Boundary Changes

Our Stake underwent MAJOR ward boundary realignment.  Only one ward escaped without any changes at all.  We have been hearing since last February that our ward boundaries were going to change but then nothing happened.  Every few months rumors would start again that it was going to be in March...then in May....then in July....then in August....then at the end of September.  It was crazy and really annoying.  But no one knew for sure what was going on.

Our ward was getting really huge and something needed to be done.  We had a new subdivision that was growing fast and it seemed that all of them were members of the Church.  I was having a really hard time keeping up with all the new people.

On October 20th, the Stake executive assistant called.  I assumed he was calling to talk to Bryan, which happens, but he asked if Bryan and I could meet with the Stake President on the 22nd.  I told him we could and assumed Bryan was getting released or a new calling.

When we met with the Stake President he and Bryan talked finances for a bit and it became obvious that we weren't there for Bryan.  Yup, I was extended a new calling as the Stake Young Women's President.  I was a bit shocked because I have only served in young women's once as the camp director.  Other than that, I haven't been in young women's since I was a young woman...eons ago!  I felt very overwhelmed.  The Stake President gave me a 22 page list of the names of women in the Stake between the ages of 18-80 so I could choose my presidency.  We went home and I didn't sleep very well that night.  It took a few times of submitting names but everything finally got figured out with counselors and a secretary.

Through the process of getting counselors I figured a few things out.  The boundary realignment was going to take place on November 1st and I figured out that I wasn't switching wards because the Stake President had spoken to my bishop before extending the call.  I knew a few boundary line changes because of which bishops were being asked to approve my counselors and secretary and I also figured out the bishop of another ward.  I was too worried about my new calling to be worried about the changes to the boundaries of my own ward.

We had regular Church meetings on November 1st.  That evening we had the boundary reorganization meeting.  Courtney and I went up early to get soft seats and so we would be close enough to see the map clearly.  Stake business was conducted first so the old YW presidency was released and the new one was put in.  It was the first time I had seen my 2nd counselor and secretary. They had us sit on the stand for a few minutes so everyone could see us and the outgoing president shared her testimony and then I was asked to share mine.  There were A LOT of people at the meeting.

 Then they showed the map of the various wards.  Ours was first and there was a gasp from a lot of people because our subdivision was left together but the rest of the ward was given to another ward.  We were given another subdivision and part of a trailer park to add to our subdivision,

Here is a map of the new boundaries.  Ignore the blue line because our gps on the laptop thinks we live in Santa Clara instead of Ivins so that is the Santa Clara Stake.  Our ward is the one on the bottom right that has the icon of a church and the purple circle with a 2 in it.  Old Highway 91 goes through our ward boundaries, if that helps.  The boundary line of our stake is 400 East.  There are now 8 wards in our Stake (1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, and 10).

When the meeting finished we went to the YW room to be set apart as a new presidency.  Then we stayed and met for a few minutes with the outgoing president.  She told us about some upcoming things we needed to be aware of and then we decided to meet up on Monday so she could train me and give me the binder.

It was a very eventful meeting.