Breaking Up is Hard to Do -- But Still Kinda Awesome

Today was a historic day at church for the St. Robert Ward.  Today we split the ward into a St. Robert 1st and 2nd ward.  It has been obvious for several months that this would be necessary.  Our building is just not big enough to support such a large number of people.  But another concern has been that with such a large ward it is difficult to reach every person as we should because it is too easy for people to get lost in the cracks when there are so many people attending.  Splitting the ward would not just give us added room to maneuver, but it would also give us a better chance to help those around us who are in need. 

But, even though the split might have been necessary, that doesn't exactly make it easier.  There is something exciting about coming every week to a large ward with such vibrance and enthusiasm all around.  It is wonderful for my children to attend primary each week with so many children, and I absolutely love having such a large young men and young women organization for my youth.  They are able to find others their age who believe the things that they do and will support them as they try to make good choices in a sometimes difficult world to grow up in. 

I remember when we first moved to Waynesville in 1997 and came to church.  It was a very small ward at the time, and we were used to the bigger wards in Springfield where we had lived for the past four years.  But still, it was a very friendly ward, and we loved it.  At that point Fort Leonard Wood was a lot smaller, basically only having the Engineers division there.  With the growth of Ft. Wood the ward has grown also.  When Herman got called to be bishop almost four years ago (has it really been four years already?!?) the ward was still kind of small, but it was larger than when we first moved here.  But that first summer I remember that almost a third of our members left because of change of duty stations or deployments, so while we had been opening up the back curtains to seat some people in the overflow section, now we had to close that up and just use the main chapel.  At that point Herman was talking to me and he said that one of his goals as a bishop was to get the ward to the point when we could split it.  At the time my thought was, "You dear, sweet, overly optimistic man!  Aren't you sweet?"  I had tons of faith in Herman's enthusiasm, but I just couldn't imagine it happening.  Despite the large population of the area that we get due to the presence of Ft. Wood, this area still has such a rural feel, and it seemed unlikely that we could grow to get to the point when we would split.

But I guess I should always have a bit more faith in these sort of things.  It was interesting to go to Salt Lake City last April so that we could take Spencer to General Conference.  While we were there, Herman's mission had a reunion.  He went to the Brazil Fortaleza mission from 1990-1992, and his mission president, Athos Marques de Amorim was in town for the weekend.  Herman hasn't seen him since the mission, so it was wonderful to see President and Sister Amorim there.  They are such wonderful people!  But the part of the reunion that was really neat to hear was when President and Sister Amorim spoke to us as a group and spoke about the growth of the Church in Fortaleza since the mission.  I will get all of the statistics wrong for this since I wasn't taking notes or anything, so I apologize in advance for any readers who get hung up on facts being absolutely correct in random family blogs, but here's an approximation:  When Herman served his mission there there were only a few stakes and one mission for the city and a few outlying areas.  Today there are two missions and many times more stakes than there were.  In addition they will soon dedicate the Fortaleza temple.  (Fingers crossed that we can be sufficiently recovered both mentally and financially from our big trip to China so that we can travel to Brazil for this!) 

But anyway, I mention that because this work is growing all over the world, including in St. Robert Missouri.  If you would have asked Herman twenty years ago if he expected that there would be a temple in Fortaleza, he would have expressed hope for that, but he could not have imagined it.  It is the same for our own area.  Too many of us are quick to tie the Lord's hands and immediately dismiss any thoughts of sustained growth in this area.  Yet it still happens, and it has been so fun to be in the middle of this.  We have not only enjoyed the blessing of having Ft. Wood grow, but we have been blessed with a tremendous number of kick butt missionaries who have served here in the past several years.  Herman has always had a love of missionary work, and he has wanted to give them the best environment to serve in.  He has wanted for missionaries in the Tulsa Oklahoma mission to always be hoping to end up serving in our ward.  He wanted for our ward to have a reputation as being the best place to serve in the mission.  I think that that is what is the case today.  Our missionaries have been the top baptizing area in the mission for a few years now, and even more importantly, most of those who choose to be baptize continue to come every week.  It has been a wonderful thing to witness so many lives changing because of the influence of the people in our ward.

