Day of rest. We had a Stake Conference. The stake,is a group of several wards (in reference to the stakes of Zion supporting the tent in Isaiah). When I first heard the term in English I did not have any issues, but when I realized that its official Russian translation was кол I was greatly entertained. Aside from a regular stake that you pound into the ground the word is a slang term for the lowest grade you can get in school - one, because number one looks like a stake. You do not get that great just for not knowing the subject matter, it is usually given for being a bad sport - e.g. if you get caught cheating on a test. In any case, the word has acquired a new meaning for me since I joined the LDS church, both in English and in Russian. It represents a unit of strength in the Lord, something the Lord depends on to build his kingdom. At the conference our stake was reorganized. Our ward is now much bigger, almost twice as big. The English population of our area is shrinking, and is being replaced by the Latinos. Most of the Latinos are not LDS. Even though many join our church, and the Latino branch is now big enough to be a ward, it does not make up for the exodus of the English speakers, and even if it did, the English wards would still be getting smaller. My conclusion from the above is that we need to do two things to prepare for the future. Have children and learn Spanish.
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