Matt and I live in married student housing at the U. Apparently each section of married housing has a corresponding hospital they are responsible for providing the sacrament to patients and staff. We live in the East Village and our assigned hospital is the University Hospital including the Huntsman Cancer Institute. Having no children (as all who are given this calling. Sort of a prerequisite), we were called for six months to the University Care Center Branch.
It is kind of a mini service mission. ... and we love it!
At least twice a month we go to the hospital and visit members of the church who are there and requested a visit, or requested a blessing since Sunday.
On Sunday, here's what the day is like-
Get up no later than 8, get ready, do NOT put on high heels, don name tags and badges and get out the door.
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| I just love that we have these nametags! It's very nice to have my married name and church together! |
9:00- meet with the University Care Center Branch in the Hope Chapel. We get announcements from the ward and stake business followed by a short Sunday School lesson. Usually one of the couples are assigned the lesson. We stay in the gospel essentials manual. I miss gospel doctrine, but I guess with only 15 minutes, you can't get into much but the basics anyway. There also isn't much discussion. I don't know what it is about the branch, but we just don't care to comment until the awkward silence has gone too long.
After the lesson we are given our 'route'. On a 'census' we have a list of patients who indicated they are LDS on their paperwork. We go to their room and invite them to sacrament meeting in the Hope Chapel if they can make it. If not, we give them the sacrament in their room. When all the patients have been visited, we give the sacrament to the staff in that area. It is rare to get the route done before sacrament meeting.
10:30- sacrament meeting. The branch makes for most of the attendance. Sunday the Branch President said there are 20 couples. Wow. Usually the rest of the congregation are family members who were visiting when we entered the room and told them about sacrament meeting. Sometimes some staff on break are there too, but they get back to work after the sacrament has been passed. There are two speakers. A couple assigned and each gives a short talk.
11:10- end of sacrament meeting. We check the status of everyone's route and give the sacrament to those we couldn't get to before sacrament meeting. Usually you hear of someone who had requested a blessing and the guys are asking each other for assistance. We have special permission from the church to have only one priesthood holder give both the bread and water to individuals at the hospital, but you still need two to give blessings.
12:00- on our best sundays, this is when we're done. Sometime not until later. We meet with the branch members back in the Hope chapel, share experiences, introduce any new couples (which is very entertaining. The guys ask odd questions. Matt's questions are always fun. Someone always asks what kind of car your spouse would be, Matt usually asks some pop culture related question. If you were in the old cartoon of the coyote and roadrunner. How would you die as the coyote?) and then have a treat (yes, we get treats) and go home.
Home- take a nap. It's not rare to go home both spiritually and emotionally exhausted. It's the greatest calling we could have a newly wed couple for several reasons. Not only are we together for the whole 3 hours, which is awesome, but we're having these spiritual experiences together and going to the hospital often keeps our troubles in perspective.
