I wrote this article for the recent Ward Newsletter to say thank you to the Tates Creek Ward for the great welcome to Lexington. It’s re-posted here for all interested parties:
Seventeen hundred and thirty-one miles later, with four days of traveling with a baby and a three-year-old, a stop-over to unload another family, a dying cell phone, and a bag of molding bagels, I probably had “Help!” written all over me when I arrived in Lexington. We were two hours late for everyone that volunteered to bring in our stuff, but no one was bothered. In fact, the oldest mover in the group kept loading himself with two boxes at a time. People asked which boxes to carry upstairs (though at this point I had no idea). The neighbors came by to say “Hello.” Fresh garden vegetables and snacks arrived for the kids, and the Bishop made contact in less than 24-hours. My aunt said (and I quote), “Wow, are you sure you contacted the right Church?” Haha, she’s from Utah…
But that’s not all. I’m cleaning madly because I’m kind of crazy about stuff like that, and the vacuum dies. The bedroom has a faint smell of smoke, the sink leaks, and the refrigerator doesn’t close. Yes, I’m stressing over small things because I want to tell you how all these problems were solved. A borrowed vacuum, a lent shampooer, and the managers actually wanted to replace the fridge! (Not to mention that the Bishop’s wife helped us find the place, it’s beautiful, and we are very happy about it.) So anyway, while I’m nit-picking, I forget to go the store and Sunday rolls around. I’m in a bit of a pickle. Well, actually, I don’t have anything, including a pickle—just that moldy bagel staring at me. So someone brings by food for lunch. Someone else invites us for dinner and gives my husband a ride to a fireside. The neighbors have us over twice in less than a week. Several people offer to baby sit while I unpack. Another surprise lunch arrives on a day when I’m exhausted and starving. Others give us directions to church, the store, and UK. We’ve been introduced to everyone, in color, without a shower, in the Sacrament Meeting program so people start talking to us about little bits of info that they’ve read. And I’m starting to wonder, “What if every person in every ward got this kind of treatment? What if the Church really did run without a glitch, and every new member felt welcome?”
Here’s a scripture for y’all that pretty much sums it up. In this scripture, Alma asks his followers if they are ready for the covenant of baptism. They are excited about it, and he organizes the church. The parts that I find interesting are that they want to help, the incredible promise of the Spirit being poured out on their efforts, and the joy they share because of it. “[A]nd now, as ye are desirous to come into the fold of God, and to be called his people, and are willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light; Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in…that he may pour out his Spirit more abundantly upon you…And now when the people had heard these words, they clapped their hands for joy, and exclaimed: This is the desire of our hearts.” (Mosiah 18: 8-11). That is the long/short explanation of what I wanted to say: Thank you for the joyful welcome. It makes me want to join the same cause, to bring a nice welcome to the next move-in, and to live a little more fully the gospel of Christ.
