You know you're living in Alabama when you have the opportunity to sign up for a "storm spotter" class.

Auditioning Churches

One of the first things I noticed when we came to Alabama back in February to look for an apartment was the incredible number of churches. Now, I know we’re smack dab in the middle of the Bible belt but I sort of had an idea that they would all be Southern Baptist. Instead, I’ve found churches of many, many different denominations….one every few blocks, so I thought what better opportunity to check out the options the South has to offer. Not going to get into a lot of theology; just my impressions of the services, the congregations and the messages.

The first week we went to Centerpoint, a church which meets right by our home in a Marriott resort ballroom.

Generally this means it’s a fairly new church plant saving up for their own building, but I was immediately drawn to it because all their marketing reminded me of our home church: Alpine, which is a non-denominational congregation. Indeed, they had the billboards, the road signs directing us to the venue, the greeters, the welcoming table, the coffee bar, the praise music with a band, and a biblical message emphasizing application in our daily lives. There were different things about it as they did pass an offering plate and had candle stations set up for individual prayer. They offer three services on Sunday and the one we attended was completely full.

The second week we attended one of the chapels on base as it was the “welcoming” service for the newcomers and it was a combined service of the protestant offerings. It was packed in a fairly small chapel so it was a tad uncomfortable. It was kind of a mish-mash service with semi-contemporary music but some traditional as well, the youth doing some mime thing which was a tad beyond my comfort level theatre degree or not, but a great message about loss and trusting God, and the fact that becoming a Christian doesn’t mean we’ll never have trouble or sorrow again. The pastor had lost a child to a fluky illness so had plenty of experience to draw on. I’d actually like to go back here to a regular service sometime. They had a bbq out on the church lawn after the service.

Next was Journey which again was very much like Alpine. They meet in a little strip mall-type area though they already have a sign right down the street in a beautiful field which says it’s their future home. This reminded me very much of when Alpine met in Clearfield before we moved into our new building. Video incorporated into the service with the band and contemporary music, lots of people dressed in football jerseys. Now, people in AL wear football jerseys a lot so I wasn’t sure if it was just because that’s how they dress or if it was a theme. When the pastor came out in one, I kind of caught on. Preached about “getting in the game” and how it was time to stop “standing on the sidelines”. Either you’re a Christian or you’re not, but you can’t be one on Sunday then live the rest of the week where people couldn’t really tell one way or another. They gave me a cool red water bottle as a first time visitor!

Finally, there’s an area in downtown Prattville covering a two block radius that is nothing but churches. The First Baptist Church is huge with several different buildings. They offer tons of Sunday School classes broken down into all different age groups. They had a special door for visitors where they met us, gave us materials then walked us in and found us special seating. I guess I supposed it would be a little more inter-racial but ALL of these churches I’ve mentioned were primarily Caucasian which I found interesting. In fact this service and congregation really reminded of our old Presbyterian church. Fairly older, conservative, etc. However, they have a huge kid’s Sunday school so it must have just been my first impression or maybe it was just that service. In fact, a girl in my book group laughingly referred to it as the “kiddie valet” church. After having dropped your child off at Sunday School, you received a card to hang on your rear view mirror. After Sunday School you pull up, they read your card into their walkie talkie, then someone brings your child out and buckles them into their car seat. Hee hee! What could be easier?

You know you're living in Alabama when the local NPR station carries banjo pickin' gospel music on Saturday nights.

Universal Friendships

One of the great opportunities I have while we’re here is meeting many of the other spouses. The air force has it’s own community with base locations, acronyms, problems and blessings, many of which are foreign to me but as they live it everyday, most of the spouses already have a lot in common.

The past couple of days I’ve had the chance to meet and mingle with several of the international spouses which has been lovely. I mentioned in an earlier post that one of Tom’s classmates is from Colombia so I took his wife Olga, with me to a Fall Social gathering on base Wednesday night so we had the opportunity to get to know each other better. The base offers English classes to the spouses 3 days a week and they also go to a Baptist Church in Montgomery a few hours a week for more classes. Some have had some English before in their own countries but others are just learning it here. I have been so impressed with their progress even though they think they aren’t doing so well.

In the past 48 hours I’ve met women from Pakistan, Israel, Estonia, Egypt, Sri Lanka, Japan and El Salvador. These women are gorgeous, friendly, smart, and fully aware of and grateful for the opportunity to be here, learn the language and meet all of these awesome new friends. They have an international support group and get together monthly for coffees and meet in each other’s homes for cooking and practicing their English.

Olga’s husband Mauricio arranged a surprise birthday party for her yesterday at a little local coffee shop. She was very surprised and seemed moved the by gesture. These women are so eager to learn American customs like….is it okay to open these gifts here, or should they be taken home? Many interesting conversations about their young children easily adapting, schools, books (Sira, from Pakistan is reading TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD and loves it), food, and anything else you can think of. They’re also so anxious to practice their English with Americans. Hoping I get to be a lucky one to spend time with them.

You know you're living in Alabama when the national fair is hyping the Ham Bone Express Pig Races as a highlight.

The Community

We’ve had the opportunity to become involved in a couple of community events in Montgomery. The first was the Dragon Boat Race & Festival down on the river. People in the community could put a team together of their co-workers, friends, or family to compete against others. The organizers brought in professional coaches for a week who taught them the basics of rowing, then on the day of the races rode with them to steer the boats.

We spent two days with them. The first was a few hours on an afternoon practicing what we would be doing as volunteers which was basically being on the dock to help load and unload the boats and then empty them of water before the next team loaded. The practice day was a breeze as there weren’t that many teams that day so it was lovely to just be on the dock and meet some new people.

The day of the race we had a shift in the middle of the day and it was plenty warm. Things were much more hectic as we had teams coming and going quickly to keep the races going. We had drinking water on the dock but Tom had to sneak away during a break to find us some food at one point. He came back with a deep-fried catfish sandwich adorned with ketchup on white bread. Southern cuisine!

It was good fun though and we met lots of great people. The coaches were terrific & funny but competitive by nature and there were other groups volunteering as well, including students from fraternities and some kids from an organization named Bridge Builders.

We worked with some more of that group again another day in helping to prep for a race for Big Brothers Big Sisters. That day we were in a vacant retail building just loading the runner's goody bags with coupons, t-shirts and runner numbers. I asked one of the members if I could snap a photo of her t-shirt as it had their mission statement on back which I loved. It was great to work side by side by with this awesome group and some of the other students from the Air Command and Staff College (ACSC).

You know you're living in Alabama when you're considering adding the Boiled Peanut Festival to your list of social activities.