A lot has happened at the ward the last couple months. Nothing too out of the ordinary, but lots none-the-less. I have been striving to keep up on my responsibilities as Elders Quorum President, and Cami as Young Women’s 1st Counselor. No matter what calling we hold, whether it is in primary or nursery or a presidency, there are certain challenges and struggles. We constantly have to stay focused and realize that the challenges that we face in our callings are a blessing in our lives. What is a problem or challenge often turns into a blessing and if it doesn’t, it is usually because of something that I am doing (or NOT doing).
I have thought long and hard about how to better connect with the Elders in the Quorum and, more importantly their home teaching families. I worry that I am not doing all that I can to ensure that needs are being met and that problems are being resolved.
Another aspect of the calling that I was somewhat troubled over was my teachers every week. The first week of the month is the Presidency’s turn to teach, and that generally worked out fine. The 2nd and 3rd Sunday’s are lessons from the "Teaching’s of President’s of the Church" series. This year we are studying President Spencer W. Kimball and it is wonderful. The only problem is that I lost Collin Richardson, who taught the lessons for me since I was called as president. He was actually released about 4 months ago or so to be the 11 year old scouts adviser and I have had to assign people every time those lessons came up because I just couldn’t feel good about anyone and that it was the right calling for anyone. The 4th Sunday of the month is the "Teaching for our Times" lessons which are decided on by the stake presidency and are taken from the most recent General Conference. I had Eric Parlin teaching those, but he held 3 other callings and there were some brethren with no callings, so I released him this last week.
To solve these problems took some thought and advice from Bishop Dalton and President Wolfley (2nd counselor in the stake). First for the callings.
We have a member of the church, Tracy Truesdale who is a convert of about 11 years, but just recently re-activated and re-motivated to the gospel that I have been fortunate to get to know fairly well. I assigned him to be my home teaching partner so that I could work closely with him and teach him the importance of home teaching and he has been great to work with. Actually I got to know him pretty well a couple years ago when I was the ward mission leader and we worked closely with him and his family as they fought through personal problems and temptations to return to church. I have always been super impressed with him and have had a big admiration and respect for him as an example of someone doing what he knows is right no matter how hard it is for him. He has a great family.
Anyways, I talked to him about teaching our 2nd and 3rd Sunday lesson and he accepted the call. He taught for me a couple months ago and was nervous and worried about the whole thing. He has never held a calling before and was faced with the challenge of preparing and delivering a lesson. It was a little rough, but went fine. When I was contemplating calling him, I thought that he would benefit from a mentor to help him learn how to prepare a lesson and also how to deliver a lesson on schedule. The right person for the calling escaped me and I couldn’t totally decide on who it should be. Then a new family moved into the ward who I thought would be perfect. I talked to the Bishop and got permission and called Kregg Chidester to mentor Tracy and help him with the lessons. They were both happy to work together and move forward, so I am excited and confident that they will do a great job. I think that it will only take a few months for Tracy to feel comfortable preparing and delivering a lesson and I am excited to see his growth.
He received the Melchezidek Priesthood last Sunday and invited me to be there with him, which of course I was honored to do. He said that his next goal is to take his family to the temple to be sealed together for time and eternity. What an exciting time in his life.
The 4th Sunday lesson was still up in the air and we had a member of the quorum that we felt would do a good job, but we haven’t called him to that position yet. Actually, he had a priesthood interview on Sunday with my first counselor, Todd Mackey and he was supposed to talk to him at that time about it, but I haven’t heard how that went, so I need to talk to Todd and get the scoop.
The main challenge that we faced as a presidency, at least in my opinion was that the home teaching numbers were a little lower than I want. January was a pitiful 12%, February was much better at 39% and March we hit 46% so there were obvious increases in the percentage’s, and as a result the lives of much more of our families were blessed with the home teachers in their homes. I haven’t gotten the numbers for April yet, but expect them to be in the 30-40% range. Our goal is to get the numbers to 50% for May and then to 60% by June and hold that number consistently. To accomplish this goal, we knew that we had to conduct regular Priesthood Interviews, but it was like pulling teeth to get them done. After an interview with the Bishop, we decided that the best way to do that would be to meet with each of the elders on the first Sunday of the month, and make them come to the house of the presidency member that they report to. As we decided if this was what we wanted to do, it was very clear that this would be the most efficient use of our time as most of the Elders live within about 3 or 4 miles of each other. So what we did was schedule the brethren to come to our houses in 15 minute intervals and have them report on how they are doing and what we could help them with. Then we gave them their new assignments and sent them off to serve until next month. I finally feel much better about what we are doing with the interviews and know that the percentage numbers have to increase. I am excited to see what happens over the next few months.
I am even more excited to see the affects this has on the lives of the members in our ward and especially on the elders that make the visits and take responsibility for their families. The numbers and having a high percentage are a distant 2nd in terms of importance when each family is concerned and I am more worried about being there for those families that need the visits. There have been a few families that I have talked to the last few months that needed visits, but didn’t even know who their home teachers were, and that is troubling. Hopefully this works.
Well, I know that the church is true. There is no doubt in my mind and my testimony grows stronger with each passing day. I am trying to be more kind to those around me and find myself not treating others as they deserve from time to time. I am trying to do better and trying to realize that they are Gods children too and I try and love them with that understanding.
Maybe one day I will have Christ-like charity. Hopefully it is sooner rather then later.
