A Typical Sunday...

6:00 AM - C wakes, shaves, dresses in a suit, and leaves for an early morning meeting with the bishopric.

8:00 AM - A wakes, poops the bird, puts the finishing touches on her Old Testament lesson for this week or starts preparing for her lesson next week.

11:00 AM - C arrives back home, makes calls to members of the congregation to meet with them and extend "callings" to them, or in other words, ask them to voluntarily serve as a primary teacher, president of an organization, or some other responsibility. Next he makes several phone calls to ask people to speak in church. We usually have two youth (ages 12-18) speak each week, and two adults speak. He coordinates with the music committee to make sure that the music matches the speaker topics, and works with the music chair to make sure that he has the correct information about choir musical numbers for the sacrament meeting program.

12:00 PM - A wraps up her lesson preparation, gets dressed for church (a skirt, nylons, dress shoes), and offers C some food before he leaves. C hurries off to meet with a few people before church, grabbing a few bites of food on the way.

12:30 PM - A leaves for church, and a short distance away where she looks for that elderly man who sits by himself and sits next to him while the music plays softly, and congregation members trickle in quietly greeting one another with smiles, while mothers scan the rows of seats for enough space to accommodate their flocks of little ones.

12:40 PM - The bishopric members, never paid for the 20-30 hours of work they invest each week, come into the chapel and greet a few people on their way up to the stand. They gather on the stand where they quietly exchange a few words prior to starting the meeting.

1:00 PM - C smiles at A from the stand, and then he, or one of the other two bishopric members stand at the pulpit to introduce for congregational approval the names of those who have been asked to volunteer their time in various church callings. Under the direction of the bishop, young men ranging from the ages of 12-18 reverently bless and pass the sacrament, the bread, and then the water, in remembrance of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for our sins. The speakers speak, the choir sings.

2:10 PM - Sacrament meeting ends, and children scatter to the primary where they will sing songs and divide into classes with other children their age for lessons from the scriptures. At ages 3-4, they will begin to learn how to give talks, pray, and read scriptures in front of their peers. I love primary. These are the sweetest of souls. Teens gather in co-ed classes with other youth their same ages. I used to teach in primary, but now I teach the adults in Sunday School while C takes care of church business or visits various classes. Sometimes he visits mine.

3:00 PM - The children remain in primary, while the teenagers and adults separate into gender-specific groups: Young Mens, Young Womens, Relief Society and Priesthood. Here they receive lessons on topics more specific to their gender, even though we are all learning the same things. Women learn about the priesthood just like the men, and the men learn to honor and respect motherhood and womanhood just like the women. I love meeting with my sisters, ages 18 on up. They are beautiful, wonderful women. Sometimes we comfort each other when life is hard, and sometimes we share our good news with each other! We almost always laugh together and we learn from one another because in every setting of teaching, everyone is welcome to share, comment, and participate.

4:15 PM - A arrives back home to a screaming bird, and prepares something simple for dinner. C stays at church to meet with people, giving interviews for the temple, meeting with the youth or visiting a family in need. He also processes tithing. "Tithing" consists of the donations that members of our church offer freely, usually equalling ten percent of their income. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints pays cash for its meetinghouses and temples. It does not have any debt. Tithing supports these purchases so that the Church may continue to grow without going into debt.

5:30 PM - C texts A that he is just dropping the funds off at the bank and will be home soon. A puts plates on the table and ice water in the glasses. Soon C arrives home and C&A enjoy a meal together. Occasionally this includes family or friends. Usually C makes a few more calls, makes sure that he keeps track of all of the keys for the building, and takes care of any unfinished business.

7 or 8 PM - C finishes his day and falls fast asleep fully clothed on the couch with Kawi cuddled up under his chin (unless he has more meetings), with dreams of Tuesday and Thursday meetings with the Boy Scouts, the Youth, or the Bishopric dancing in his head.

9:30-10:30 PM - A puts Kawi in his cage and helps an exhausted C to bed, where he continues to sleep through the night.

And how do you spend your Sundays?