The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
In case you're not familiar with my church, I wanted to make a list, or reference post to refer back to, of what certain phrases or words mean & what some acronyms stand for. Since it's such a big part of my life & I talk about church quite often it might help you understand me better on my blog. Or not. My husband is still working on that one.
I will continually update this post as I think of it.
Am I a christian? Yes, notice the name Jesus Christ in the name of this church. Christ is the head of our church & I believe he lives. He is the Savior & Redeemer for the world.
LDS - Latter Day Saint (the shortened name for the long one above)
B.O.M. - Book of Mormon. Another testament of Jesus Christ. This is a book of scripture which tells the story of an ancient group of people who lived on the American continents about 600 bc - 400 ad & of Jesus Christ's time with them. I highly recommend this book. You don't have to be interested in this church to read it either. It's really interesting.
Ward - The geographical area in which we live to know which church building to go to. For example: If there are 5,000 Mormons living in my town, we can't all go to the same building because we wouldn't fit. So the church would divide those 5,000 people up into about 6 or 7 groups, according to where they live, & then assign them which church building & therefore which ward they would go to. Did I make that worse?
Bishop - Every ward has a Bishop & each Bishop has 2 counselors. A Bishop is responsible for the welfare & spiritual needs of the ward members. He's also there to make sure the ward is running properly. And to give candy to the children who run into his office begging for candy (mine would never do that.) He's kind of like the father of the ward. His counselors help him do all this.
Stake - A bigger geographical area. Each stake in the church, is made up of usually 7-9 wards.
Stake President - All of the Bishops in each stake receive guidance from the S.P. He is responsible for the welfare & spiritual needs of the members of his stake.
Branch - A group that meets together which is smaller than a ward size.
Spanish Branch - No. We don't believe in segregation. It's for members of the church who only speak Spanish & want to go to church where they understand the language. We have a lot of non-English speaking people in my town. My family has been asked to go to the Spanish Branch in our stake, to help out where needed (I don't speak Spanish, but Manly does).
Branch President - The same thing as a Bishop, but for a branch.
District - Smaller than a stake. It's made up of several branches.
District President - The same as Stake President, but for a district.
Fast Sunday / to fast - It's typically the 1st Sunday of each month. Where we go for 2 meals or 24 hours without food or water. It's a common practice among many religions.
Y.W. - Young Women. 12-18 year old girls in each ward. I serve in the Y.W. in my ward. I'm the Beehive leader.
- Beehives - the 12-13 year old girls
- Mia Maids - the 14-15 year old girls
- Laurels - the 16-17 year old girls
Mutual - The weekly Tuesday night activity for each class in the Y.W.
R.S. - Relief Society
- Female members of the church ages 18+. There's a R.S. class on Sundays & usually a monthly activity during the week.V.T. - Visiting Teachers - Each sister (what we refer to each other as, ie: Sister M.E.M.O.S. it's so nice to see you today. How is Brother M. holding up?) in the ward has 2 other sisters assigned to visit her on a monthly basis - her visiting teachers. Most every woman in the church has been asked to be a visiting teacher. The purpose is to visit one another & to make sure she's doing all right (temporally, spiritually & so on). It builds friendships too. It's been a real blessing in my life.
F.H.E. - Family Home Evening. It's typically every Monday night, we stay home & have a gospel oriented lesson & usually a fun activity. Also, a yummy treat, which is probably the most important part of FHE for my kids.
Hope this helps.
Posts
