Intro

It was a miracle that we found the church house in the first place.  Nestled very nicely in the middle of a terribly designed neighborhood so that a road in may not be a road out, the chapel was appropriately dubbed "the Hidden Chapel."

My roommate and I walked in hesitantly because we were here for a singles ward and the parking lot was full of mini vans with car seats.  This was my first week in Provo and her first week at a singles ward ever!  I knew we were in for a treat :)

We sat down as the choir was finishing up a pre-performance practice and breathed sighs of relief, now sure that this was the right place.  I looked around obviously scoping as I have been well trained to do in a singles ward.  So far nothing was too different that my singles ward back home although I noted a lot of differences from my wards in Rexburg--this was the first student ward I had ever gone to that didn't require men to be clean shaven, and I will admit it took me by surprise more than I thought.
Anyway, normal people dressed in normal clothes, all seeming to be good friends, I knew this would be great.  And then the meeting started.

Brother P was conducting and I could not believe my ears, we were fifteen minutes into the meeting before we even sang the opening song!  He was cracking jokes and teaching us what an "audible" was.  He may just have been the most entertaining "ad libber" I had ever met :)

When the speakers finally began their talks I was struck with the Spirit.  They spoke directly too me.  The bishopric had asked them to speak on change and although that may seem like a topic that is covered often, I never needed it more.  I felt Heavenly Father reach down through me and tell me that this was going to be ok and that I was in the right place.  In fact, I believe both speakers mentioned "each of us has a reason to be in this ward."

That theme didn't end with the benediction.  As all new members are, AK and I were invited to a "New Member Meeting."  This is always held after sacrament meeting in the place of Sunday school.  I was very impressed and grateful for the interest that the bishopric seemed to have in meeting my friend and I and already I felt like an important person, not to be overlooked.  The meeting began with an introduction of the bishopric, current members of the ward, and then all the new people.  After introductions the bishop asked some of the current members of the ward to tell us about the ward.

"This ward changed my life."  "I have never been in a ward like this."  "I have never grown so much in a ward."  "When I first moved in, I didn't like it, and then I started to do what the bishop asked and it changed my life."

If you, reader, are at all confused you can imagine how I felt, skeptical in the first place having moved from my Utopia Rexburg to Provo.  Were they telling the truth?  Could this ward really be that good?  It didn't take long for me to find out at least part of the answer.

"We call them SPIRITUAL PUSH-UPS" someone said as we all received two papers.  On the front page there was a list of 7 tasks specifically assigned by our bishop, the spiritual push-ups, and on the back had a page from Preach My Gospel on which one could analyze his or her Christlike Attributes.  The last page, both sides, was a page for us to set and record the progress of specific goals we were to make.

There was no doubt about it, this bishop meant business.  If I moved to Provo for nothing else, I knew it was to be in this ward where progression was expected.  This ward was not okay with mediocrity but was motivated and busy trying to become better.  I felt the truth of his words when the bishop spoke "There is a specific reason that each of you is in this ward, at this time."