“Dream what you want to dream, go where you want to go, be what you want to be.  Because you have only one life and one chance to do all the things you want to do.”

A couple of weeks ago I was called into the Bishop’s office.  I was extended another calling.  After an extensive discussion I told them that I was more than happy to accept the calling but that I did have some time limitations that might cause some hesitation on the part of the new president.  After discussing it with her, they decided that it would be better to extend the calling to someone else.  The biggest issue was that I was unable to attend a weekly presidency meeting because they held it during the day.  The rest of them are stay-at-home moms.  Honestly I was a little relieved.  I really do love being a Gospel Doctrine teacher but like I’ve previously stated, I’ve never held this calling for a full year and it is just about four months away from hitting that mark so it didn’t surprise me that that they wanted to change me. 

Last Sunday I was bluntly told that I was wasting my life.  Yes, in those exact words.  Had they not come from a 90-year old member of the ward that I have truly grown to love, I may have told him where to go and how to get there.  Instead I just wrapped my arm around him and listened to him explain the statement.  He told me that I should be working for the church at the Institute as a teacher.  He said that the rising generation needed me and my love and knowledge of the scriptures.  This is a gentleman that worked for the church under the CES umbrella his entire life and traveled the world setting up the program.  Instead of being offended, I decided to take it as a compliment. 

This Sunday they split our ward.  We all knew it was coming.  My ward is over 800 active members strong.  It looks like Stake Conference every week as we fill up not only the chapel but the entire gym and two other overflow rooms.  When they announced the new boundaries I realized that I would be going to the newly formed ward which means automatic release of callings.  They have asked us to continue performing our current callings until both wards can get completely reorganized.  So I’m not too positive that I will still be a Gospel Doctrine teacher when the dust settles.  When the bishop of the new ward was announced, I couldn’t hold the tears back.  The Lord definitely showed me a tender mercy with the call.  I’ve grown really close to one particular couple during my short time in this ward.  They have taken me under their wings and made me feel so loved.  Yesterday he was sustained as the new bishop of my new ward.  It was a very comforting feeling.  I suppose that I shouldn’t become so attached to people but there always seems to be at least one couple that really becomes attached to me as my “parents” and watch out for me.  I feel extremely blessed to have such wonderful people in my life all of whom I am still in contact with. 

It will be exciting to see all the changes.  I’ve been involved in a lot of ward splits but I’ve always stayed in the existing ward.  This will be a new learning experience to be in a newly created ward starting from ground zero.  I know I’m weird, but I’m kind of excited for the changes.