New Calling, New Responsibilities

Jason has been called to serve as the 2nd counselor in our ward bishopric. He was able to be ordained a High Priest by his dad. It was a neat experience to witness. Because of his new calling, I was asked to speak in church yesterday. So, I feel the need to post my talk here. I'm just going to write it how I gave it. ;D "I'd much rather sing than speak, but given my husbands new calling, I get to do the latter. I was given the topic of service and was told I could choose a talk from the October conference. When I was looking over the talks, Bishop Edgley's talk, "Enduring Together" leapt out at me. So he starts out by talking of a columnist for the Salt Lake Tribune relating what it means to live in a ward. "Being a go-to-church Mormon in Utah means living so close to fellow ward members that not much happens that the entire congregation doesn't know about in five minutes tops." He continues:"This kind of cheek-to-jowl living can be intrusive....It also happens to be one of our greatest strengths." The author goes on to say " At work on Tuesday, I caught the noon news broadcast on television. A van had been obliterated in a traffic crash. A young mother and two small children were being rushed to emergency rooms by helicopter and ambulance....Hours later I learned that the van belonged to the young couple living across the street from me in Herriman, Eric and Jeana Quigley." "Not only do I see the Quiqley's in church,...we ate dinner with them at a neighborhood party the night before the crash. Our grandkids played with daughters Bianca and Miranda....Fourteen-month-old Miranda suffered serious head injuries and died three days later at Primary Children's Hospital. " "Here's where all that nosiness...pays off. Although the accident occurred several miles from home, the dust literally had not settled before someone from the ward stopped and was pulling through the wreckage. The rest of the ward knew about it before the cops and paramedics showed up. Ward members went to all three hospitals, contacted Eric at work, and organized into labor squads. People who didn't get in on the immediate-need level were frantic for some way to help. In 48 hours, the Quigley yeard was moved, home cleaned, laundry done, refrigerator stocked, relatives fed and a trust fund set up at a local bank. We would have given their dog a bath if they had one." The auther concludes with this insightful comment: "There is a positive side to the congregational mircroscope my ward lives under....What happens to a few happens to all" (Robert Kirby, "Well-Being of Others Is Our Business," Salt Lake Tribune, July 30 2005, p. C1). Bishop Edgley goes on to give 5 lessons that we learn from bearing one another's burdens as ward members. 1. The Lord's organization is fully adequate to know and care for those with even the most dire emotional and spiritual needs. As some of you know, my brother was killed in a plane crash a year and a half ago. He left a pregnant wife with 3 kids under 3. At the time, my brother and his wife were living with my mom. For several years before this happened, my mom had been feeling like their ward didn't meet their needs. But with the death of my brother, it seemed to wake up the ward and they went to work. They had meals provided, young women came over to the house and cleaned, washing walls even, and even still today they come over once a week to clean the house and watch the kids and the kids have a place to go so she can attend the temple and run errands. It was amazing to see the difference. 2. Adversity can bring us closer to God, with a renewed and enlightened appreciation for prayer and the Atonement, which covers pain and suffering in all their manifestations. When my brother was killed, I was already going through my own personal hell. My testimony had been rocked as to whether I really believed in the atonement. The experiences that I had manifested to me that it IS real. My prayers intensfied greatly and I knew that the Lord was there for me, in ALL of my sufferings and sorrows. 3. Members who suffer tragedy firsthand often experience an increased capacity for love, compassion, and understanding. They become the first, last, and often the most effective repsonders in giving comfort and showing compassion to others. As I have gone through these trials, I have felt my heart expand and my personal capacity of compassion increase for those that struggle. My sister-in-law also shared with me an experience that she's had recently with another woman that recently lost her husband in a plane crash also and how Nicole has been able to be a strength and dear friend to this woman. 4. A ward, as well as a family, draws closer together as it endures together --what happens to one happens to all. Again going back to my mom's ward and how they came together. There is such a unity in that ward now. So much so that Nicole was talking to a friend about the housing project near our home but she didn't give it much thought because even though she wants her own home, she can't leave the support group that she has. They suffered with her, they were there and are still there for her. What a great thing. 5. And perhaps most important, we can each be more compassionate and caring because we have each had our own personal trials and experiences to draw from. We can endure together. The most Christ-like person I know is my husband. His compassion and forgiveness amaze me. I've never met anyone whose love is so unconditional. The experiences we've gone through over the last couple of years has prepared him to serve in this new capacity. He's got an incredibly big heart that's full of compassion. We get to know the Lord through our adversity...but let us do it together, lets endure together as brothers and sisters in our ward family. Let us lighten the burdens of each other. Let us not have to have a tradegy in order for our ward to come together. Lets do it now. I know the Savior, I testify that he lives. I know if we choose to let him-He changes us. He heals us. He heals our marriages, our broken hearts, our every pain. He is the Master Teacher. Let us pattern our hearts and actions after His example. Let us do our visiting teaching and home teaching out of love, not because we have to. I have experienced wonderful visiting teachers and it makes the biggest difference. When I was really struggling, Jill Ayala was assigned to be my visiting teacher and I don't think she knows what she did for me. Lets pull together as a ward so we can be one in Christ. In the name of Jesus Christ Amen.