Question
Hi gramps,
I am recent convert to the church and I am waiting for my first calling. How long does it take to get your first calling and can you request one as our ward is small and there is no librarian or helper. I would like to help out. What is your advice please gramps?
Tanya
Answer
Dear Tanya,
Congratulations on your recent conversion and baptism. I think it’s admirable that you desire to have a calling right away. Serving one another brings great blessings and growing opportunities. While we don’t apply or vie for callings in the Church, there is nothing wrong with letting your bishop know both that you would like to serve, and where your talents and interests lie. When seeking revelation involving another person, it can be helpful to know something about that person. I recommend you set an appointment with your bishop so he can learn about your desire, and get to know you a little. Your ward Sacrament Meeting program (or the LDS Tools app, or LDS.org) should have contact information for the bishop’s executive secretary, with whom you can set an appointment. If that doesn’t seem possible, try to catch him before or after church long enough to let him know that you want to serve.
I caution you, however, not to expect that he will necessarily call you to the calling you’re interested in. As often as not, the Lord calls us to positions that will challenge us, give us opportunities to grow, and encourage us to rely more fully on his grace. It’s often an act of faith, humility, and / or sacrifice to accept a calling. When accepted willingly, and magnified as best we can, such callings will bless us, even if we don’t recognize it right away.
While D&C 4 is about missionary work, I find these verses are equally applicable to callings:
5 And faith, hope, charity and love, with an eye single to the glory of God, qualify him for the work.
6 Remember faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, brotherly kindness, godliness, charity, humility, diligence.
7 Ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. Amen.
Wherever the Lord calls you to serve, trust in him, seek these virtues, do your best, and leave the rest to him. If it takes a while for the bishop to find a calling for you, be patient, he’s a busy man, and it may be that there are other things which need to happen first in order to open the way for you to serve where the Lord wants you to serve.
I wish you all the best in your service, whatever it may be.
Gramps
