The Littlest Sacrament Meeting

I am a Mormon. Oddly enough, it turns out there aren't a lot of Mormons in Bangladesh. In fact, in a country of 200 million people, there is one branch (congregation) and it is here in Dhaka. It took a little time when we first arrived in Bangladesh, but we found that little branch and we attended it. 

If you drive across town to a crowded market area in Farmgate and park at the end of a particular narrow, dirty road lined with tiny shops and walk down a couple of blocks, then turn left just after you pass the man butchering a cow and walk down an even narrower road and follow it until it dead ends, you will find a battered looking concrete apartment building on your right. Once you go inside the garage, you will find stairs with a surprisingly fancy stainless steel bannister. If you are still determined, you will climb six tall flights of very uneven stairs (there is no elevator) and at the very top you will find a small landing. On Friday morning that landing is filled with shoes, because we get to go barefoot at church here. It's one of the perks. Once inside, you'll find a room with dingy walls covered with tattered pictures of Christ and several people with beautiful, smiling faces. These beautiful and faithful members speak varying degrees of English but they speak smiles best. They are warm and welcoming and for many months we would journey there each Friday morning for church. Friday? You might as

Derek and his counselors w/
the India Mission President and his wife

A few of the members.

Our baptismal font on the roof

Because mosque is held on Friday, all churches observe church on Friday. Our work week is Sunday through Thursday. Anyway, ever Friday we would go and meet with our tiny branch. Some weeks there were maybe ten of us and other times up to thirty. Our meetings are very different from those we held in our large meeting house in the Midwest, but one thing was always the same; a coming together of people who share the same beliefs. An opportunity to perform ordinances that were important to us, like taking the sacrament as a renewal of our baptismal covenants.

My husband, Derek is the Branch President (Ecclesiastical leader) of this little group. I smile when I think about how much love I see in him towards the members and how much we have come to enjoy spending time with them but this post isn't about that wonderful little apartment. That, it turns out, was not the littlest sacrament meeting.

Because of the threat of terrorism that we are currently under, we are no longer allowed to meet with the local members in the little "church" in Farmgate. Derek continues to run the affairs of the branch from our home. Members come to visit with him here and he holds his presidency meetings here as well. The Mormon church is a church of order sprinkled liberally with love and compassion, so he meets with his presidency and they discuss the needs of the members, no matter how few our numbers are. For now, the western members of the branch meet separately, in our home. It changes frequently, but generally speaking. there are eight of us, including three children.

As you can image, a family going on vacation can dramatically reduce our numbers. Today the family with three kids are out of the country on vacation, and the guy who is here alone while his wife and daughter are in the states for maternity leave was working, so that left Derek and I.

Today, I saw Derek being the best Branch President I have ever known. Today we got up and showered and dressed. Derek put on his suit and tie and I put on a dress and we tidied and prepared for church. I played prelude music as Derek sat reverently. We sang an opening song and had an opening prayer. Then we sang a sacrament song and Derek performed the task of blessing and passing the sacrament. Chumleigh would have liked to participate, but he's not old enough. However, he was very reverent. After the sacrament, we watched a conference talk online, had a closing song and a closing prayer and then made blueberry pancakes for brunch.

A sacrament table for two

Why, you might ask, do we bother? Because it matters. It matters to us, and it matters to the Lord. It would be so easy here to take a vacation from religion. It would be so easy to say that as long as we believe in God we don't need religion. I'm not suggesting that you are wrong if that is how you feel. I'm just saying that I need the strength of those rituals, the renewal of our covenants, to keep centered in a chaotic world.I miss our big buildings and seeing all of the members come together to share their believes and to draw strength from one another, but even when those are not a possibility, I need to take that brief space of time each week to draw away from the problems of the world and draw closer to the savior. 

It's hard for a sacrament meeting to get smaller than two people and you might think it a silly thing, but my heart was filled as Derek reverently performed those priesthood ordinances for just two of us, because those are important ordinances for each of us even if no one else is there.

So like I said, I am a Mormon. Other people can believe however they choose, but I highly recommend that whatever you believe in, believe in it all the way, even when no one else is around and even when it's not popular or convenient.