Fast Sunday

With my new calling as Scoutmaster/Second Counselor in the Young Mens Presidency/Deacon's Quorum Advisor, Sundays have become more and more busy for me.  On the second Sunday of the month, I attend Bishop's Youth Council.  On the third Sunday of the month, I have an Aaronic Priesthood Committee Meeting.  On the last Sunday of the month, I have a meeting with my Deacon's Quorum Presidency.

But no day is as busy as Fast Sunday for me.

On Fast Sundays, I'm in charge of making sure that a pair of young men visit each house in the ward to deliver a ward newsletter and to collect fast offerings.

I ususally drag myself out of bed at around 8am, shower, shave, and get dressed for the day.  The night before, I call a member of the Deacon's Quorum Presidency and have them call all of the deacons and remind them to meet at my house at 9:30 in the morning.  By a little before 9:30, the deacons have started arriving.  I send them off, two by two, and by about 9:45, I know whether or not I have to go into panic mode and start calling Teachers and Priests to help out.  Fortunately, we have a lot of really great young men in our Ward, so it's not too hard to find people to help.

It also helps that I bribe them with something like homemade cheesecake or dutch oven desserts.  Maybe that's not the BEST thing to talk about on a fast sunday, but research shows that bribery works well with young men this age, at least, that's what a friend tells me.  (He's a principal at a grade school, and he'd probably be able to point me to sources that say so.)

By about 10:15 or 10:30, all of the fast offering "routes" are accounted for and all the young men are out fulfilling that particular Priesthood duty.  If I can't find enough young men, I'll go along with one of them (preferrably my own son!) and I'll help out, but that's only a last resort.

At around 10:45, the young men start returning with the fast offering envelopes and leftover newsletters.  I'll give them rides home if they want.

During this "down time," I'm usually preparing a lesson for our Quorum meeting later in the day or I'll work on other calling-related things like making plans for an upcoming troop meeting or campout.  When all of the young men are back and the collection of fast offerings is complete, it's just about time to get ready for church.  Church doesn't get out until 4:00 in the afternoon, so by then, the day is pretty much gone.

I'm not complaining though...  Bishopric members have such schedules EVERY Sunday.