I was released from my calling as Gospel Doctrine teacher on Sunday. I've been teaching Sunday School for a little over a year now, and it's been very rewarding. In addition to helping me better understand the Old Testament (the Standard Work that I'm least familiar with), it also gave me a reason to make it to church. In the last year, I've gone through two bouts of unemployment, which inevitably led to depression. I know that having a responsibility that required me to make it to Church each week was a major blessing during those times.
Not only was I released, I was extended another calling: I'm the new Assistant Teacher's Quorum Adviser. When I got the calling, I thought that it sounded like fun, but not terribly challenging. I asked for a summary of my responsibilities and was told that I would help out in the Quorum and in the equivalent portion of the scouting program. That means that I'll need to go camping ... about once a month.
I believe very strongly that we receive callings so that we can be taught something. Yes, we bring something to the calling so that others can gain from our service, but there's some important lesson that we need to gain during our tenure. I don't know what the specific lesson for me is, but it appears to include gaining some appreciation for sleeping on the ground (current ground-sleeping appreciation level: zero).
One nice thing that happened was that my introduction wasn't met with only blank stares. The Simcik's son, Johnny, is a Teacher and not only insisted that I sit next to him when I arrived to the meeting room, he announced to everyone that "Jordan's awesome!" I hadn't realized that I had had such a positive impact on him during our interactions, so I was surprised by his reaction. We'll have to work on him calling me "Brother Larsen" while I'm serving in the capacity of my calling, but still a great welcome.
I may not know what challenges and responsibilities this calling will bring but I'm ready for what the Lord has planned for me.
No comments:
Post a Comment