Go a week without getting frustrated to the high heavens about fhe and my calling?
Answer: because I still get texts asking what FHE is after announcing it in church, putting it in the bulletin, branch newsletter and flyer, and announcing it in RS.
I realized that my calling has nothing to do with converting others to the gospel or bringing them closer to Christ. Nope, a more appropriate title would be "entertainment director for 6 year olds" because that is what I do and that is how old they act.
Also, I got the "I would come to FHE if it were something I liked" line again, and it was from someone who is not even in my branch. Yay.
K guys, I'll blog about my trip soon so there'll be something else on here besides my angst. Lo siento.
Monday, April 29, 2013
Sunday, April 7, 2013
abba
Was looking for a little ABBA action tonight, typed that in my iTunes and now I'm getting a strange mix of ABBA and my "Echoes of the Sabbath" cd, but I really like it. "Mama Mia" was on at the gym the other day. I watched it. That movie is silly and strange, but I do love it and it's really fun. High point of the movie is Meryl Streep. What can't she do? She totally sang those songs and sang them well! Plus ABBA songs are good music! "Slipping Through My Fingers" and "The Winner Takes It All" totally made me cry. The low point is Pierce Brosnan. He basically growls all his songs. I could have done without him.
Anyway, I wanted this shown for blog posterity, blogsterity if you will. It is my most favorite picture taken during 2012. Mike Theurer probs took it, Kameron Welsch editied it. I still laugh my head off when I see it. Thanks Kams!
Anyway, I wanted this shown for blog posterity, blogsterity if you will. It is my most favorite picture taken during 2012. Mike Theurer probs took it, Kameron Welsch editied it. I still laugh my head off when I see it. Thanks Kams!
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
here's one for ya
Warning: here comes a snarky post. I was bored tonight, and because it's my "off" night from the gym and I have been listening to Billy Joel, I'm all riled up. Although I could write for days about this I will keep it contained to one specific area within a topic. (but that doesn't mean this is short)
Topic: YSA
Area: activities, specifically me being the Activities co-chair of my YSA branch
Ok, so I've had this calling officially for a month and a half now. I will admit, I was not thrilled at all to get this calling. I knew it would be a lot of thankless work that no one would care about. Which it has been. And I struggle all the time with resentment and frustration like none other. Like I said, I could rant for a long time about this. However, let me tell you my story.
Each Sunday I get up in church and announce the activities for YSAs for the coming week. Basically nothing changes. There are always firesides on Sundays, FHE on Monday, Institute on Tuesday, Volleyball on Wednesday, Friday Activities, with an occasional Temple trip. The same stuff every week, sometimes something changes like no firesides on Easter, but you get the gist. This week we have an unusual week because there are a lot of things we are involved with. It is General Conference and my branch wanted to promote the watching of it so they decided to have a BBQ before the Saturday afternoon session and then watch it together. THEN we found out that our branch has building clean up this month. Ok, so we'll clean the building on Friday night because there is no way that YSA's will wake up to come clean the building at 8 am. (conference is on at 9 am pdt). Oh wait, someone scheduled a Temple baptism trip for that Friday night so we can't clean the building then. Ok, so we'll meet right after conference on Saturday morning clean the building really fast and then go eat BBQ and watch GC. Make sense? Ok, and I knew it would be a lot for one weekend so I started making announcements 3 Sundays ago so people could plan. Friday-Temple, Sat-right after morning session, clean the church, then eat BBQ, then watch GC. And we want lots of people to come clean so that it will go quickly and then we all can go eat. So last Sunday I did my announcement differently and asked someone what was happening Friday night, they had no answer for me. Then I asked someone else what was happening on Saturday, they said BBQ! And I asked what was going on before that, and they had no answer. I wanted to smack my head against a wall. Seriously? Does anyone listen? I don't just get up there to hear my own voice. We are all technically "adults" here and as such I would hope that someone would know what was going on. I don't make all this up because I am bored. I actually got questions like, "wait, what's going on?", "I don't get it, we're cleaning the church before conference?" I couldn't give two poops whether people actually come to any of it, so if my announcements don't make any difference then why do it. I probably didn't accurately describe the reaction to the announcements I made to show how frustrating it was. Anyway, I felt like I was talking to a bunch of 6 year-olds. And no one will show up to clean the church (which isn't my jurisdiction anyway) and everyone will come to eat. (But I already had someone tell me they weren't coming to the BBQ because they didn't know about it.) Again, I really don't care if anyone comes to anything, I would just like to be told I can stop talking if no one is listening.
