Some 'Splainin' To Do

Today I went to lunch with some friends from church who work in Topeka. Half of us know each other from church, while the other half were co-workers of a friend who were not members of our church. They all live in Lawrence, so when I said I live in Topeka but go to church with them, they questioned why I traveled so far for church. I simply said, "Because I'm single." They looked sort of surprised, and questioned why that meant I had to go to church in Lawrence. Was I banned and or not welcome from going to a church here in Topeka?

I stumbled upon some sort of explanation, but thankfully someone else offered a much better explanation than me: it's the same church, but the congregation is made up of single people and/or students. I choose to go to this church instead of my regular one in Topeka for social reasons.

There's been many other instances where I've used jargon common to people in Utah and Idaho who are surrounded by a large amount of Mormons. Sometimes I forget that people here in Kansas have no idea what I'm talking about when I say ward, YSA and FHE; even the term Bishop has a different meaning to people of different denominations. I find myself trying to find ways to explain it in well-known church vernacular, such as congregation instead of ward, and using the actual words instead of the acronym. It keeps me on my toes.