Church callings

I have had a chance to analyze my church callings since I have been married. For the most part, my church callings have been short-lived since we have moved so much (some think we have moved so much because of my church callings, but that is a whole other argument). Brodi and I have lived in 9 wards in our less than 10 years of marriage. Anyway, here are the callings:

Ward 1: Nursery--Seriously, c'mon. Newly-marrieds should never be put in this position. Most newlyweds don't want kids right away, let alone spending two hours with some strangers' kids. So, we spent our first 6 months getting to know nobody and wanting to hold off on having kids until we were well past 40 years old. Rule #1 to every Bishop--If you are inspired to put in a newlywed couple into nursery, check on that inspiration again.

Ward 2: Elders Quorum Instructor--This was in Blackfoot, Idaho so I was probably disliked for being a Utah mormon from the beginning, but I liked this calling. I teach from manuals, add in some personal flair, a hint of false doctrine and I am set.

Ward 3: Young Mens Presidency. I think it is a requirement that if you are in a family ward with few apartments in the boundaries, all 20-30 year olds should be put in the young mens presidency. Enjoyed it. Good kids and fun.

Ward 4: Primary. Brodi and I team-taught and we had great kids. In fact, we saw one of the girls in our class 5 years later and she totally remembered us and said how much she liked us as teachers. I think it had to do with the candy we brought, the movies we watched and the totally awesome way we handled ourselves as teachers. Or maybe, the girl was simply lying to us to make us feel better.

Ward 5: Young Mens Presidency. This was in London and we had 2-3 young men. It was OK, but it was pretty fabulous to have our bishop say to us in church 'We have a hell of a lot of work to do here.' This ward did win the 'coolest name for a ward/building' for us though with the name 'WhiteChapel Ward.' Our church was in the area where Jack the Ripper claimed his victims.

Ward 6: Young Mens Presidency. This was in Virginia. I got to work with some cool guys and we had some great kids. I was shocked at how time consuming this calling was. During one stretch, we had activities on 8 of 11 straight weekends--campouts, firesides, scout activities, etc. It was a little nuts. This was also the first time that I traded a calling with another guy in the Presidency. He was in charge of 'Duty to God' and I was in charge of being an assistant in scouting. As many of you know, scouting is not my forte, to put it lightly. We traded and let the bishop know...he told us: 'Cool, thanks for letting me know.'

Ward 7: No calling. This was in Denver. We were only there for 3 months so the bishop gave us no calling but told us to be active in the ward. OK, we can do that. Though it did take us a month to even attend our ward (1st week we went to the church but it was being renovated and it directed us to another chapel. We got there and church was over. 2nd week we went to church to find out it was stake conference. 3rd week--We were out of town. 4th week--we found it and enjoyed it only to leave early because Carter was sick). No doubt we made a great impression on the ward during our stay there...hopefully, they have handled us moving away from the ward, well.

Ward 8: Young Mens Teacher/Advisor. I taught class once a month but was not expected to go to the weekly activities unless I wanted. Pretty laid back calling.

Ward 9: Nursery/Cub Committee Chairman/Elders Quorum Presidency. No question about it, Nursery is the greatest calling ever. Yes, it stinks when you are young and newly married...but after that, it rocks. You get treats, you play on the floor with kids and little cars/toys, etc. and you get to sing songs. It is awesome! Cub scouts was OK...I worked with my BFF Renan which was totally awesome though ...Elders Quorum is pretty cool, good group of guys and has been pretty good. I try to keep my ranting and raving to 'Just DO Better!' to all the guys at a minimum though in elders quorum.

So, as you can see, my High level Church Leadership track is right on line.