White Rock Ward

I love the White Rock Ward! I think it might not be perfect, but in so many ways it works the way a ward should work. People are friendly with each other. They can count on their Home Teachers or Visiting Teachers in a pinch. And they don't let minor setbacks prevent them from doing what they should.
About that last one, I had a friend who said that one week the Air Conditioner went out in their church building. So she didn't go. Or I've heard of wards in Utah (where no one lives further than 3 blocks from a church) have canceled church because of too much snow on the roads. Boots, people!
So I'm sitting in church on Sunday, and right in the middle of the second high counselor's talk, the power went out. There are some emergency lights by the exit doors, so once our eyes adjusted, we could see some faint outlines of people. When the little kids stopped talking, the speaker made a comment about the power and then continued with his talk. After about a minute, he reaches the end of his thought and says, "Well, with the lights out, I can no longer see my notes. So I'll say what I can remember, and then I'll shut up and sit down." Someone brought him a flashlight, and he finished right on time. It really made me understand why in the old days, everyone sat on the front rows of the church pews. I was on the third row, and when the babies were talking, I could hardly hear the speaker. In my ward currently, no one ever sits on about the first 3 rows, and then it is pretty sparse for the first half of the chapel. But the back divider is opened up, and there are tons of seats in the back, where most of the people sit. I think it would be a great experiment to turn off the microphone for a few weeks, encouraging people to sit together as a congregation and a community. The feeling of community is what is missing in many wards, and I think it's partly because we don't sit together and get to know each other. Kevin and I really try to do that, talking to the people we sit with. There are just two of us, so we fit on rows with just about anyone.
So continuing the power outage. The organ wouldn't work without electricity, of course, so the closing song was with piano. We sang "There Is Sunshine in My Soul," ironically. Even though we couldn't see our hymnals as well as usual, I think there was more fervent and enthusiastic singing than I've heard in a long time. It was beautiful.
The Sunday School class got moved to the Relief Society room, where there are several windows. I enjoy Sunday School in White Rock, because I feel that I learn. In my ward here, I feel that we have great discussions sometimes, and sometimes I learn something new. But in White Rock, I always feel like I learn a lot. Everyone there is thinking and has done a lot of thinking, studying, and research over the years, and then they're happy to share their thoughts.
After Sunday School, the power went back on, and it was off to Young Women and Relief Society.
I was really impressed with the Young Women who led the opening exercises for Relief Society and Young Women. They were mature and collected when giving the announcements... which is not always or ever happens in my ward. The girls in charge took care of the prelude music, announcements, theme, and prayer, without making it a question and answer series with the leaders. That's something to work on in my ward. I'll take it as a challenge myself.
There's a lot that is right with my current ward, but there are a few things that White Rock does really well, and I enjoy those when I get to go back home to visit. I hope I get to visit often. I don't know the next time I'll be able to go... maybe over spring break. But I definitely want to go for the 4th of July. I've spent the 4th of July in a couple different places (Utah, New Mexico, China, Lake Tahoe), and the best by far is New Mexico!