You're looking at the only windows in the whole building.
This is the only parking we have available. It fills up in seconds.
This is our sacrament room. Instead of pews we have a mixture of 'hard' and 'soft' chairs.
I think we have about 12 rows of chairs. These also fill up in seconds. We never have enough room for everyone.
I hear there was a time in the not-so-distant past that there were no more than 10 regularly attending ward members. Back then, I'm sure the building felt palatial, but now we're packed to the rafters.
A new building has been promised for years and years and years. There's been a picture of the architectural plans posted on a bulletin board for longer than I've been here. We need more space. Badly.
Plus, there's what I guess you could call the righteous pride aspect as well. We're the only ward that meets near the heart of DC. We're 7 blocks from the Capitol Building. By and large, when LDS groups and tourists are staying in DC, they come to our ward on Sunday. It would just be really cool if the Church had a more visible, traditional presence on the Hill.
But, there's permits to be sorted, and they don't know where they'd put us while the new building is being constructed (there's no such thing as extra space on the Hill), and the neighbors have to be appeased. There's always a roadblock. A trial of patience. I learned quickly that it's one of those 'Just around the corner!' situations.
All things considered, I have a soft spot in my heart for this little building, and a big soft spot for my ward family. Hands down, it's the best ward in the world.
4 comments:
This is sweet, Rebekah. Those are similar to the chairs in our Paris ward. (But you have carpet!)
I wonder why the building doesn't have more windows? Trying to find space there (and more parking) must be a nightmare.
No carpet? I don't think I would like that. Funny what different circumstances we find ourselves in!
I think those must have been the only windows the grocery store had when the Church bought it for our building. I guess adding more would have been fairly costly since they would have had to cut into the brick walls. That's just a guess though.
I'm glad you documented this! What an interesting way to experience church.
I think there are more chapels like this in the US than people realize. It's good for us westerners to see.
Post a Comment