Mormons in the Bible Belt (Gettin' Down w Diety)

Its interesting being LDS in the Bible Belt. Sometimes it is sad. I met a friend at the pool. We had tons in common and I thought, "Wow! I am so settled here. Look at me just makin' friends, y'all." Then she said that she is a member of a certain congregation and asked about mine. I told her that I was LDS and that our ward/congregation meets in Garland. An immediate coolness blew through the 102 degree afternoon. She was friendly after that, but it was more like "cordial" than "let's be best buddies".

I have had a couple of those experiences and I can't blame them. I spent 19 months here as a missionary and know a lot of the things that this particular religion is taught about our beliefs. Its sort of like if I was talking to a really friendly lady and then she said, "Oh, me? I'm a member of a sleeper terrorist group who has been planted here in Wylie until I'm called to commit jihad at your children's elementary school. And you? What brought you here?"

Luckily, though, there is less of that and a lot more of Jesus Lovin' and Rockin' Out to God's Love to be had. Last week the kids attended First United Methodist of Plano's Vacation Bible School (simply known around here as VBS). If I wasn't LDS, I would definitely be a Methodist. As a missionary I would often ask myself if I was in another's shoes and didn't have the Gospel of Jesus Christ and was searching, where would I go? Its decided. I'm with Lucy Mack Smith.

Anyway, VBS was an awesome week. The kids went from 9 to 12 every day. The camp was about God's Love and Pandas. They also talked about a lot of other wild animals. The theme song was a jubilant "God is Wild About Us".

There was lots of fun to be had and also a lot of good experience learnin'. String Cheese was a little stressed out at the end of the first day. As we climbed into the van she said, in a worried tone, "They don't pray the right way." HA! I love when my kids say or do something that means they have walked right into a sweet little trap where I will then keep them and teach them some gospel principles with out them even knowing it!

"Does that make you feel uncomfortable?" I asked. She nodded. Deedle shouted, "It didn't make me uncomfortable!"

This afforded me the opportunity to ask a lot of questions along the lines of, "how did they pray?" "what was different than how we pray?" "why do we pray the way that we do?" "is it okay that they pray the way that they do?" "what did they teach that we know is true?" "what are other things that we believe that are the same as what they teach?" "who does God love?" "isn't it nice to know that there are other people and other religions who believe in God and are trying to follow him and be good people?" "how should we treat people who worship differently than we do?" etc. etc.

Besides learning something about tolerance and pandas the kids also learned a little more about rockin' out to God's love! I think that's something we can continue to improve upon in my faith. It is important to learn respect and reverence. It is also important to feel the excitement and joy that comes from feeling the Spirit.

Sunday the kids were invited to attend the church service at the Methodist church to sing for the congregation, however our meetings were at the same hour so we could not go. That night they performed for us at the Morphis's home instead. Enjoy!

I like our life here in the Bible Belt.