Question
Dear Gramps,
How do you cope when your co-workers in the Mormon Church and even the bishop undo all that you do. In my calling I am to plan an activity every week and a big activity every month. The monthly one gets changed so often that at the last minute I am often changing on the fly. This has happened for the last four months. I can’t go to the bishop as he is part of the problem, also part of the group gets more money than the other part which develops some hurt feelings in the participants. Some children get sports equipment for attending church meetings and some get home made cookies. I am trained and I know I am doing the program correctly and I know my group is doing what is best, but how do I deal with it without giving up and asking to be released
Kathy
Answer
Dear Kathy,
You tell me that you are trained and that you know what you are doing, but that you are meeting all sorts of opposition in getting done your way. Without knowing what you were trained for and where, and what it is you are trying to do, it is rather difficult to respond to your question in any specific way.
However, let me see how close I can come to the real situation by making a few assumptions. You do say that you are planning an activity every month. I would assume that your training is probably academic in the field of sports, or in a field of group activities of some kind or other.
Further, I infer that you plan your activities, announce them and then try to put them on. It doesn’t sound from your letter that you submit your activities to the bishop for approval before beginning to organize them.
If this is the case, then the puzzle fits together. From the tone of your letter you are trying to run the show by yourself, expecting the Ward officers to accept your ideas and follow your procedures. Thus, it would not surprising to run into the kind of opposition that you are experiencing.
Some things to consider– The bishopric and the Ward officers normally have a specific agendum, with particular objectives. Activities would normally be a part of the overall plan. In addition, whether that statement is true in your case or not, it would nevertheless be essential that you submit any plan to the head of the organization of which you are a part, or to the bishop himself, for approval before progressing any further with your plans.
If you have been a member of the Ward since before the last Ward Conference you raised your right hand in covenant that you would sustain the bishop in his calling. That sustaining does not mean that you just inform him what you are going to do, but that you seek his approval in all that you do in the Ward, and if it does not meet with his approval for any reason, “yours is not to wonder why, yours is just to do or die.”
The bishop is not required to have a plan that agrees with your pre-conceived notions, nor is he required to have the best plan. Whatever he decides you are self committed to do your best to make his plan a success. If you were to follow that procedure all of your troubles would vanish away.
Gramps
