What do YOU take with you to sacrament meetings?

[RachelleDrew]

I try and pack all of our stuff on Saturday night and get our clothes laid out so we can literally just wake up on Sunday and head to church. I realized that on days when we plan on being there for all the sessions we take a lot of stuff with us! I was curious as to what all of you took with you. Especially those of you who have to travel quite a distance to meetings (like we do). I always find i'm forgetting something...

Here's a short list:

Scriptures for my husband and I

Our datebook/calendar

Our laptops to take notes during class

Couple of bottles of water

Cereal bars

Change of outfit/diapers/extra socks/hat/wipes/diaper cream/cheerios/juice cup/ tylenol for son's diaper bag.

A couple of quiet toys like books or blocks.

If we know we are gonna have a long day we also pack a lunch so we can have a picnic afterwards.

What do all of you take with you to meetings?

[Dravin]

Scriptures and priesthood manual and myself of course. There are some advantages to being single I guess. :)

[nc31410]

My scriptures.

YW Manual.

My binder to take notes.

Calendar

Blank sheets of paper

Crayons/markers.

Snacks

Sippy cup with milk!

[jadams_4040]

I try and pack all of our stuff on Saturday night and get our clothes laid out so we can literally just wake up on Sunday and head to church. I realized that on days when we plan on being there for all the sessions we take a lot of stuff with us! I was curious as to what all of you took with you. Especially those of you who have to travel quite a distance to meetings (like we do). I always find i'm forgetting something...

Here's a short list:

Scriptures for my husband and I

Our datebook/calendar

Our laptops to take notes during class

Couple of bottles of water

Cereal bars

Change of outfit/diapers/extra socks/hat/wipes/diaper cream/cheerios/juice cup/ tylenol for son's diaper bag.

A couple of quiet toys like books or blocks.

If we know we are gonna have a long day we also pack a lunch so we can have a picnic afterwards.

What do all of you take with you to meetings?

Well we do take our car, as its much to far to walk:).

[TruthSeekerToo]

You really take laptop computers to church with you? I have never seen or heard of that before. Is it common in your ward?

Here is my basic list (we have 3 kids).

Water bottle

scriptures and manual

notebook

calendar thingy

something to write with

my normal purse type junk (lipbalm, tissue and that kind of stuff)

snacks

I have graduated from an extra diaper bag to just one diaper. I hope to transition to no diapers in the next few months. HAHA!

[mightynancy]

-Purse (coral colored Timbuk2...sporty but cute!)

-Purple Cheer Bear backpack with my YW manual, scriptures, a binder containing my calendar and other resources, Twistables colored pencils for fun, and any handouts I'm giving the girls. I have a Cheer Bear backpack because my daughter moved on, LOL. It's still in great shape...thus I have no business forking out more money when this one will do just fine. On one hand I'm hoping it rips irreparably and pronto...on the other hand I feel so frugal carrying this ridiculous backpack, and that's kind of satisfying.

My kids carry their own - J just takes his scriptures. C takes her scriptures and a toy, usually her doll that looks like her or a Webkinz.

[RachelleDrew]

You really take laptop computers to church with you? I have never seen or heard of that before. Is it common in your ward?

Semi-common. We go to a branch with very little room for things like chalkboards. So a lot of classes are taught on laptops using projectors. We don't have tables or anything in our classrooms, so if you want to take notes you are either doing it on your laptops or on a notepad on your knees. We opt for our laptops.

It's easier to pay attention and be proactive in class discussions since I can type much faster than I can write.

[HyperShadow]

Scriptures, Preach My Gospel, and the occasional mint.

[Snow]

A bottle of isopropyl alcohol

Gauze

30 weight ball-bearings (it's all ball-bearings these days)

3in1 oil

A mimeographed copy of the Mayflower Compact and The Oath of A Freeman

[SMG]

My scripture tote, which carries my triple (BoM, D&C, PoGP) and my bible, a couple of colored pencils for highlighting scriptures, a small note book and a pen to take notes with. That's all I bring with me to church, aside from my coat.

[Mahone]

Hehe, I used to carry big bulky scriptures with me to church, leave them somewhere to save having to carry them around all morning and then every time without fail, when I need them, I can't remember where I have put them. That applies to notepad and pen as well.

