...of Latter-Day Saints. I know who I am, I know God's plan, I'll follow Him in faith...."
I love that song...and I love this sign. I love that our Church is the same the whole world over...whether you are in Salt Lake City or Switzerland, Oklahoma or Okinawa...the hymns are the same, the lessons the same, the buildings look virtually the same, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the same. No need to "church shop" when you arrive at a new location. You let your church leaders know where you live, they let you know where and when you are assigned to meet. SO easy!
Since Cliff is a Chaplain, every October we have to {get to} attend General Conference...all sessions. It can be overwhelming...especially considering it's followed up with two more days of more spiritual feeding at Chaplains' Conference (and we leave SLC feeling like one more spiritual thought will tip the balance and we'll explode).
Anyway, I bring that up because I love it when we get seated in the section with all of people wearing headsets for translation. The reason I love it is when it's time to sing. I LOVE to hear so many different people singing the same songs in their native languages all together. It may sound like an unorganized jumble to some...but to me it's sweet harmony. It moves me to tears.
(Trivia: We share our church building with an Okinawan ward {rather, they share it with us}. On Sundays, we meet at nine and they meet at one. We also share use of the building during the week for other activities. Because of this, we sometimes get the opportunity to eavesdrop a little. {I wonder if they find us as fascinating as I find them?} There are also Karate lessons taught on Tuesday nights for free {by their Bishop...Mr. Miyagi, no less} and Japanese language lessons on Thursday nights, also free.)
I'm not quite sure why hearing/seeing the Gospel in other languages is so emotional for me. (And don't get me started about people sharing their conversion stories in broken English...that gets me really blubbering!) I guess it's because the Spirit knows no language barriers...and when we are coming together to share with one another the MOST important thing...all the other things which make us different...either don't matter, or we embrace them and appreciate them in each other.
Yeah, maybe that's it! Anyone else have any ideas?
6 comments:
Bishop (Mr) Miyagi?! Na, not happining. You are taking poetic license while all the time pulling my leg!
No lie, Dad. But it will probably make it less cool when I tell you that on Okinawa, the name "Miyagi" is like "Smith". It's everywhere. Still worth a chuckle, though.
I too love being part of a religion that can be found worldwide. To go anywhere and find a Catholic church that smells familiar and has similar hymns and prayers. I found it particularly important to me as I started afresh in a new country. It helped me feel like I had a place I could go that I would be accepted and welcomed.
Gina...that is SO true...I don't know how people move without a ready-made church family to help in that transition. It has certainly made our moves every few years easier.
Having lived overseas myself I can totally relate to the eavesdropping on the other ward. I was the district primary president in Seoul and hearing those Korean primary children singing our hymns in Korean always touched me.
This post also touched me- thanks!
Sigh, I wish we'd found that whole look up your ward on the website helpful when we came here. No one seems to know what to do with our records, six months after our move. It has been an eye-opening experience in terms of what others face during moves. I never realized how difficult it can be to make friends and find your place when no one speaks your language (in more of a figurative sense, as, yes, they speak English here).
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