Callings

[Tao]

Nor was I. And I didn't live in Provo. Oh, but I wasn't a high school senior. I transferred from BYU-I.

Nor I, but I do recall being mailed a t-shirt and a CD of the BYU mens chorus.

[C is for]

From what I was able to tell from talking to the other participants (yes, I went), it was based on GPA and ACT score? At my school, only I and my friend were invited to go, and we were both 4.0 students and had ACT scores above 30.

This is not to say that you lot didn't get invited because your grades weren't perfect, because they may well have been. But I know that was definitely a factor.

I remembered mostly one person from my Y Weekend group, and I worked with her for a year before she figured out why I was so familiar.

This is so off-topic. But ... I guess it's okay, unless bob says it's not.

[bobtheenchantedone]

In my view, this thread throughly extinguished its topic before the conversation organically moved on to other things. It wasn't a sudden "hey let's talk about this other thing" while others were still discussing the actual topic, and everything we have talked about can be traced back through the conversation. So I'm not smacking heads and taking names. : )

[krebscout]

The program may not have run very long, I'm not sure. I think Tao, DL, and Katya are all some years older than me. Or maybe you got the invitation and tossed it in the pile of college mail that you never really looked at again.

[Tao]

Heh, I graduated in 03 but if grades were a factor I may have been passed over due to that. I think the last time I had a 4.0 I was in preschool.

[vorpal blade]

The unfortunate thing is the fiction doesn't describe what happens after marriage because it is relatively boring, in certain ways.

I could make my writing about what happens after marriage not boring at all, but then my wife tells me, "Don't you dare write about that!"

[Dragon Lady]

The program may not have run very long, I'm not sure. I think Tao, DL, and Katya are all some years older than me. Or maybe you got the invitation and tossed it in the pile of college mail that you never really looked at again.

I'm really willing to bet that it's because I wasn't in high school. I didn't show any interest in BYU then. When I did start showing interest, I was a transfer student. So older or not, I didn't come to BYU until 2004, which falls into the year many of you went. But again, I transferred.

[thebigcheese]

Pretty sure I got an invitation to that, but I didn't go. I graduated in 2005, so I probably would've been invited to the one held in 2004.

[Dragon Lady]

Back to the callings topic (is that allowed now that we've switched topics?), I have to say that as great as it is to be able to have a say in your calling, it sure makes my job a lot harder when people start clambering for what calling they want or don't want. I've got 50+ callings to deal with, folks. Keeping them staffed when people keep moving or stop showing up is hard enough. Adding on the drama of what you do and don't want is just pure headache.

[Dragon Lady]

(btw, this has nothing to do with the initial question that started this thread, but rather some drama going on in my Primary currently.)

And make that 58 callings with a possible 2-6 more being created within the next coupla months.

[Katya]

Back to the callings topic (is that allowed now that we've switched topics?), I have to say that as great as it is to be able to have a say in your calling, it sure makes my job a lot harder when people start clambering for what calling they want or don't want. I've got 50+ callings to deal with, folks. Keeping them staffed when people keep moving or stop showing up is hard enough. Adding on the drama of what you do and don't want is just pure headache.

I'm very sympathetic to this, especially after a recent 3-year stint in Primary. (I now believe that wards should be staffed from Nursery up.)

However, I have seen lives ruined because people couldn't or wouldn't say no to callings and because I've seen the effects of those (admittedly extreme) situations, I am very aware of the commandment not to run faster than I have strength. I will not accept a calling that would damage my health or my family or if I don't feel right about it for any other reason, and I've never had a member of the bishopric or any other leader be less than supportive and understanding of my philosophy, as well as grateful for the service I am able to provide. Some of the most angry, judgmental Mormons I've ever met are the ones who won't say "no" and who are deeply bitter that anyone else dares to do so.

[Dragon Lady]

No, that's not what I'm saying at all. I'm used to people saying no by now. I'm mostly talking about people who are in callings that are making my current life difficult. One that I need to release from his calling for various reasons that doesn't want to be released. Another person who doesn't want to work with the person I wanted to call to replace him. And that person not liking her calling to begin with. (That's just the very brief version.)

Everyone's point is understandable. I can't disagree with any of them. Individually, I could work with it. But all together it's adding a lot of drama. I feel like in the last week my Primary has gone from being run by the Spirit to being run by politics. I know every one of the people involved will accept my final say after I spend some serious time praying. But knowing what they all want makes my decision a lot harder.

[Katya]

That's rough. I do try to be a worker bee, when I can, but more people definitely makes for more drama.

[Tao]

I'd love to be a worker bee. Alas, my gender....

"My life as a drone."

[vorpal blade]

Just out of curiosity, Tao, would you rather be a worker bee or the queen bee? (I'm not changing the topic again, am I?)

[C is for]

My parents grew up singing "Have I Done Any Good?" something like "the Lord has no use for a drone" instead of "love's labor has merit alone."

Just out of curiosity, Tao, how does that make you feel?

(Actually it's the world that has no use for a drone. Phew. The Lord has a use for everybody.)

[Defy V]

Be careful, Unit of Energy. I've known a number of young women who at first couldn't stand the men they later decided they really liked.

True story: an elder and sister from my mission hated each other so bad that one had to be transferred away. Now they're going to get married (she doesn't have a ring, but they've decided... I'll let you decide if that's engaged or not). When the mission president found out he said, and I quote, "wow... I've known other couples who I thought would never work out that did..."

I just met one of my visiting teachers today, and I think this is her. She didn't mention anything about one of them being transferred, but she did mention that the elder acted like he hated her for the entire mission. Then lo and behold he liked her all along and they got married in April. (And they both served in New York South, which makes me even more suspicious.)

[Craig Jessop]

Be careful, Unit of Energy. I've known a number of young women who at first couldn't stand the men they later decided they really liked.

True story: an elder and sister from my mission hated each other so bad that one had to be transferred away. Now they're going to get married (she doesn't have a ring, but they've decided... I'll let you decide if that's engaged or not). When the mission president found out he said, and I quote, "wow... I've known other couples who I thought would never work out that did..."

I just met one of my visiting teachers today, and I think this is her. She didn't mention anything about one of them being transferred, but she did mention that the elder acted like he hated her for the entire mission. Then lo and behold he liked her all along and they got married in April. (And they both served in New York South, which makes me even more suspicious.)

Yep. That's her. I was there in their same area for the whole, entire saga, beginning to end.

[Portia]

I find the constant shifting in U of E's ward to be unsettling and unusual. Think of the paperwork problems! It seems one would strive for continuity when possible. I would, of course, politely decline, but if you go through with it, chalk it up to "a time I had to work with someone I was not well suited to" in job interviews.

RE: the feeling you could/would marry someone right off. I've had it. And it definitely wasn't a case of "oh, I actually hate this guy." The love at first (or second, or third) sight trope rings true because some people simply have strong tastes and transparent personalities; I've never done a 180 on a guy. A 105, maybe, but there was unacknowledged attraction there.

[Portia]

I had a 1510 (old SAT) and 34 on that sucker, and I didn't get invited! Were Salt Lakers out too?