The 30-Year House
We had the Arnesen family over for dinner tonight. They have a daughter, Kiana, that is good friends with Eliana. I can still distinctly remember when the Arnesens moved into the ward... which was back when Eliana was still in Nursery (in LDS congregations, optional nursery care and supervision is available for children from age 18 months to age 3). At the time, Eliana was the only girl her age in nursery among a group of 10 or so little boys. Needless to say, I was thrilled that Eliana would not be the only girl in her Primary class. Kiana is 8 months younger than Eliana... so Kiana and Eliana will be in the same Primary class growing up, but won't be in the same school grade. So, yeah, anyway... we had them over today. The Arnesens are good people. We like them.

We were talking with Spencer and Kathy about just general stuff when Spencer mentioned that the house that they live in is their "30-Year House", e.g. the house that they will be in for the rest of their lives. We feel the same way about our own house (especially after making major renovations); we will live here for at least 30 years, if not longer. Because we belong to the same LDS ward unit, I suspect that this will not be the last time we spend an evening with the Arnesens.

I've covered this topic before (see "The Perpetual Salmon Bake"). The organization of the LDS Church is unique in that it is based on geography. LDS members are not free to choose a random LDS church meetinghouse to attend (e.g. based on where other family members attend or the personality of the local church leader)... thus, despite the fact that Kristy's brother Scott lives only about 5 miles away, he and his family attend church at a different building and with a completely different set of 200 or 300 "strangers" (if you will) that live closer to him than we do. LDS members attend church with those that live within a boundary that is decided by someone other than the local LDS membership. Our own ward boundary (roughly) follows the public school district boundary for two of the local elementary schools. Thus, our kids go to school and church with the same group of kids.

I personally think that the arbitrary nature of the geographic-based organization is wonderful. When an LDS member moves into a home that lies within our boundary, they becomes members of our ward. It doesn't matter where that person moved from. They could have moved from halfway around the world, but it doesn't matter... because they will be instantly integrated into the local ward congregation. The result is that any member of an LDS ward has a "family" or a network of 200 or 300 other persons that (in general) genuinely care about the welfare of that person. When times get tough for one member, the rest of the ward members unite to assist. It takes a village (as they say).

Now, for me, no matter what anyone thinks about the LDS Church Doctrine (true or otherwise) or their belief in God (that He exists or otherwise) the membership in an LDS Ward - all other considerations aside, both good and bad - is in and of itself well worth the price of admission imho. The Arnesens (and the other families in our ward) will be for my kids what the Dallons and the Seamons and the Ereksons and the Wiersdorfs and the Soffes and the Bairds and the dozens of other families were for me... in the LDS ward that I grew up in. And so, as a result, the Arnesen family is our family... at least for the next 30 years.