Sunday would have been any other wonderful Easter Sunday. We would have gotten up to see what the Easter Bunny brought and hid, we would have eaten too much candy in the morning. We would have gotten dressed in our new Easter clothes and I would have curled Hailey's hair. We would have gone to church and had great lessons about the atonement and resurrection. We would have heard beautiful music during Sacrament Meeting. We would have come home and had a delicious honey baked ham and funeral potato dinner.
Everything mentioned above did in fact happen on Sunday. It was a memorable and spiritual Easter. But something else happened that will make Easter 2009 forever live in my mind. I was sustained as the new Primary President in church. I had known about this calling for almost three weeks.
It's funny how it happened. The Executive Secretary made an appointment for Cody and me to meet with the bishop. After some speculating, Cody and I came to the conclusion that he was probably getting released from his three year calling in Scouts to be called to something else. It had been a bad day for me. That Wednesday was a hard one and I cried a lot. I was feeling overwhelmed with life and sicker than sick. I'd thrown up a few times that day and managed to drag our brood to the swimming pool for swim lessons. I was barely hanging on because I was so exhausted and sick being in my 11th week of pregnancy.
I raced home from the pool, made dinner, got us semi-dressed and we headed to the church to meet Dad who was already there for a Scout meeting. When we walked into the Bishop's office I immediately apologized for our haggard appearance. I explained that it had been a really hard day. We all made small talk for a while as the kids made chaos around his office and drew on the white board. Finally the bishop got down to business. And that is when it happened. He issued the calling by turning to Cody and asking him if he would sustain me as the new Primary President. I almost lost it. After several minutes of taking about it all in and the three of us discussing it, Cody and the kids left the room.
I then began crying and I told the bishop what terrible timing this was and how I was so unprepared and incompetent. But he gave me some amazing counsel and I walked out of there and hour later feeling afraid, but okay. He was giving me several days to pray about my decision and get back to him with an answer. When I got home that night I did the only thing I could think of. I called my parents. They are incredible examples to me and I value their opinion. My mom made me feel great and assured me that I could do anything that the Lord asks.
That night I prayed and prayed. I had an intense conversation with the Lord that seemed to go on and on. Then I barely slept that night as I was in and out of thought and prayer. Then at 5:00 that morning I received my answer. It came clear as day and I was filled with an indescribably feeling. After finally falling asleep and getting a little bit of rest I woke up a few hours later and knew I needed to give the Bishop my answer right then and there. The rest is history.
Calling a new presidency was way more work than I had ever imagined. I never knew how much thought and prayer would go into something like that. One of the hardest things about the last few weeks was keeping it quiet and not telling anyone about the new calling. Some people found out, but I did a really good job of keeping it to myself.
Now the real work begins. In the last four days I have been in about 15 hours of meetings and I still have two on Sunday morning, one on Monday, and then a huge Primary board meeting on Tuesday with every Primary worker in the ward. To say I'm swamped it a gigantic understatement. Right now my life is about living and breathing this calling. I'm very overwhelmed, but I know it won't be THIS busy forever. Getting the new presidency up and running is taking a ton of work, but I called some incredible women so I'm not doing it all alone. This is a huge sacrifice, but I know our family is going to receive a lot of blessings as a result. I just pray that I can do a good job and I won't let these precious kids down!
Everything mentioned above did in fact happen on Sunday. It was a memorable and spiritual Easter. But something else happened that will make Easter 2009 forever live in my mind. I was sustained as the new Primary President in church. I had known about this calling for almost three weeks.
It's funny how it happened. The Executive Secretary made an appointment for Cody and me to meet with the bishop. After some speculating, Cody and I came to the conclusion that he was probably getting released from his three year calling in Scouts to be called to something else. It had been a bad day for me. That Wednesday was a hard one and I cried a lot. I was feeling overwhelmed with life and sicker than sick. I'd thrown up a few times that day and managed to drag our brood to the swimming pool for swim lessons. I was barely hanging on because I was so exhausted and sick being in my 11th week of pregnancy.
I raced home from the pool, made dinner, got us semi-dressed and we headed to the church to meet Dad who was already there for a Scout meeting. When we walked into the Bishop's office I immediately apologized for our haggard appearance. I explained that it had been a really hard day. We all made small talk for a while as the kids made chaos around his office and drew on the white board. Finally the bishop got down to business. And that is when it happened. He issued the calling by turning to Cody and asking him if he would sustain me as the new Primary President. I almost lost it. After several minutes of taking about it all in and the three of us discussing it, Cody and the kids left the room.
I then began crying and I told the bishop what terrible timing this was and how I was so unprepared and incompetent. But he gave me some amazing counsel and I walked out of there and hour later feeling afraid, but okay. He was giving me several days to pray about my decision and get back to him with an answer. When I got home that night I did the only thing I could think of. I called my parents. They are incredible examples to me and I value their opinion. My mom made me feel great and assured me that I could do anything that the Lord asks.
That night I prayed and prayed. I had an intense conversation with the Lord that seemed to go on and on. Then I barely slept that night as I was in and out of thought and prayer. Then at 5:00 that morning I received my answer. It came clear as day and I was filled with an indescribably feeling. After finally falling asleep and getting a little bit of rest I woke up a few hours later and knew I needed to give the Bishop my answer right then and there. The rest is history.
Calling a new presidency was way more work than I had ever imagined. I never knew how much thought and prayer would go into something like that. One of the hardest things about the last few weeks was keeping it quiet and not telling anyone about the new calling. Some people found out, but I did a really good job of keeping it to myself.
Now the real work begins. In the last four days I have been in about 15 hours of meetings and I still have two on Sunday morning, one on Monday, and then a huge Primary board meeting on Tuesday with every Primary worker in the ward. To say I'm swamped it a gigantic understatement. Right now my life is about living and breathing this calling. I'm very overwhelmed, but I know it won't be THIS busy forever. Getting the new presidency up and running is taking a ton of work, but I called some incredible women so I'm not doing it all alone. This is a huge sacrifice, but I know our family is going to receive a lot of blessings as a result. I just pray that I can do a good job and I won't let these precious kids down!
4 comments:
That's fantastic! You will be a great Primary President!
I do not understand anything about your religion but I do understand that you need a break, not more work added. I am really worried about you now. I have been for many months. I wish you would take some time to yourself and get yourself back up.
I hope you are not offended. I just wish Veronica would come first sometimes too, not always husband, kids or church. I know, all these are a part of you but, if you lose yourself, none of those will matter.
Take a break, Veronica. NOW. Go back home to your parents and let them pamper you for a few weeks. You need it.
Julie
What a huge responsibility. I think one thing that is fabulous about the Gospel and the church is that we have the knowledge that while we aren't always capable of all things, the Lord is and we will never be given a task or challenge that we can't handle....with his help.
I love this quote by President Monson: "Do not pray for tasks equal to your abilities, but pray for abilities equal to your tasks. Then the performance of your tasks will be no miracle, but you will be the miracle."
Congratulations!!! I know that you will do a fantastic job and that your life will be blessed in ways that you can't even begin to understand right now! I love to see the Lord's hand in His work on the earth and it is an awesome feeling to be part of it! You are the greatest and I know, without a doubt that you will be carried in the hard times and that your sacrifice will not go unnoticed! It seems so contrary... but I love how losing ourselves in service brings us so much joy and happiness and that as we forget ourselves, our needs are then taken care of far better than what we would have done for ourselves!
Sorry I lost your call that day... my phone died. I've called you back a couple of times but never got through! Would love to visit sometime soon!!!
Love ya girl... you are amazing and will do this calling well!
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