A book I discovered during the Church's sesquicentennial commemoration in 2000 of the Scandinavian emigration was William Mulder's Homeward to Zion: The Mormon Migration from Scandinavia. Originally published in the 1950s stemming from his Harvard Ph.d. dissertation, Mulder described the beginnings of missionary work in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, the hearkening of many Scandinavians to the gospel message, their journey across ocean and continent, and their settling largely in Sanpete County, Utah. (It didn't hurt my interest either that the hero of his book was Canute Peterson, an ancestor of my husband's.)

Mulder pointed out how Mormon emigrants enjoyed many advantages over “ordinary emigrants.” He wrote: “The ordinary emigrant from Europe soon discovered, as handbooks warned him, that ‘he must look out for himself, choose the right route, buy the right ticket, get into the right car, and so on through the journey, without waiting for specific directions.' ¹ The Mormon emigrant, on the other hand, was relieved of these anxieties. Setting out for a strange country was at best a trying experience, but he found himself escorted by men he knew, in the company of fellow converts, and with the assurance of a welcome which would direct his settlement at journey's end. Every detail of outfitting, lodging, feeding, and transporting was prearranged.” ²

While none of us are making six- to eight-week journeys across oceans and months-long treks in covered wagons to new homes, Mulder's statement, I believe, illustrates the blessing of Church membership, and in particular, the blessing of belonging to a small unit of the Church—a ward or a branch. There we are welcomed, are in the company of fellow Saints, and are escorted through life's journey by leaders and fellow ward members who care about our own and our family's spiritual and temporal well-being and who provide us opportunities to serve and grow.

Virginia H. Pearce, who served as a counselor in the Young Women general presidency, spoke in the October 1993 general conference about the blessing of ward membership. In her talk, entitled “Ward and Branch Families: Part of Heavenly Father's Plan for Us,” she said that “a ward is another place where there is enough commitment and energy to form a sort of ‘safety net' family for each of us.” She pointed out that ward families “provide a sense of belonging,... the reassurance of listening ears,... encouragement,... ways for us to contribute,... a laboratory to learn and practice the gospel.” Sister Pearce also emphasized that “ward families are a refuge.” ³

Recently a young man, speaking in sacrament meeting in our ward, said that he had three families: his own family, our ward family, and the Special Needs ward family for which he served as a youth counselor. Hayden spoke of how important these families were to him, how much he loved each family, and how his life had been so blessed because not only had he been given a wonderful family of origin, he had two additional wonderful families who helped him learn, develop his testimony, and who loved him.

I remember a talk our then-bishop gave during ward conference about how a ward is a mixing of ages, personalities, experiences, and economic status. He said that we don't get to choose who is in our ward; our ward membership usually comes about by geographic boundaries. We thus associate with people we might not know in our regular circles of school, work, interests, and friendships. A ward, therefore, is an opportunity for us to learn about many others, to serve and come to love others through a gospel setting. A ward is, as Sister Pearce noted, like Robert Frost's poem “The Death of the Hired Man”:

A ward is indeed something you don't have to deserve and which has to take you in.

Paul put it this way: “Now therefore ye are no more strangers foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God.” (Ephesians 2:19.)

A change of wards is common for most of us, whether we move or whether we are “moved.” While residing in the same home for more than 30 years, we have lived in six different wards. Two months ago, the ward boundaries in our stake were realigned—and they have been at other times as well. At the boundary change meeting, there were some tears shed and perhaps a little dismay expressed, but at the first meeting of our new ward—and I'm sure in all the others as well—there was an excitement, a welcoming, and genuine effort to make this a successful, loving community of Saints.

Uniting Experiences

Wards provide a wide range of experiences that unite and draw people closer together: One of the great blessings of belonging to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is that it is a lay church. We, the members, are the leaders, teachers, speakers, and participants, and our particular roles change regularly. Sacrament meetings, Sunday School, priesthood quorum and auxiliary classes all help us grow spiritually and share experiences. Other-than-Sunday meetings and activities allow us to really get to know one another through Mutual and Enrichment, temple excursions, ward parties, camp-outs, taking turns cleaning our meetinghouses. Then there are the smaller-group interactions through home teaching and visiting teaching.

Some of the experiences in which I have felt most attuned to my ward brothers and sisters have been through joining in a ward fast and then gathering for prayer. When my husband was serving as bishop, our ward held a fast for a two-year-old boy, who because of multiple physical problems, could not eat any food by mouth. He desperately needed to receive more complete nourishment than through a feeding tube. When his mother requested that our ward hold a joint fast for Cody, she said she felt that if the ward fasted and prayed for Cody, he would be able to eat. Such faith!

So we fasted as a ward. After our Sunday meetings were over, ward members, family, and friends of the Hansons filled the chapel for the prayer for Cody. As my husband offered the opening prayer, a wave of warmth descended upon the entire congregation. That spirit intensified as Cody's father administered to him. We all went home to break our fast and eat, believing that Cody, too, would be able to eat. And he began to eat the day after that fast. ⁴

Sharing laughter is another way to join hearts. I have laughed and laughed at humorous moments, comments, and meant-to-be-funny-productions in my various wards. A current counselor in our bishopric could be a stand-up comedian. I laugh now, even though it's been years ago, thinking about our then-Relief Society president, who did a one-woman skit about why sisters should come to Relief Society (which at the time was midweek.). I laugh about that and all the other funny quips of Valorie Liddell---and cry, too, because she died in a car accident seven years ago.

Perhaps one of the most uniting experiences comes when a beloved ward member has passed away and the phenomenon of a ward mourning the common loss and organizing help for the family, including making “funeral potatoes” at the meal following the service takes place. The concept of “ward family” seems very real and very eternal. The scripture “Thou shalt live together in love, insomuch that thou shalt weep for the loss of them that die,” (D&C 42:25) certainly applies to ward members as well as to one's own family.

I'm thankful that I belong to a ward and have been blessed in ways too numerous to count by “the company of fellow converts.”

1 American Social Science Association, Handbook for Immigrants to the United States (New York, 1871), 15, 16.

2 William Mulder, Homeward to Zion: The Mormon Migration from Scandinavia ( Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota, 2000), 141-42.

3Virginia H. Pearce, “Ward and Branch Families: Part of Heavenly Father's Plan for Us,” Ensign, Nov. 1993, 79.

4See Janet Peterson, “We Fasted So He Could Eat,” Ensign, Jan. 19984, 56.