"So It's Against Church Insurance Policy to Allow Women to Drive?"

Hola mi famila y mis amigos,

Unfortunately we don't have a lot of time today because we're going on a tour of the air force base (yes...even missionaries can have fun every once in a while).

So a few days ago we (my two companions and I, along with a few sister missionaries) were sitting in a meeting with our stake president, President Bitton (in a second I'll explain the organization of our church so you know who he is).  He was trying to guilt us into giving our car to the sister missionaries because two of them are riding bikes now.  We, of course, would have graciously and gratefully given it to them with no hesitation whatsoever, except that our mission president assigned it to us and it would be against church policy to allow the sisters to drive it.  As we explained that to him he remarked, "so it's against church insurance policy to allow women to drive?" 

Anyways.  A single congregation in the Church is called a "ward."  Each ward, which has between 100 and 400 members, is headed by a "Bishop," who is a member of the congregation who serves for a few years in a non-paid position.  They still have their normal jobs and families but sacrifice an incredible amount of time for those years as a Bishop.  Somewhere between 6 to 10 "wards" make up a "stake."  Each stake is headed by a "stake president," who serves without being paid just like a "bishop."  For example, anyone from back home who knows the Ernst Family might know that the husband is a stake president right now.  Each stake president is supervised by a member of the "Quorum of the Seventy."  They are overseen by Apostles and Prophet. 

Hope you have a good week. 

Love ya'll,

-Elder Colton