when baby number 1 came along. I graduated with my degree in English when I was six months pregnant with baby number 2. I grew up in Utah and after moving around a bit at the beginning of our marriage, we went back.

I am someone who struggles with change. I think I cried the whole way up to Idaho when I left for college. And then, four years later, when I moved away from Idaho, I cried as we left. Change and I are not friends.

About two years ago my husband finished school in Provo, Utah and got a job in Salt Lake City, about 30 miles north. The commute was too much and so we moved up to Salt Lake to be closer. While I was so excited to live in a bigger place, I was devastated to move away from the friends that I had made in our congregation (ward) in Provo. We had lived there for over two years and really had made ourselves at home.

Our first Sunday in our new home we headed to church. It was hard. It was the day after we had moved in. The house was still a mess of boxes and we were both exhausted. Emotions were close to the surface. I spent most of the service (sacrament meeting) in tears. I didn’t feel at home. I felt like a visitor and I already missed being surrounded by people that I knew and loved. By the end of it, I was ready to run home and throw myself on my bed for a good pity party.

The meeting ended and as we stood up to leave we were almost immediately surrounded. No less than five people had noticed that we were new. They all came over to introduce themselves, welcome us to the area and ask if there was anything that we needed. I had trouble fighting back even more tears, this time of gratitude. At that moment I knew that the Lord was aware of the prayer of my heart and had sent these wonderful people to make sure that I felt loved, even in an unfamiliar place.

This experience didn’t provide me instant friends. I still had to work for that. But it did offer me the peace that I so desperately needed that Sunday morning, as well as the confidence that I would get through this and make new friends and come to love my new ward as much as I had loved my previous one.

One thing I love about being a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is that opportunity to meet people that you might not typically meet and be a part of a ward family. I love the strength that it offers to be surrounded by other women struggling with some of the same challenges that I have. I love the feeling that I am not alone in my challenges and trials. And I love knowing that the Lord has provided these incredible friends, these Mormon women, to show me that he does love me and doesn’t want any of us to feel alone.

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My ward (congregation) loves to party. One of our annual ward parties is the Ward RoundUp. Here was the flyer for this year’s RoundUp. I love the Ward Round Up!

I have attended over 20 RoundUps in my life and every one was memorable. My favorite Ward RoundUp memory was when I was eight years old the Primary handed out squirt rings at the Go Fish! station and all of the kids my age would fill them with fountain water and squirt each other when we found each other during a game of hide and seek in the ward building.

Our Ward RoundUp is an annual activity that has a country theme and anyone who has ever lived in the ward is invited to come back – thus the name “RoundUp.” A lot of people who grew up in the ward come back to visit with us. It is always fun to see who shows up! Every year, the RoundUp has activities for the kids, dinner for over 200 people and yummy fried scones with honey, jelly, and powdered sugar.

As part of our traditions our ward hosts:

• Hay rides behind an ATV in the parking lot
• A Cake walk
• A Petting Zoo

One year, there was square dancing with a professional caller! That was great — tons of people there joined in the dancing.  There were over 50 people doing the “electric slide” which was hilarious because I’ve known these people for decades and had never seen many of them dance. As always, the entire community, not just LDS Church members, were invited.

OK, you Mormon women who are lurking –share with our readers! What are some of your ward’s traditions? How do having traditions bring communities closer? If you aren’t Mormon, tell us about the kinds of parties/gatherings/community events you enjoy. Does your community do things that bring people closer together and help offload the stresses of life?

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**Please note: The answers in “Ask a Mormon Woman” and (other content on this site) reflect the thoughts and perspectives of the administrators at Mormon Women. Although we strive to have our content consistent with the Church’s doctrine and teachings, we do not speak officially for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. For official information about or from the Church, please visit www.mormon.org or www.lds.org.

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For more Ask a Mormon Woman questions/answers, please click here. To submit a question, simply leave a comment, or email us at gmail with the username ‘mormonwoman.’

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Have you ever heard Mormons speak about our church before and found some of the terms unfamiliar? We are here to help! Today, we’ll focus on concepts associated with local church organization.

The smallest congregation in the Mormon church is called a ward. An average ward has about 300-350 members. Wards are organized based on geography – we attend in our wards with the other members of the Church that live in the same area, and we usually go to the church building closest to our homes.

A ward is led by a bishop. He has two counselors to help him with his responsibilities, which include helping care for people in the ward boundaries spiritually and temporally. These three men also counsel together to organize the ward, extending opportunities for service to ward members. Ward jobs (or “callings“) are unpaid, even the job of bishop. All local callings rotate as well, so after a few years, a new bishop is called and the former bishop is “released” and eventually given a new assignment.

A ward is further divided into smaller groups: all women 18 and over make up the Relief Society, all children 18 months through 11 years are in the Primary, teenagers are in either Young Women or Young Men, and all adult men are in Priesthood Quorums.  Each of those groups has its own president and counselors to over the organization (women preside over women, young women, and the Primary, and men preside over men and young men). Each of those who presides over an organization reports back to the bishop or one of his counselors. These leaders all meet together once a month to talk about how they can serve and help those who live in their ward boundaries.

Sometimes there are not enough members of the Church in a particular area to make up a full ward – in that case, the congregation is called a branch. Smaller groups that exist in a ward (e.g., Primary, Relief Society, youth groups, etc.) usually exist in a branch as well. Each ward or branch of the church meets for three hours every Sunday.

Several wards (or a combination of wards and branches, usually around 5-8 congregations) are combined to form a stake. A stake is run by a stake president. Similar to a bishop, a stake president has two counselors to assist him. The stake president also has the help of a high council – a group of twelve priesthood members from the stake that also help the stake president get things done. Other organizations listed above (e.g., Relief Society, Primary, and the youth organizations) have presidents and counselors at the stake level as well, who help guide and train the ward/branch leaders in their respective positions.

Twice a year, all members of a stake are invited to a stake conference.  A stake conference might have meetings for adults on a Friday or Saturday evening, and always a two-hour meeting for all members on Sunday.  Normal Sunday meetings for each ward are replaced by the two hour Stake Conference on those two Sundays each year.

Stake Conferences are usually held at the Stake Center (which many members of the Church once referred to as “the Stake House,” but since it sounds so much like a “steak house,” the  lingo has changed).  A Stake Center is a normal church building, except that it may be a bit larger than a other church buildings, to hold the extra people during Stake Conference.  Other terms you might hear for a church building include ward building or meetinghouse.

In areas of the world that don’t have many members of the Church, there may not be enough people for a stake. In this case, several branches will be combined to form a district, a smaller version of a stake. Districts are led by a district president, who does the same work as a stake president. Districts also have district conferences, just like a stake conference. (For example, Elder Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles just addressed a district of LDS Church members in the military gathered for a conference in Afghanistan.)

If you’re ever listening to a Mormon speak and hear a term that’s unfamiliar – ask for clarification!  We’re happy to help.

**Please note: The answers in “Ask a Mormon Woman” and (other content on this site) reflect the thoughts and perspectives of the administrators at Mormon Women. Although we strive to have our content consistent with the Church’s doctrine and teachings, we do not speak officially for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. For official information about or from the Church, please visit www.mormon.org or www.lds.org.

For more Ask a Mormon Woman questions, see here.

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