Out of my comfort zone

I stepped way outside my comfort zone last night. I went to a weeknight fireside put on by a descendent of Joseph Smith. She and her son joined the church back in the 1980's and now do firesides telling about their conversion. It was interesting, but going to the fireside was not the part that was outside my comfort zone. The presenter was late, really late, (rain delay) and so I positioned myself near the food (normal) and ended up pouring hot apple cider (normal). But for some reason I started talking to everybody I met (not normal). I spoke with perfect strangers and old friends, and as I did a funny thing happened. I met a few people who had been in the church in Tennessee since there was only one branch in all of Nashville over 40 years ago. There are now four or five stakes depending on what you consider Nashville.

We got to talking about where the buildings were, which ones were still standing, who had already written histories of the Stake, who were the right people to interview for living history. It was like I found a goldmine. One lady told me about watching the current stake center being built near her home. She would take her Labrador retriever walking through the site and he would love to play in the baptismal font, at least until they put the roof up.

We arranged to meet again, this time with a tape recorded (maybe a video recorder) and save some of the stories for posterity.