A (Sun)day in the Life of a Mormon

June 13, 2012 by James Faulconer

Continued from Page 2

So, instead of going to Sunday School with Janice, I left our chapel and went over about two blocks to the chapel where the Japanese ward meets to attend their services. Their meetings begin at 1:00.

Except for the fact that their services and classes are primarily in Japanese (thank goodness they have simultaneous translation), the format for worship is very much the same. I sat on the stand with the bishopric. Two women spoke on personal revelation after the sacrament was blessed and passed to the congregation. Then, after a hymn, the bishop spoke on the same topic.

I attended Sunday School with the Japanese ward. Then after Sunday School we did what every ward does: we divided into priesthood meetings for the men and Relief Society meeting for the women.

After initial opening exercises in priesthood, we divided into classes, some for boys twelve and over, and two classes for the adults—one for the elders and one for high priests. Because there are so few high priests in the Japanese ward, they meet with the elders most Sundays, and this was one of those Sundays.

During the opening exercises someone passed around sign-up sheets for the ward camp-out next month, and someone else reminded people of the dates when the ward is responsible to see that the church building is clean. The elders quorum president thanked those who had helped the day before with moving a family who was leaving the ward. Then we had a lesson, taught by one of the elders, on repentance.

At 4:00 the meetings were over and I went home. Janice was finishing up a potato salad, so I changed clothes and read for a while until we had to leave to be at my daughter's house at 5:00 for our monthly family dinner. She lives only a few blocks away, so getting there was easy.

All of our children but one, a daughter who lives in San Francisco, live locally. So when we get together each month, we have a good crowd: nine adults, including my mother, and eleven grandchildren. This time my daughter's mother- and father-in-law were visiting from Oregon, bringing the total number of adults to eleven.

We ate chicken wings and potato salad, but mostly we talked and laughed while the kids played various versions of tag. It turned chilly outside, so after an hour or so we went in. We kept up the gossip and tale-telling. The kids stayed outside, not noticing the chill.

By 9:00 everyone was winding down, so the dinner broke up and we went home. Me to do some more reading and to go to bed. Janice to do some indexing of the 1940 U.S. census (a LDS Church-sponsored project) and then also to go to bed. If "rest" means "cessation of activity," last Sunday, like most Sundays, wasn't a day of rest. But if it means "cessation of everyday affairs for spiritual refreshment," it was indeed restful.

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About James Faulconer

James Faulconer is a Richard L. Evans Professor of Religious Understanding at Brigham Young University, where he has taught philosophy since 1975.

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