SUNDAY IN UNION CITY

May 10, Church in Fulton KY ward

Bishop Kent Page and his wife Beverly picked us up for church. They had to go right by on their way to their ward in Fulton Kentucky. The speakers for the sacrament/mothers' day program were the High Priest Group leadership. They were all "senior citizens" and spoke of memories of their mothers as they were growing up. One paid tribute to five mothers in his life: his own mother, his mother's mother, his father's mother, his wife's mom and his wife. They all were of great influence in his life. It reminded me of the talk Pres. Hinckley gave a while back about the women in his life. One speaker told of the tradition of wearing a red rose if your mother was alive and a white rose if your mother was deceased. He said when he was a child he helped his mother cut roses from her garden and make boutonnieres and corsages out of the red and white roses for the people at church. It was a very sweet program but the primary children only sang one song and there was no Mothers' Day "gift". I missed the See's truffles that Fourth Ward gives out and the large Aldi's chocolate bar we received in Rockcreek Ward on our mission. But being a visitor I didn't dare ask where my treat was?
I've talked about the different culture in the South. After church we were getting to know some of the members. We visited with the Laurel Advisor who said that the ward has problems with teenage pregnancies. She said that it isn't just a morality issue it is a culture issue. The parents of the young people expect them to date and marry quite young. There have been issues with the adults because one parent won't let their daughter or son go steady with their child....we're talking under sixteen.
We went with Kent and Beverly to one of their daughters home where the family was gathering for dinner. It was very thoughtful of them to include us. The children played in the yard while the "grown ups" chatted. After a while it was just Kent and Beverly and us talking at the table. I felt a little like we were monopolizing their time when they could have been visiting with their children. Bishop Page said "Oh don't worry about it. This is the first time in a long time that I've had a conversation with adults that I didn't have to do anything about. ":-)
When they took us back to our motel Kent said that if it was raining in the morning and we weren't going to ride to give him a call and he'd take the day off and come play with us! We have some new great friends in Union City, TN