So, I get called into the EQ Presidency

[Jeff Lebowski]

Originally Posted by Tex

LOL. Sense of humor, indeed.

Lookee there. It's tweedle-dum.

[Indy Coug]

Some people find my biting sarcasm funny and some are just too dainty to handle it.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Originally Posted by Indy Coug

Some people find my biting sarcasm funny and some are just too dainty to handle it.

Fair enough. Next time someone calls you a mullah, don't act so dainty. Buck up and take it like a man. Consider it "biting sarcasm" if you wish.

[Travis Henry]

Originally Posted by creekster

I once asked to be released from a leaderwship type calling when I entered what I now call my SU phase or, in lennon-esque terms, my lost decade. At the time, I didn't feel like I could honestly do what I needed to do as a leader. THe bishop reluctantly agreed and I sort of went off on a voyage of self-discovery and meditative consideration (this part is not a joke). Eventually I came back to the gopsel, but I decided not to tell anyone hoping to avoid the whole calling problem. I never wore suits. I sat in the back. I tried to aovid contact. The whole drill. So they made me cub master, and that just sort of snowballed. Not to be too cute about it, but the Lord will find you if he wants to.

My sister's husband is in the stake presidency and got called into the position at around the age of 33. My sister lives in Vancouver, Washington which in my limited experience is Mullah Centrale (more than any other locale- and in all honesty, this is the only place I've spent time in that I would call Mullah Centrale). Her husband's a great guy and I would not call him a mullah.

But the stake president thought it would be a great idea to obligate my sister to holding a monthly dinner for the entire stake presidency and their wives and the high council. For a gal with perfectionist tendencies like my sister, this is a huge deal- heck holding a monthly dinner for about 30 people would be a chore for anyone. Anyway, my sister once merely asked for the help of the stake president's wife one month and the wife basically started chewing out my sister saying it was HER calling and that how she (the wife) also worked full-time (apparently the kids must be older).

On another occasion, while my sister was pregnant with twins (and it was a difficult pregnancy) the bishop called her to be the ward chorister which entailed her standing up in the same position in front of the entire ward while leading all 10 verses of "If you could Hie to Kolob." Ask any woman who's six months pregnant (let alone twins) how they would feel about this, and they wouldn't be huge fans. Anyway, my wife tells the bishop no. She doesn't know if she could stand there for the alotted time and especially doesn't want to do it front of the entire ward when she's huge. The bishop proceeds to write her a letter telling her she basically MUST accept the calling.

To make a long story short, because of my sister's experiences (and there are more beyond these two) she basically tells my dad on the phone that she's wondering if she even "likes" the church after dealing with a number of a-holes in a fairly short period of time. I think perhaps the most disconcerting thing is when someone overreacts or jumps to the conclusion of "you may as well be inactive" when you don't fall in lockstep constantly with a bishop.

[Tex]

Originally Posted by Jeff Lebowski

Fair enough. Next time someone calls you a mullah, don't act so dainty. Buck up and take it like a man. Consider it "biting sarcasm" if you wish.

Remember that advice the next time someone calls you an apostate. Don't act like a pansy.

[Indy Coug]

Originally Posted by Tex

Remember that advice the next time someone calls you an apostate. Don't act like a pansy.

Except that "mullah" is a term of endearment, whereas "apostate" is the spiritual equivalent of the N-word.

[Sleeping in EQ]

My Hillary '08 shirt is about as close to foolproof as you can get. Use their biases against them.

[Archaea]

Originally Posted by Travis Henry

I'm not particularly social at church, and I never attend activities. I have, unfortunately, volunteered to pick up chairs and go to the local church welfare farm.

After I told my dad about the calling (and how I had hoped to remain just a EQ teacher in the ward we have just recently moved into), he shed some light on the subject. Being a young professional virtually forces you into more responsible callings, it's unavoidable. In my last ward, I was called into the Stake Young Men's presidency. At stake meetings with the leadership I was the youngest guy there by probably around 10 years. A guy at my work got called into the bishopric at the age of 31 last year (one year older than me). Another guy at work who's in his late 30s who joined the firm last year was a bishop at the ward he just moved out of.

This has convinced me that I need to pick the brain of my wife's boss, figure out the secret. Unfortunately, I think that it might be the wife. Apparently the wife of my wife's boss has some issues with depression and their marriage hasn't been particularly close because of these issues. My wife is the model of female emotional stability and is an exceptionally kind-hearted person.

So, given this suspicion I won't be picking his brain to find out the secret.

With all this said, I realize that EQ presidency is NOT a big calling and fairly standard for a guy of my age. But the ward I'm in is likely to split when a new building opens up in January. Fortunately, I live in the area of the ward with almost all the leadership.

You just have to suffer through the calling cycle or pull yourself out of it.

[Sleeping in EQ]

Elder's Quorum Presidency (not the President) is an easy gig. You teach the quorum once every couple of months and explain to the Bishop why something or other wasn't done about every other week or so.

[Archaea]

Originally Posted by Sleeping in EQ

Elder's Quorum Presidency (not the President) is an easy gig. You teach the quorum once every couple of months and explain to the Bishop why something or other wasn't done about every other week or so.

Most callings can be done efficiently and quickly once one gets the hang of it; the exceptions are scoutmaster, bishop, RS President and above. Even those can be done more efficiently than many do; the key is delegation.