Time DOES fly! It seems like yesterday that I turned a glorious 21! Thinking back that far, does strain the brain slightly, but luckily, I dont need to strain my CPU too much, and time retired is way better than having to rush into a job at rush hour! For me, Rush Hour is pretty well any time of the day, any day of the week. I tend to live from Sunday to Sunday, as that is the day when I go to Sacrament meeting at Church. I have been pretty well active since I joined 18+ years ago, and have missed very few Sunday meetings since I was baptised.
Finally I can see some benefits! I am - for my sins (WHAT sins?) - the District Executive Secretary, and as such (on the local District Presidency), I get to be invited to attend the meeting presided over by Elder Jeoffrey R Holland when he visits the Hillcrest Stake in October. Even as the First Counsellor, or the senior District Council Member, I would not ordinarily qualify for this privilege. I have heard Elder Holland speak before, and it was a brilliant session. I respect that he is a brilliant speaker and I am looking forward to the meeting!
Because I have not been to the Hillcrest Chapel before, I will go down on the Friday evening and stay over in an hotel for the night - either the Road Lodge or the City Lodge in Durban - and drive up the N13 freeway to Hillcrest before the meeting! I understand that I need then to take the Hillcrest offramp, and the chapel is then easily found! If I cannot get a reservation (not that likely!) I will need to leave home at around 6am, and drive down. I do not particularly enjoy getting up so close to sunrise, but if I need to, I will do that!
When we had to go down to meetings at Stake Headquarters in Durban, Richards Bay always had the furthest to go, but every month, they were amongst the first to arrive there - without fail! Maybe it was something to do with the fact that if you were early, you parked straight outside the chapel, and if you were later, you had to park quite a walk from the chapel! Same thing in Sacrament meetings - those who live in spitting distance are ALWAYS the last to arrive! That seems to be the way the world works though!
Even so, it is preferrable to getting up that early every week just to get to Sacrament meeting. I know that the EQ President, his parents and brother get up early enough to leave home by 6am to get to Church every week - and I thought that I had far to go - at 55 kilometers to Church! It kind of amazed me in Mormon Central (Salt Lake City) there is a chapel on pretty well every street corner! Even then, no doubt, less active members use distance from the chapel as an excuse for not attending - or worse still doing their hometeaching - People dont seem to grasp when they are well off!
I used to think that in Priesthood hour on a Sunday, that the Elders Quorum Presidency was kind of unimaginative - anywhere in the world - in going on about hometeaching. I knew it was important, but only grasped how passionate the EQ Presidency feel about Hometeaching, once I was called to the EQ Presidency. Suddenly it concerns me when respected members admit shamefacedly that they have not done their visits! Last night one of the District Presidency stated that it was the last week to attend to their HT duties, and it was on the tip of my tongue to say "And have you done yours for this month?" but it was not the correct place to raise this sort of comment! I was there as a Council - and Presidency - member, not representing the EQ!
I know that there are members of the District who complain because there MUST be better things to do on a Sunday than to go to Church! However, they are the first in line for Church handouts when there are dark clouds on the horizon. Just goes to show how a change in viewpoints can change the way you see things! I do my duties (or try to!), even though the nearest I live to my "families" is 35 kilometers.
Typically, this view of "there are better things to do on a Sunday" is not exactly different to any other branch in the Church - worldwide - with the possible exception of places that need to hold Sacrament meeting on Friday or Saturday, for fear of offending those in power! I bet that even there, the most common uses for not doing their duties, is either "I forgot!" or "I ran out of time!" For goodness sake, a month is pretty well the same length every month, without fail - 28 - 31 days - and it has pretty well not changed since time began! No-one alive now, fits into the category of "It is a new thing - this 28 (30 or 31) days in a month, and I am still getting used to it!"
I want to encourage the EQ that they do their duties by the end of the second week in a month, and report back to us in week 3. Then we have week 4 to ensure that what we commit to, we actually do! I know that changeing the emphasis from week 4 to week2 will be a shock to their systems - in month one - but if we can recognise problems in week 3, we still have a week to correct things! I can only see that we MUST improve our results if we actively chase up the offenders who dont do their HT! I see that this has to be more effective than attempting to do your Hometeaching at the last minute - every month! Surely it makes no difference if "last minute" is in week 2 rather than week 4? Currently we only know of problems in the second week of the new month, and by then, it is way too late to do anything to correct things! If we - as the EQ Presidency - are more hands on, it must surely rub off on the "slackers!"
Sad thing is that when you interview the Elders, you know pretty well before they open their mouths, what excuses they will use to explain why they have not done their Hometeaching! Luckily, those who do theirs 100% regularly, are the ones who boost the monthly figures to 50% hometeaching! Strange thing is those with a longer list of families than most, are the ones who do their Hometeaching, 100% every month. Proves what is said "If you want something done, give it to a busy man!"
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