New Calling

Sometimes, the Lord has a way of letting you know that you're not done with a calling.

At the beginning of the summer, I moved to Canyonlands (as most of you are probably aware), but I was living on the other side of the complex (also known as the dark side, or the empire) and thus I was in a different ward. While I was in that ward, I was called to be the second counselor in the Elder's Quorum. I felt like there were plenty of people that were more qualified than I was to serve in that position, but I suppose that's usually how it goes with a calling like that. Either way, I was willing (albeit nervous and feeling very inadequate) to accept that calling. It was a great calling. I loved both of the men that I served with in that presidency and have a great respect for the kind of men that they are.

However, as the summer drew to an end, I knew that I would be switching apartments and I would no longer be in that ward. My roommates were all moving out and I had convinced a bunch of friends to move in with me (they still regret that decision to this day). However, they (and I) had friends on the other side of Canyonlands (the light side, also known as the rebellion). So I figured since I was getting all new roommates anyway, I might as well join the rebelli...I mean, move to the other side of Canyonlands so my roommates and I could be in the same ward as our friends. Obviously, this meant I had to be released from my calling. There was much rejoicing. Okay, not really. But I would be lying if I said that I wasn't somewhat relieved to be free from the responsibilities of that calling. I thought I had gotten off the hook. I had served in an Elder's Quorum presidency (check that one of my list) and I felt like I learned some good things from that and grew from the experiences I had. It was time for a new ward and a new calling.

And that's what I got. I was called to be an FHE group co-chair leader/father-type person (that was the official name of the calling. Unofficially, we were "ma"s and "pa"s or moms and dads, but they didn't like us to call ourselves that. It's clearly not a long enough title). Anyway, I was pretty relieved with that. It sounded like a pretty easy calling. I mean, all we had to do is come up with activities twice a month, and technically one of those was a gimme because it was a dinner at one of the bishopric member's house, so all we had to do was figure out what we wanted to eat. That just left once a month that we had to come up with an activity for our group. Easy, right? Well, it would be except for one small fact. I am literally the least creative person in the entire world (possibly the universe, but that hasn't been verified yet. I'll get back to you when we discover intelligent life on other planets, but I'm willing to bet money that I've got them beat as well). So try as I might, I couldn't seem to come up with a single decent idea for FHE. Fortunately my co-chair, Madison, was able to come up with some ideas. However, for whatever reason, most of the ideas she came up with, I ended up shooting down, which immediately made me feel like the biggest jerk in the world (I probably hold that title as well, and if not I'm sure I'll do something soon that will win me that award). Anyway, thanks to her (and Cody, who pitched in some great ideas as well and helped out a lot with planning and executing some of our FHE activities), we were able to make it through the semester with some pretty decent FHE activities.

Anyway, that brings us to this semester. In my tithing settlement with Bishop Chamberlain, he asked me what callings I have had. He mentioned that they were looking to redo a lot of the callings in the ward and wanted to see who had done which callings. He had asked me the same thing at the beginning of last semester. At the time, he told me that they liked to give people callings that they hadn't served in before, to give them different opportunities and experiences. Which was the case. I had never been an FHE co-chair whatever person before(I don't even remember the title that I made up a few minutes ago and I'm too lazy to go look for it now). So I was interested to see what kind of calling they might have in store for me this semester. Obviously nothing with the Elder's Quorum, right? I had already done that one before. I even had the check mark to prove it (assuming I hadn't lost my list somewhere. I rarely lose things but this was one of those imaginary mental checklists, which means that it located somewhere deep within my brain. I lose stuff there all the time).

Well, apparently checklists don't matter much to God (at least not imaginary ones). Because a couple weeks later (this past Sunday) I was called in to meet with a member of the stake presidency. I tried to trick myself into thinking it was for some other reason than a calling, or at least for some other calling than the Elder's Quorum. But I knew I wasn't that lucky. Fortunately I wasn't called as the president. I don't think an Elder's Quorum could survive having me for a president. I wasn't even the first counselor. I was called to be the second counselor. I feel like it was God's way of saying "Yeah, nice try, moving out of your ward like that. You really think I wouldn't notice? You really think I'd let you get away that easily. Think again." So, tonight I got set apart as the second counselor in the Elder's Quorum.

Side Note: I feel like my back stories are getting longer and longer each time. In fact, there's getting to be more back story than there is actual contemplating. Maybe next time I'll at least try to fit something interesting in as a back story like how I learned airbending from Aang or a really epic Pokemon battle I had against a gym leader or that one time I stole the TARDIS from The Doctor. Anywho...we now return you to your regularly scheduled blog post (this blog post brought to you by the letter "w").

Finally, we get to the reason why I mention all this. As I was getting set apart tonight, I felt like there really were some things that I still needed to learn that I didn't get the opportunity to in the short time I served in the presidency in my old ward. I don't know what they are, but I guess I'll find out. The other thing that was impressed upon my mind was that I need this calling right now. At first that seemed weird to me because I know it's going to be a fairly demanding calling, and that seems like the last thing I need right now. This will without a doubt be the hardest semester of my college career. Last semester sometimes pushed me to my limits and I already know this semester will be harder than that. So why did I feel that I needed this calling right now? Because I need to not be focused on me. And I need a calling that gives me no other option than to serve others. As much as I'd like to be the kind of person that is always serving and finding ways to help and uplift others, I'm really not. I'm a very selfish person. And the Lord, knowing all this, gave me a calling where I will be forced to spend a lot of time serving others. I am convinced that that is the only way I will get through this semester. Because if I'm focused on myself, I'm just going to keep complaining about how hard my life is. And that never helps anything. So, yeah. I'm looking forward to the challenges and opportunities this (not so) new calling will bring. I'm also still nervous as all get out and feeling completely inadequate. But honestly, I'm starting to like that feeling. Because it means good things are on the horizon and I'll have plenty of opportunities to grow.