Splitsville

Orson Scott Card wrote an article several weeks ago that describes what we went through yesterday.  Go ahead.  Click the link.  Read it.  I'll be here when you come back.

Last week, my Stake Presidency announced that there would be a meeting held the following Sunday (thus, yesterday) in which the stake boundaries would be re-drawn.  Of course, the rumor mill started churning away.  No rumors or speculations came close to what actually happened last night.

Some of the wards in my stake were too large and others too small.  Some had too many children and others too few.  With a completely lay ministry, this becomes an issue, purely from a "staffing" standpoint.  So under the direction of LDS general authorities, and with their approval, last night, my church life was picked up, shaken around a bit, and put back down for me to figure out what to do next.

My stake consists of eight wards now instead of seven, and I'm in the newly-created eighth ward.  I have a new bishop, who chose to continue serving with the same counselors that the previous bishop had.  A fourth (approximately) of my previous ward stayed in the fifth ward with my previous bishop.

This is normal in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  Completely normal.  That doesn't mean that it's easy for those that go through the experience.

I'm looking at everything from the perspective of my calling in what is now my previous ward.  I love working with the young men in the ward.  I am second counselor in the Young Mens Presidency and Scoutmaster.  But on 10 April, I will be released from that calling.  And that puts me smack dab in the middle of the unknown.

My new bishop will certainly meet with me before 10 April and will extend a new calling to me in this new ward.  Hopefully, it will be second counselor in the Young Mens Presidency and Scoutmaster.  That is likely to be the case.  Yet there are still a lot of uncertainties.

The troop over which I was Scoutmaster, Troop 770, stays with its chartered organization.  The new eighth ward will get its own troop and unit number.  I'll have to pick the numbers off of my sleeve (yet again) and sew new numbers on.  The troop flag?  Not my troop's flag any more. What about summer camp?  I registered the existing troop for summer camp.  What will the new troop do?  That's still up in the air.  What happens to the troop equipment trailer?  If it doesn't end up with me, then I'm REALLY starting over--even more than I had imagined.

My own sons were looking forward to a youth conference--a trip to serve people in the Navajo Nation followed by a couple of days of boating at Lake Powell.  That's not going to happen now.  It was spearheaded by the bishop of what is now the "other" ward.

*heavy sigh*

Yet I know that before too long, all of these questions will be answered.  I'll pick up the pieces that are left--whatever they may be, dust them off, and move forward.  Best of all, I'm not really starting from scratch, because the experiences I had in my previous ward come with me.  I'll be able to use that as a launching point to reach new heights.

If the Lord wants me to serve somewhere else, I'll help the new Scoutmaster in any way I can and I'll jump into my new calling with both feet.

I think that may be why Brother Card called this reorganization a "terrible, wonderful thing" that we do to ourselves in the LDS Church.

Disclaimer – The views expressed here are the opinions of DeShawn Smith and do not necessarily reflect the views of Employer Solutions Group or The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.