Leader of the Flock

What a sight to see. At church today we had non active ward members there, people who no longer live in the area attend, every pew filled to the point of being crowded, overflow section of seats filled, anticipation filled the air, smiles and wonder on faces everywhere, excitement bubbled off the bishop, and an exceptionally attentive audience.

These are just a few things that I witnessed today. The story goes something like this. A long time ago (around a year ago, or maybe it was three months past), in a place not so far away (the ward house), a rumor started by a most reliable source (I heard it from a friend who said that she heard from someone high up, who heard from someone even higher up), that a change in the bishopric was soon to happen.

Could it be? No way!

When I was a kid, a change in the Bishopbric was something that would stir up imaginations and cause everyone to look around at the faces and expressions of even their closest friends. Close measurements would be taken of even the smallest reactions to an array of questions and theories would start to pour out. We all secretely hoped that the new Bishop would be our dad, as everyone just knew that our own dads would be the best Bishops.

The speculation, anticipation, and guessing games of "who's the next Bishop" certainly makes church life exciting. I'm saddened though that the only time we see certain non active church members at church is when a big change is being announced. If only they could show that same enthusasiasm for church all the time, maybe there wouldn't be as many non active members.

The new Bishopbric is a great one. All three men are examples of goodness, kindness, charity and you can see how much they love the Gospel. I look forward to the adventures ahead and to the guidence they will give.

Service Auction

Last night my niece and I participated in a service/goods auction at my church. Instead of using real money, we used funny money. Your spending amount was based on a survey you took that questions your emotional, spiritual, physical and general well being. I was able to get 265 funny money dollars and my niece had near the same amount. We each donated items. My niece made a cookie bouquet in a Halloween theme. There were ghost and pumpkin shaped cookies decorated expertly by herself. I donated 2 loafs of my delicious honey wheat bread, a child/infant bracelet and headband. It filled us both with delight to see as people were bidding on our items.

Although there were lots of items I wanted to bid on, I wanted to bid on my own items. Smelling that bread cook earlier in the day, making the headbands and bracelets, sewing the dish towels to go around the bread, all that hard work made me want to keep my items. But no worries, I did not bid on my own items. I had my niece do that for me. I hope that the people who won my items will enjoy them, as I enjoyed making them. By the way, give them back! Just kidding.

Some of the other items offered were, homemade fudge & cookies, Avon Halloween decoration (which I wanted so badly, but ran out of funny money dollars), haircut gift certificate (which my niece won), swing dancing lessons, Babysitting for one night (I won one of these), desserts each Monday night for a month, child's quiet play kit, baskets of Arbonne lotions and lip gloss (I won one of these) and a Clinique make-up kit. There were many other items available, but I can't remember them at this time. There were lots of very nice items offered and It was such fun to participate. This is certainly one of the most enjoyable Enrichment Night activities I've attended.