Part One: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Here are sections from my study of a Mormon community.
“Introduction:
I will study a branch of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon Church), who meets regularly on a Sunday.”...
“I aim to find out who the members of the group are, and what differentiates them from other religious groups, why people are part of this group and how the group functions as a whole.
In order to accomplish my aims I will attend church, interview my friend and another member, and I will search for literature that can give me background information on the church and its’ beliefs.”

“Application of Method
Visit to the church: My observations:
19/08/07 (Sunday service)
The church service consisted of:
1) Sacrament meeting (everyone takes part in this service lasting around 70 minutes, there are hymns, the sacrament (bread and water) and two or three speakers from the congregation.)
2) Sunday school (where young people are split into age groups and have a study around the Book of Mormon and the teachings of the prophets.)
3) Relief society (females)/ Priesthood (males) meetings (the genders are split up and each meeting consists of a teaching, general notices and hymns for an hour).
In preparation I asked my friend how I should dress and if there was anything else I needed to know before coming to the church. I was told skirts and modest dress was generally accepted.
...I observed many families (i.e. there were a good number of children) and a large population of people of Pacific Island and Maori descent at the church service, but otherwise there was a large range of people from all age groups.
There were a group of male missionaries greeting people and shaking their hands at the door. I was made to feel very welcome and included at the group. I felt welcome because many people were friendly and interested to get to know me, they made sure I always had a hymn book during the songs and I received an invite to women’s dessert/ social event.
During the Sacrament meeting there were both men and women speakers. They spoke about various teachings of the Latter-day Saints and reminded the members of the standards by which they all live. There were a number of hymns mixed in through the service. The hymns and bibles remain in old English from when the bible was first translated to English. So there were lots of ‘thee’ and ‘thou’ and ‘thy’. Further translations into contemporary English can mean alterations in meaning and a divergence from the original teachings. As the teachings are fundamental to this group’s beliefs and also believing they have the knowledge of the full truth it is obvious they would not want to compromise their foundation (as explained during personal communication with Kevin Huh, 7/10/07) . Members call each other ‘brother’ and ‘sister’ as they are sons and daughters of God. There is a real feeling of community even when there are separate groups for each gender and the different age groups. This is probably because they stay in contact with what’s happening among the members and they support each other where ever they can. One example of this that I saw was the women in the relief society group fundraising for other members to go on a trip to the temple in Hamilton.