Wanna Hear My Excuses?

I really just want a nap right now, but I'm going to persevere...because if I take a nap, I'll be up until midnight tonight. And I'd really rather sleep in bed.

Do you remember, last week, when I was all sneaky and saying I had a really good excuse for disappearing from bloggy land and being busy? Well here it is - I got a new job at church.

Our church is a little funny in that...we never apply for the jobs we get. The Bishop prays about positions that need to be filled, and then asks us to step in and fill those positions. Oh, and we don't get paid. Reimbursed for materials, yes. Paid for our time, no.

The jobs ("callings") aren't hierarchical...I mean, once you're done being Bishop and it's time for someone else to take a turn (heh), then you might be called to teach the four year olds how to pray, or make sure there are hymnals on all the pews, or play the organ (though, hopefully, they save this job for people who know how to play!).

I've had a lot of callings...I did a lot with music in the congregation I grew up in, everything from conducting to helping out at a stake level (umm...our congregation is a "ward". A group of wards is a "stake". It's all geographical.) When we moved to Connecticut, I was asked to help out in the Primary, teaching the 5 year old kids. I had a lot of fun doing that, and was then moved to co-teaching the 8 year olds with Lo Gung. (There are 6 of them on a small day, and 10 on a regular day.)

A few weeks ago, when we had that whole big clan of LoLos here, the bishop asked if he could speak with me and my husband. When the BISHOP asks to speak to a couple...there's usually a new calling involved. (They want to make sure the spouse is on-board and ready to support the one with the calling.) We pushed the meeting back and pushed the meeting back. First Lo Gung couldn't make it, then Bishop had another meeting an hour away, then his meeting ran late. He finally showed up at 10 pm. (I figured if a man was desperate enough to call me at 9:30 pm, knowing I was leaving the next morning, and ask to meet...I ought to let him get it off his chest, right?)

In he waltzes, and I'm thinking he's here for Lo Gung. I'm just getting comfortable, when what he's saying registers in my brain. "Sister LoLo, we'd like to extend a new calling to you."

Peeps, I'm the new Relief Society President.

I know!!!!

(Quick run down - in the 1800's, just after our church was organized, some women approached the prophet and asked if he couldn't organize them into some sort of society, to give relief and aid to the other people in the community. He did one better, and organized them into an official Relief Society, with the aim that they would see to the physical and spiritual needs of the other women. We're all assigned women to visit, and - thus- all have women who visit us monthly. Those women then report back to the relief society president if there are any needs the family might have. If someone's sick, there will be casseroles. If someone just lost a job, there will be casseroles...and offers to help find work. We take care of one another.)

I have two counselors and a secretary who are fabulous - seriously, my Dream Team. One takes care of any activities we organize, one oversees the teachers that teach on Sunday, and the secretary keeps us all organized. My (main) responsibility is to oversee the visiting teaching program (the one I described above).

I'm responding the best way I know how - by HIDING. Seriously. This week, I haven't sewn. I haven't blogged. I'm hardly commenting on others' blogs. I went to the library and got a few good books, and I read every spare moment I have, escaping into worlds full of fairies, vampires and magic. Things that are just about as impossible as ME being the Relief Society President.

I'll get my act together eventually...really, nothing out of the ordinary has happened since I received my calling. I'm just ducking my head under the sand. I wasn't too worried until I attended a baby shower last weekend and SEVERAL people offered their services to help out during the duration of my calling - watch my kids, prepare food (read: casseroles), etc. And I just kept thinking to myself, "Self, what do they know that you don't? What's going to happen that you're going to need THIS MUCH HELP." Because need it I shall.

So, that's one of my excuses. The other one isn't nearly so scary. Now. But I'll make you wait to hear it. 'Cause I'm mean like that, and Twilight is calling my name.

(Oh, and when I started this calling, I was joking that the ONE thing that could NOT happen was a funeral...because I would be overseeing that, as well. Not conducting, but...helping. Making sure everybody had everything they needed, including a small lunch for the family afterwards.

You'll never GUESS what I'm doing on Saturday morning. Think the family will like cold Crow Pie for lunch?)

(Please understand I'm not minimizing their loss. I just know that the Lord has a LOT of plans for my Pride. And it all sounds painful. I've got a LOT to learn. Including how to be a gracious, lovely, put together Relief Society President...and I've got until Saturday to do it. The Bishop IS presiding...and it's his first funeral as well.)