Sunday, August 31, 2008

A Unique Church




We are in McCall, Idaho for the week. Today is Sunday and we looked up the McCall 1st ward on the church's website. Only problem the building is being renovated and is closed. They said they are meeting in a barn, so we thought that would be a unique experience for church and well it was. The weather has been nice, but today is is 48 degrees and rainy. We followed directions to the barn. About 20 minutes from town. The barn was really like a pavilion. Open at both ends unfinished walls and really open air. They were only supposed to meet their 7 weeks, but this is their 11th. Being Labor Day weekend there were lots of people visiting. Someone said about 60% were visitors. Getting there we had no problem finding the turnoff because there was a big line of cars going there. The palace was packed. They had to keep moving the horses out of stalls to get more chairs in.


The meeting started 20 minutes late trying to get the people in. The kids thought it was fun, the only church with horses to pet. The horses were neighing at the sacrament and kept trying to get the bread. The people by the stalls keep watching for the horses head coming over the stalls.


They had the two missionaries speak. The first from Colorado said he had trouble turning his Scripture pages, his hands were too cold. It rained and hailed through most of the meeting. The second missionary was from Mexico. He said he thought he'd been sent to the promised land, but it was cold. The bishop said he hadn't seen anything yet. The crowed was all in coats and blankets. There were 652 people crowded in that barn, but the spirit there kept us warm, plus we all choose a child to cuddle. I was warm thanks to Ashley.


The Bishop closed by his testimony of their spirit of sacrifice and lack of complaints like their pioneer heritage. they'll be back in their new chapel next week. I was a great adventure, and they closed church after sacrament meeting because it was so cold.

2 comments:

Dorianne said...

People still do pioneer style church sometimes. I thought that funniest line was when the Bishop said, "There are still more seats in the horse stalls." What an experience to remember!

DaNae said...

Looks like you guys are all chilly. Wish I knew what it felt like to be cold!