Part Deux
I am over the wall frustrated with FHE. My philosphy is that FHE can be for socializing, making friends, playing games, eating food etc. But I believe it can be so much more than that. Service, lessons, gospel discussions, and more can elevate FHE and make it more than just another Ward Stare. I struggle a lot with the concept that all the YSA program is is to get people married off, and having stupid FHE's just buys into that plan. I feel that we could accomplish a lot as a branch. We could have around 30 YSAs show up who are young and strong and do some actual labor and serve. But could I get 30 people from my branch to come? Nope. Never. It's not fun and it's not about food. On top of that I can't get my council to do anything about it. I have a select few that do the things I ask them, but the others refuse. And of course there are no guys to depend on, except for one. I actually had a girl tell me that she couldn't do FHE on the one Monday a month because she got off work at 6:30 and it would be "really hard" to get to FHE by 7. Ok chica, it's one monday a month. And you are a grown woman. You can do it. Plus, you don't even technically have to be there, just assign someone to give a lesson is all that you have to do. I've told them all to tell me if they would like to switch assignments. I've told them that I'm absolutely willing to assist them. Again it's like talking to 6 year-olds.
And then there's the naysayers. So, a few weeks ago we planned to have a service activity. I thought we could pull something off but as the day got closer we didn't have anything. On Sunday it was announced as a Service Activity, being vague, but still saying it was service related (and for us that usually means writing missionaries). I tried really hard to come up with a good service idea. I thought a lot. Talked to people. Looked up ideas on the internet. Wracked my brain. I finally came up with something that I thought could be good and wouldn't involve too much effort on my part (I quickly learned to avoid that because it never works out) and people could do easily. I do actually care that FHE is at least worthwile, fun or productive. Then Monday night came and we only had like 10 people there. I knew it was my fault too because I had been so vague about the activity. Then a kid showed up and actually said to me, "we're doing this? If I had known we were doing this I so would not have come." and then my sassy friend put him in his place and told him why people go to activities. (He did not know I was in charge). Ooooo I was so mad. I was probably more mad a him for complaining then at all the people who didn't come. (Which I actually don't care about that much because FHE attendance is not a prerequisite to temple attendance, so skip FHE all you want). It just makes me want to put in the effort of making these things worthwhile and/or fun. NOT. I had all kinds of snarkyness coming out in my inner dialogue. "You say you don't come to FHE because you don't like the activities, ok then, tell me what you like to do and we'll plan a whole Monday night just for YOU." Or to the girl on my committee who said "I don't come to activities where I don't know what's going on because I won't know if I'll like it." "Ok, well, I won't tell you anything that's going on so you'll just have to miss everything." Gheez Louise,guys. I guess it comes down to the fact that I feel like I'm the cruise director for a bunch of 6 year olds. It's just the expectation that church is for entertainment. I had someone say to me that they didn't want a lesson at FHE, that's what church on Sunday is for. They hear three hours of it on Sunday, they don't want to hear more on Monday. Sorry, dude, you joined the wrong church. I've occasionally had really good FHEs where we've had a deep gospel discussion and no one played any stupid game. It's totally possible. All this crap just makes it really hard to want to do my calling.
Ok, so that's my rant for tonight. Jenn and Monicky encouraged my snarkyness so I blame them. ;)
Topic: YSA
Area: activities, specifically me being the Activities co-chair of my YSA branch
Ok, so I've had this calling officially for a month and a half now. I will admit, I was not thrilled at all to get this calling. I knew it would be a lot of thankless work that no one would care about. Which it has been. And I struggle all the time with resentment and frustration like none other. Like I said, I could rant for a long time about this. However, let me tell you my story.
