The Making of a [real] Singles Ward
Kerstin Briggs
Brigham Young said if you are twenty-five and not married you are a menace to society. That being said, it is no wonder why there are so many singles wards. Most LDS people get married a lot younger than the rest of society. Our priorities are different. Most LDS couples to do not wait until they have completed their schooling, bought a home, and are financially sound before they start their family. Singles wards were designed to help singles meet, to promote marriage, and inevitably keep more “menaces” out of society.
The main character of the comedic The Singles Ward movie, Jonathan Jordan, is a young, recently divorced, once again single man. He said “I was now a twenty-something, no longer married adult, attending a family ward.” After doing everything right, his wife left him, and he became bitter about marriage and the church. His main goal was to scare off the members of his new singles ward who were trying to reactivate him. He didn’t mind some of them. Dallen, Eldon, and Hyrum were “kind of Peter-priesthoody, but in a not-so pushy, we like you for how you are sort of way.” They made Jonathan feel like his friendship was not conditional upon his coming to church. After offending the Ward Activities Director Cammie, then meeting her and developing a quick crush on her, Jonathan is determined to date her. Eventually he realizes that what he really wants is to be active again, and after her mission, he is once again, attending a family ward, but this time with his wife Cammie.
The movie The Singles Ward has all the typical members of a singles ward. Take Dallen, for instance, he’s a super-energetic preemie (pre-mission) who needs as many girls as possible to write him on his mission. Every singles ward has lots of preemies and usually, once a girl hears he’s a preemie, she’s is moving on in search of an RM (returned missionary). There are always at least a few female veterans of a singles ward who complain every time a guy asks a new, younger girl out (as if it should go in order of who has been there the longest). Then there is Deverl, the kind of creepy, guy who at least asks girls out. There are the girls, like Stacy, who’s only goal is to get her M.R.S. degree (get married) and she is very picky about how her future husband will be. You deal with Mormon standard time, Mormon dating, sweet spirits, preemies, RMs, FHE, break the fast, stake dances, and Institute. At the stake dances, you find young adults dancing at least a Book of Mormon apart.
Although many good times are had, once you move on from the singles ward, you can look back, laugh, and say “Been there, done that. Don’t want to do it again.”
Kerstin Briggs
Brigham Young said if you are twenty-five and not married you are a menace to society. That being said, it is no wonder why there are so many singles wards. Most LDS people get married a lot younger than the rest of society. Our priorities are different. Most LDS couples to do not wait until they have completed their schooling, bought a home, and are financially sound before they start their family. Singles wards were designed to help singles meet, to promote marriage, and inevitably keep more “menaces” out of society.
The main character of the comedic The Singles Ward movie, Jonathan Jordan, is a young, recently divorced, once again single man. He said “I was now a twenty-something, no longer married adult, attending a family ward.” After doing everything right, his wife left him, and he became bitter about marriage and the church. His main goal was to scare off the members of his new singles ward who were trying to reactivate him. He didn’t mind some of them. Dallen, Eldon, and Hyrum were “kind of Peter-priesthoody, but in a not-so pushy, we like you for how you are sort of way.” They made Jonathan feel like his friendship was not conditional upon his coming to church. After offending the Ward Activities Director Cammie, then meeting her and developing a quick crush on her, Jonathan is determined to date her. Eventually he realizes that what he really wants is to be active again, and after her mission, he is once again, attending a family ward, but this time with his wife Cammie.
The movie The Singles Ward has all the typical members of a singles ward. Take Dallen, for instance, he’s a super-energetic preemie (pre-mission) who needs as many girls as possible to write him on his mission. Every singles ward has lots of preemies and usually, once a girl hears he’s a preemie, she’s is moving on in search of an RM (returned missionary). There are always at least a few female veterans of a singles ward who complain every time a guy asks a new, younger girl out (as if it should go in order of who has been there the longest). Then there is Deverl, the kind of creepy, guy who at least asks girls out. There are the girls, like Stacy, who’s only goal is to get her M.R.S. degree (get married) and she is very picky about how her future husband will be. You deal with Mormon standard time, Mormon dating, sweet spirits, preemies, RMs, FHE, break the fast, stake dances, and Institute. At the stake dances, you find young adults dancing at least a Book of Mormon apart.
Although many good times are had, once you move on from the singles ward, you can look back, laugh, and say “Been there, done that. Don’t want to do it again.”
