On the sweetness of Mormon life:

Your Elders Quorum President asks you to go on rescue visits after church with someone from the stake. You don’t like accosting strangers. You never have. You are sweating it a bit. “Watch out,” you think, “I’m getting sucked into that churchy thing.” You resolve to do it. You feel peace. When you get to Church, Bishop tells you its been called off.

Your favorite goofy, nerdy ex-atheist young high councilman speaks on the Atonement. He talks about gutting fish and waves his hands a lot. His grandpa is dying, he says. In a week or two they will have his funeral. But grandpa is old and in pain and has led a good life. They won’t mourn his death, they’ll celebrate his life. He gestures at the sacrament table. We are met today, he says, not to mourn Christ’s death but to celebrate his victory.

At your parents’ house, you slice potatoes for dinner while your father lies on a recliner with his eyes closed and sings hymns.

Saturday night you finished chipping off the last of the tile in your home. Monday it will be floored with wood. Sunday your children write scriptures and slogans on the concrete floor.