Each Sunday I get up in church and announce the activities for YSAs for the coming week. Basically nothing changes. There are always firesides on Sundays, FHE on Monday, Institute on Tuesday, Volleyball on Wednesday, Friday Activities, with an occasional Temple trip. The same stuff every week, sometimes something changes like no firesides on Easter, but you get the gist. This week we have an unusual week because there are a lot of things we are involved with. It is General Conference and my branch wanted to promote the watching of it so they decided to have a BBQ before the Saturday afternoon session and then watch it together. THEN we found out that our branch has building clean up this month. Ok, so we'll clean the building on Friday night because there is no way that YSA's will wake up to come clean the building at 8 am. (conference is on at 9 am pdt). Oh wait, someone scheduled a Temple baptism trip for that Friday night so we can't clean the building then. Ok, so we'll meet right after conference on Saturday morning clean the building really fast and then go eat BBQ and watch GC. Make sense? Ok, and I knew it would be a lot for one weekend so I started making announcements 3 Sundays ago so people could plan. Friday-Temple, Sat-right after morning session, clean the church, then eat BBQ, then watch GC. And we want lots of people to come clean so that it will go quickly and then we all can go eat. So last Sunday I did my announcement differently and asked someone what was happening Friday night, they had no answer for me. Then I asked someone else what was happening on Saturday, they said BBQ! And I asked what was going on before that, and they had no answer. I wanted to smack my head against a wall. Seriously? Does anyone listen? I don't just get up there to hear my own voice. We are all technically "adults" here and as such I would hope that someone would know what was going on. I don't make all this up because I am bored. I actually got questions like, "wait, what's going on?", "I don't get it, we're cleaning the church before conference?" I couldn't give two poops whether people actually come to any of it, so if my announcements don't make any difference then why do it. I probably didn't accurately describe the reaction to the announcements I made to show how frustrating it was. Anyway, I felt like I was talking to a bunch of 6 year-olds. And no one will show up to clean the church (which isn't my jurisdiction anyway) and everyone will come to eat. (But I already had someone tell me they weren't coming to the BBQ because they didn't know about it.) Again, I really don't care if anyone comes to anything, I would just like to be told I can stop talking if no one is listening.
Part Deux
I am over the wall frustrated with FHE. My philosphy is that FHE can be for socializing, making friends, playing games, eating food etc. But I believe it can be so much more than that. Service, lessons, gospel discussions, and more can elevate FHE and make it more than just another Ward Stare. I struggle a lot with the concept that all the YSA program is is to get people married off, and having stupid FHE's just buys into that plan. I feel that we could accomplish a lot as a branch. We could have around 30 YSAs show up who are young and strong and do some actual labor and serve. But could I get 30 people from my branch to come? Nope. Never. It's not fun and it's not about food. On top of that I can't get my council to do anything about it. I have a select few that do the things I ask them, but the others refuse. And of course there are no guys to depend on, except for one. I actually had a girl tell me that she couldn't do FHE on the one Monday a month because she got off work at 6:30 and it would be "really hard" to get to FHE by 7. Ok chica, it's one monday a month. And you are a grown woman. You can do it. Plus, you don't even technically have to be there, just assign someone to give a lesson is all that you have to do. I've told them all to tell me if they would like to switch assignments. I've told them that I'm absolutely willing to assist them. Again it's like talking to 6 year-olds.
And then there's the naysayers. So, a few weeks ago we planned to have a service activity. I thought we could pull something off but as the day got closer we didn't have anything. On Sunday it was announced as a Service Activity, being vague, but still saying it was service related (and for us that usually means writing missionaries). I tried really hard to come up with a good service idea. I thought a lot. Talked to people. Looked up ideas on the internet. Wracked my brain. I finally came up with something that I thought could be good and wouldn't involve too much effort on my part (I quickly learned to avoid that because it never works out) and people could do easily. I do actually care that FHE is at least worthwile, fun or productive. Then Monday night came and we only had like 10 people there. I knew it was my fault too because I had been so vague about the activity. Then a kid showed up and actually said to me, "we're doing this? If I had known we were doing this I so would not have come." and then my sassy friend put him in his place and told him why people go to activities. (He did not know I was in charge). Ooooo I was so mad. I was probably more mad a him for complaining then at all the people who didn't come. (Which I actually don't care about that much because FHE attendance is not a prerequisite to temple attendance, so skip FHE all you want). It just makes me want to put in the effort of making these things worthwhile and/or fun. NOT. I had all kinds of snarkyness coming out in my inner dialogue. "You say you don't come to FHE because you don't like the activities, ok then, tell me what you like to do and we'll plan a whole Monday night just for YOU." Or to the girl on my committee who said "I don't come to activities where I don't know what's going on because I won't know if I'll like it." "Ok, well, I won't tell you anything that's going on so you'll just have to miss everything." Gheez Louise,guys. I guess it comes down to the fact that I feel like I'm the cruise director for a bunch of 6 year olds. It's just the expectation that church is for entertainment. I had someone say to me that they didn't want a lesson at FHE, that's what church on Sunday is for. They hear three hours of it on Sunday, they don't want to hear more on Monday. Sorry, dude, you joined the wrong church. I've occasionally had really good FHEs where we've had a deep gospel discussion and no one played any stupid game. It's totally possible. All this crap just makes it really hard to want to do my calling.
Ok, so that's my rant for tonight. Jenn and Monicky encouraged my snarkyness so I blame them. ;)
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