Nowadays I find it's much easier to have it all on PDA. I personally have an iphone, which has a free scriptures application with 99% of what you'll ever need for most lessons when asked to look up scriptures etc. It also has a digital notepad for anything you want to take note of. Not to mention 3G internet for doing some quick research online. There is also an LDS hymns application, however this costs a couple of pounds to purchase. And it's small enough to fit easily into a pocket :)

I find this is much easier than carrying several thick books around church all morning. There are some you obviously won't get in digital format, but you'll get the majority one way or another. There are some who still have difficultly mingling church and technology, either thinking it's rude to have a PDA out during a lesson or sacrament meeting, or thinking it's unncecessary. However over the years I think the church will begin to embrace and encourage portable digital copies of its literature when it realises the amount of money it will save by doing this. Though I believe this will be quite a few years down the line yet when more people have the technology to utilise this and teachers will have to find ways to contend with people using them to mess about :)

Edited April 19, 2009 by Mahone

[SMG]

There are a few members in my ward who use PDAs for their scriptures and such. I find the idea to be a good one, but I can't help but feel a little sad that I would miss out on doing one of my favorite things: highlighting a passage of scripture that has a special meaning to me. :)

[RachelleDrew]

Ahh, I so wish I could get AT&T in my area so I could utilize an iPhone. I could wave bye-bye to my PDA, iPod, cellphone and datebook and just use the iPhone. I did not know about the scripture app, and now I want one even more.

[bytebear]

I love Scriptures.LDS.org The topical guide is amazing, and whenenver I think, "What's that scripture that has that phrase 'woe unto him...'?" I know I can fnd it using the search features. The Bible Dictionary is amazingly comprenensive too. And the cross referrences are great too. I would ve lost without that resource.

Edited April 19, 2009 by bytebear

[Guest Alana]

I have a two and four year old. We bring:

Water bottle

2 caprisons

crackers/apple chips/carrot sticks/grapes a combination of usually two of them

ether two dum dum pops or two fruit snack packs (bribery is my friend)

4 hot wheels

4 action figures

paper, coloring book and old friend magazines

pencil pen crayons

a doll

a purse for my daughter

small toy for her doll to play with

1 diaper

wipes

scriptures

lesson manual and pictures for lesson

aids for lesson

my wallet and keys

might sound like a lot of toys and food... but I'm there by myself and we haven't reached the point of the kids sitting oh so quiet listening to the speakers and drawing picture/notes about Jesus. Not yet;)

[peanutgallery]

I take my scriptures including the J.S. manual, my purse (and what is normally in it,) and a diaper bag which has a coloring book, pencils, doll, spiral notebook, some kid books, and a snack for my 3 year old. My cell phone is a pocket pc so I enter any important dates when they are announced. I can take notes on it, but I never do. I can't imagine lugging my laptop to church.

[Soul_Searcher]

Scriptures (most of the time) and handbag. I make sure I have chewing gum/sweets etc in it and a drink. Sometimes i-pod.

[Churchmouse]

A contrite spirit.

[Hemidakota]

I try and pack all of our stuff on Saturday night and get our clothes laid out so we can literally just wake up on Sunday and head to church. I realized that on days when we plan on being there for all the sessions we take a lot of stuff with us! I was curious as to what all of you took with you. Especially those of you who have to travel quite a distance to meetings (like we do). I always find i'm forgetting something...

Here's a short list:

Scriptures for my husband and I

Our datebook/calendar

Our laptops to take notes during class

Couple of bottles of water

Cereal bars

Change of outfit/diapers/extra socks/hat/wipes/diaper cream/cheerios/juice cup/ tylenol for son's diaper bag.

A couple of quiet toys like books or blocks.

If we know we are gonna have a long day we also pack a lunch so we can have a picnic afterwards.

What do all of you take with you to meetings?

First, I loved your previous avatar image......but I didn't know Saints now bring laptops to church. Usually, I do see Palm tops but never laptops. I guess I should do the same since it has the necessary tools to research or correct doctrinal questions. Thanks for this posting. I never thought of bringing such to a meeting.

[rayhale]

I bring my book bag that has:

My Scriptures

Our Heritage

JS manual

A binder that has articles about different subjects, and with articles about all the Scriptures as a whole, the Bible as a whole, The Old Testament, New Testament, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price.

The newest General Conference Ensign

[sister_in_faith]

Oh! Oh! Oh! I cannot live without my ipod touch. Yep, got all my scriptures (very searchable!) and on certain apps you can highlight as you go! I take notes on the notepad, and have the hymn book on there too. It is very very cool. You do have to be careful tho, cuz people give you really nasty looks when you are using one.

My favorite part of the using the scriptures is that it is very quick and easy to go directly to passages, so in meetings or sacrament you can quickly go to a passage that they reference, when if I am trying to find it in my paper scriptures it takes me forever to find them, and by the time I do find it, the speaker has usually moved on to something else. It has really helped me.

I would recommend it 100% to anyone!

[Moksha]

For what it is worth, a Nintendo DS is much easier for the parent to tote around in his Gospel case, than toting crayons and coloring books in a plastic bag.

[applepansy]

My Scriptures, me, my car and as many of the men from the AA camp that want to go. So many have been coming that hubby drives too and takes himself, the truck and at least one of the guys from the AA camp.

When I had kids I took my Mary Poppins bag.

[Hemidakota]

Ahh, I so wish I could get AT&T in my area so I could utilize an iPhone. I could wave bye-bye to my PDA, iPod, cellphone and datebook and just use the iPhone. I did not know about the scripture app, and now I want one even more.

You be further impressed with the latest G-Phone vice I-Phone.