Posted by:
Breeze
(
)
Date: March 15, 2015 10:15PM
I always had two callings at once. I was a sap who couldn't say "no."
Visiting teacher was a continuous calling.
I always had the calling of ward organist. You probably know that this also includes accompanying people on the piano, who like to perform in sacrament meeting, and also accompanying the choir--and this includes all the rehearsals. I also would practice new preludes and postludes, until TSCC demanded that we stick to Mormon hymns and Mormon written and Mormon published music. The upside to the music change was that it was all kindergarten stuff (the hymns were dumbed down), so I didn't have to practice anymore. The downside is that the good music is gone.
Organists should be paid! Right, Verilyverily?
My favorite job (after the music died) was primary pianist, because the kids always made me laugh, and no preparation was needed.
Stake organist
RS pianist
Rs teacher
Primary teacher
Cub Scout den mother for 10 years (on top of two other callings, because it was on a week-day)
Sunday school teacher, 14, 16, 18 year-olds. We had some interesting discussions, and I didn't stick strictly to the manual. In those days, I could sometimes walk the kids through a back trail to my house, and have our lessons there.
Regional vice-chairman of the LDS Single Adults was my least favorite job. I liked the people, but the program itself was flawed, and TSCC would not allow the changes that the chairman and I wanted. We quit after about a year, and branched off on our own, on a smaller scale.
75% of the group were women, so, instead of trying to force marriage onto everyone, we got them involved in community charities, often with singles groups from other churches. We had a Holiday dinner party, game nights, a music night, New Year's party, a summer luau. There were 5 of us who planned and paid for these activities out of our own pocket, and we had them at our own houses. The activities were Mormon approved, but not Mormon sponsored, though we always invited the bishopric to the luau, out of courtesy. About 20 non-Mormon single neighbors (men) liked to come to our activities, and Mormons would come from all over the valley. A lot of them got married--some of them twice! It all got to be too big, and too much work, so we stopped doing this. All the problems were a bit taxing, and too many gold-diggers and con-artists infiltrated the group. (We shouldn't have kept the group open to everyone.)