On virtually any given night, young single adults can be found playing games, taking institute classes or simply spending time with friends at the newly opened YSA gathering places in Nealtican and Oaxaca, Mexico.
As the Church continues to expand its efforts to help young adults grow in their faith, Church leaders have instituted “gathering places,” explained an update in the General Handbook posted less than a year ago.
Gathering places are designed to help young single adults find purpose within a community; they are designated locations — such as an existing meetinghouse or institute building — where YSA members can come together to participate in wholesome recreational activities, such as:
- Gospel learning, including institute.
- Self-reliance courses, educational opportunities, and support groups.
- Service and activities.
- Sharing the gospel and community outreach.
- Temple and family history work.
- Other Church programs.
In Nealtican, Mexico, young single adults now have the same opportunity. A new gathering place, which officially opened June 30, serves the three stakes in the Nealtican municipality. The YSA community showed their excitement and appreciation for the new gathering place by organizing and hosting a dance, a fair and a devotional the day before its opening.
The celebrations started just a few months later for the YSA members in Oaxaca, Mexico. The gathering place officially opened Sept. 8 and is available to adult singles in Mexico’s Monte Albán, Mitla, Amapolas, Atoyac and Brenamiel stakes.
A day before the official opening, on Saturday, Sept. 7, the neighboring stakes hosted a fair to celebrate the organization of the new gathering place; during the fair, resources and tools were shown to YSAs to help them become more self-sufficient. There was even a dance and devotional.
With the organization of gathering places, young single adults in these areas now have a variety of new possibilities available to them: frequent places to reunite, new people to meet and several opportunities to learn and develop skills.
“This place is an answer to many of your prayers and also to our prayers as leaders and even to the prayers of some of your parents,” said Oaxaca México Monte Albán Stake President Jared Pulido Martinez. “This is a sign that God loves you and that He thinks of you.”
Elder Tomás García, an Area Seventy, told the young single adults that miracles will happen. “I can truly say that this is a place that will bless lives, not only of those who are present but of generations.”
The Church’s Mexico Newsroom reported that dozens more gathering places will be organized and utilized throughout various regions of Mexico in the coming months.
More on gathering places
A gathering place goes far beyond just having a facility for young single adults to meet — it is a center of spiritual strength.
In order to organize the gathering place, stake presidencies will create a young single adult committee. A young single adult man and young single adult woman serve on the committee and serve on the stake council. These individuals plan activities, dances, devotionals and other activities with the goal of unifying and edifying their peers.
A senior missionary couple and young single adult committees oversee the gathering places. The committee will determine the interest and needs in their stakes, and help to plan and facilitate activities that align with these needs. These activities are not limited to devotionals or institute classes, but may also include dances, educational opportunities, and sharing food, culture or talents.