So all of that leads to the events of today.  I admit that it has been exciting to think about this happening for the past few months, but last night I got this little flutter of worry about changing everything.  Things are going so smoothly, and it is always a risk to change things.  I have been teaching the activity day girls (ages 8-11) for the past month, and last Wednesday when we had 15 girls show up and have such a fun activity I was so sad to think that in a few weeks we would have to split this group up.  Then today the actual split happened.  I could tell by looking at his face while he sat on the stand today that Herman was full of emotion, and that always makes me emotional.  But, I'm not usually a big public crier.  I can feel myself starting to tear up, but with a big clenching of my teeth I can usually push the tears back.  I used to think that there was something wrong with me because I didn't seem to be as teary-eyed as most women around me, but now I think it is just that I am more internal about things.  It probably means that at some point in my life I will explode because I haven't let all my emotions out, and then I'll be a gooey mess for someone to have to clean up -- probably my kids (so start arguing now, Blau kids, over who the lucky child will be who has to clean up afterwards when this happens).  I managed to make it through most of the meeting without crying.  But then the primary and youth organizations got up to sing "I Love to See the Temple."  It was amazing to see all of them on the stand.  How many were there?  There were definitely more than 100 kids -- maybe over 150.  I don't know.  It was a lot.  There really wasn't any room for any more kids to stand.  It was beautiful, and before they began Herman came down to sit beside me since he had to vacate his seat on the stand to make way for all the children.  He leaned over to me and said, "I'm getting ready to do something that is all kinds of wrong."  Then he pulled out his iPhone and prepared to record their singing.  I took the phone and recorded everything from close to my chest so that it wasn't totally obvious, so I'm not sure just how high quality the video is, but I think we got the gist of the experience.  It was so touching to see all of the children singing together for one last time as a gigantic group, and then I looked over and saw Jenny Lykins crying while she was directing, and that was really touching too. 

So, after the song Herman gave a small talk about his feelings about the split, and it was so neat to hear him speak.  Actually it was nice to hear from all of the men who are serving in the two bishoprics of the two new wards.  Bishop Tripp is going to be a great bishop for the St. Robert 1st ward.  I thought it was funny that both of Laney's dads are serving at bishops in our area.  Herman is obviously her bio dad, but Brother Tripp was Laney's dad when they formed families for their pioneer trek last summer.  Jarrett and Sam of course will be great as they have been, and I'm super excited for Bro. Albrecht to be in the bishopric of the other ward.  He will do great.  So will Brother Brown, I'm sure.  But, I just loved Herman's talk.  He just has a way of teaching true principles while using the scriptures in a way that makes those stories come to life.  He has a gift of being a great teacher, I've always thought. 

By the closing song I was feeling full of emotion, and as everyone sang "Love at Home"  I burst into tears.  I kept thinking about how that was the last song we would ever sing together as a ward family.  I thought about how things were going to totally change now, and I was sad to see the change that would separate so many of us.  I just couldn't stop.  Where were the tissues when I needed them?  Poor JoJo kept looking at me while I was crying and wondering what in the world was wrong with his mama.  He doesn't normally see me sobbing in the middle of church. 

I only heard one youth griping about the split, and that was it for complaints.  Pretty good considering how hard it is for most people to handle change of any sort.  What I mostly noticed was people sad for the change that had happened because it would separate so many of us from regular interactions with the good friends that we have made.  That makes this split hard for us, but I have noticed that the large majority of our ward are people who are willing to do anything that the Lord asks, even when it might be hard.  We just jump in and do the best we can with the situation in which we find ourselves.  It'll all work out for the best. 

So now it is finished.  St. Robert Missouri officially has two wards.  It has been an amazing ride so far, and I fully expect the blessings to continue into the future.  It has been such a privilege to have Herman serve as a bishop for these three and a half years.  It has required a little bit of sacrifice from our family, but it is wonderful to see so completely how much the Lord loves each of us individually.  This will all turn out to our benefit.  We just have to throw ourselves into making it work with enthusiasm.  Great day!

Savannah cried during our picture at the end of the day, and she never cries.  She explained that they were simply "sympathy" tears.  It was an emotional day.

Herman directing traffic right before the picture.