Taylor Bennett

Cultural Anthropology
Oct 31st 2015
Field Observation
The LDS Church

I studied the members and the families of The Church of Jesus Christ of Ladder Day
Saints (LDS) Religion. I was able to observe them during their sacrament session, located in an
LDS Churches near my home. I also observed Mormons at the Salt Lake City Temple, and at the
Visitor Center. There I was able to watch their movements, language, and interactions with one
another. I studied key words that they used, the way they behaved in the church, and the way
they interacted with friends and their family.
I first attended a sacrament meeting on October 11th, 2015 at nine a.m. I stayed for an
hour and fifteen minutes. I sat in the back and noted as much as I could within that time. I then
went to another church at nine a.m. October 18th, for a sacrament meeting. I sat more in the
middle and toward the front this time, observing the people around me and the people would
speak up at the front. I stayed at this sacrament meeting for an hour and twenty minutes. The
following Sunday, October 25th, I went back to the first church to study the same people and see
if their behavior had changed. For this meeting I stayed for an hour and thirty minutes. I arrived
ten minutes early and the meeting ran fifteen minutes later than the average one hour. I also
stayed after for another five minutes to observe them after their meeting. On October 28th, I went

to Temple Square in Down Town Salt lake city. There I studied the visitors and the local
Mormons amongst the grounds. I also went into the Visitor Center for about thirty minutes where
I observed Mormons with name tags and dress clothes who would welcome and communicate
with others who were dressed in civilian apparel. When I was at North Temple I sat off to the
side, and on benches in the Visitor Center, staying out of the flow of the pedestrians so that I may
watch from an outside view. Sitting farther away also allowed me to take more accurate notes
because my presence would not interfere with their behavior.
I think I experienced culture shock by the behaviors of the Mormons I studied. I noticed
that many children during Sacrament were loud, and didnt listen to their parents when they were
told to quiet down. It caused a lot of distractions as others tried to speak up at the front of the
room. I also realized how big the churches population is, because almost every family during
sacrament had at least three to four kids, if not more.
One way that the church has continued to grow is by sending Missionaries around the
world to teach others of their religion. The males are sent out for two years, and the females are
sent out for a year and six months. They call the men Elders, and the women sisters. These
missionaries can leave at eighteen years of age, or older. During two of my visits there was a
returned missionary, both male and now twenty years old. They both talked of their missions and
a few families they had taught about the religion. They also both explained that it was one of the
hardest things they had ever done, but were willing to do it for their church and their own belief.
One missionary had come home only a few month ago because he was sick. He talked about
praying to return and finish his mission, because it was very important to him. His talk took
about twenty minutes, as he had a hard time talking about certain things he had faced during his
mission, being away from friends and family was the hardest for him.

The other returned missionary who talked about temples, also talked about families he
had helped teach the religion. When I visited the Salt Lake Temple, there were about eight girls
wearing dress clothes and name tags that said Sister and then their name. These girl were
missionaries from other countries, here in Salt Lake to teach other of the LDS religion. While
taking notes, one missionary asked me how I was doing, if she could do anything for me, where I
was from, what I was doing, and thanked me for stopping by. As I studied the missionaries more,
I noticed that they continued to stop everyone they passed and asked them how they were and a
few other questions about themselves. In this way, the missionaries were starting conversations
with people, and also creating an opportunity to teach someone about their religion.
The LDS Religion has grown so much in Utah that there is an LDS Church every few
blocks in most neighborhoods, and about 17 LDS Temples in Utah. This allows many families to
visit the temples on a regular basis. During sacrament, many of the talks given were about
family. Whether it was families staying together, being close, or families being forever (after
death). When watching the people at temple square, there were many couples holding hands and
hugging. Some had wedding rings on, others did not. These couple were usually taking many
pictures with the Temple and fountains. In some of the talks during the Sacrament meetings, they
talked about how important it was to get married at the Temple.
The way that they spoke was family orientated, by calling one another Brother and Sister.
They called each other these things because they also call themselves children of God. They call
each other these names to remind themselves that they are overall family, and God is their Father.
When they give their speeches, they call them Talks, as if they were just talking amongst friends
and family. The way Mormons speak is to support their beliefs. They believe family is the most
important thing and so they practice many things to keep family close, such as attending church

together, and practicing family home evening every Monday. Family home evening was
discussed during one of the talks, in which the speaker told a story of one of her own family
home evenings.
The LDS church focuses on doing good things, and taking care of your body, family and
soul. In this way they will go to heaven when they die. They find comfort and satisfaction in
believing that there is another place to go after death. They believe that they will be reunited with
their friends and family once again. The church spreads their teachings by attending church as a
family and sending missionaries around the world. They do this so that others can find the same
comfort in an afterlife, and their religion continues to grow.
I was very interested in the beliefs of this religion, if I was to return I would focus on the
way they teach their children their beliefs. During my study I was only able to observe the
children during sacrament meetings. After the sacrament they hold a primary school, where they
teach the children more.