The end of the cottage sacrament meetings...

During this summer, our church building in town was being added onto, so our ward had what is called "cottage sacrament meetings." Since the closest building in our stake is an hour away, (unlike where we grew up in AZ) we had four homes in our ward where sacrament meeting was held every week, and the bishopric members would rotate presiding in each home. That was the only meeting we would have each week. There were some amazing things I learned this summer, like the importance of the sacrament. That was our complete focus every week, not the craziness of getting lessons prepared and rushing off to our other block meetings. It was set in such an intimate and personal setting that it was just a beautiful thing to feel the spirit in someone's home. The first week we didn't have a white cloth to cover the sacrament where Russ was presiding so we used our baby blessing blanket. Just unique experiences that we have gotten living here this summer.

Yet, I think the most important thing that has happened in my life is the testimony I have gained of the church auxiliaries. Without having sunday school, relief society, priesthood, young women, & primary, we, as a ward, all felt sort of...lost. Without our other meetings, it's like I didn't feel needed, didn't have friendships strengthened, didn't see a lot of people in the ward for long periods of time, I didn't feel the spirit as much, etc. I've always known our auxiliaries have come from the Lord and that the Prophet and apostles and general boards have things set up for the programs that we need. That being said, I still had never been without them in my life, and I felt such a void without it. This Sunday we are finally able to go back to our church building and have all of our block meetings. Our whole ward is looking forward to coming together again as a ward family and are excited about having a normal 3 hour block again. How grateful I am that this is the Lord's church and every detail of it is exactly what we need in our lives to keep our testimonies growing and to become who we need to be.