Nigh onto 50 years of church callings

I am a list-maker. Here's a list, as far as I can recall, of my LDS church callings (volunteer "assignments"):

My church callings, as far as I recall

New Haven, CT Ward

Bishop Taylor

Junior in High School 1969-1970 Primary, Sunbeam teacher (3 year olds)

BYU 52nd student ward 1971-75

Bishop Taylor

Bishop Riggs (?)

Sunday School Gospel Doctrine teacher

BYU (BYU Academy bldg, Manavu bldg) marrieds ward 1975-1980

Bishop Kay Young

(Friends--Roger and Janet Bird, Jim and Jolene Downs, Louise Fitches)

Homemaking?

Primary counselor 

Provo family ward 1980-1982

(Friends--Gail Newbold)

Unofficial nursery helper

DeKalb, Illinois Ward 1982-1987

Young Women's counselor/MiaMaids teacher

Relief Society Compassionate Service leader/Visiting Teaching Supervisor

Primary Chorister

Primary President

Louisville Ward, Boulder Colorado Stake 1987-

Young Women's Secretary

Cub Scout den leader

Primary Chorister

Primary Counselor

Merrie Miss advisor and activity days

Early morning Seminary teacher

Ward Choir Director

Relief Society President

Stake Seminary Coordinator

Nursery Leader with Brent

Relief Society Chorister/Stake Priests & Laurels Activity Leaders

Primary Sunbeams teacher

Primary CTR 2: 4 year-old class

Nursery leader with Brent
Compassionate Service Leader

I debated whether or not to post this GR review on Facebook, but It's too important a book to be kept under wraps. Bringing skeletons out from one's own closet is never a comfortable undertaking, but the skeletons Carol Lynn Pearson brings out are not simply relics of an embarrassing, but safely dead and distant past. What makes this book so relevant today is that these skeletons are NOT safe, dead, or distant. Instead, they are a hidden source of great pain for too many of our LDS sisters and brothers, right here, right now. Carol Lynn has placed the issue out on the table, believing the church is better than this. My hope is that her work will provide a reality check that can be consulted and considered for the benefit of the church.

Sharman Wilson's Reviews > The Ghost of Eternal Polygamy: Haunting the Hearts and Heaven of Mormon Women and Men

The Ghost of Eternal Polygamy: Haunting the Hearts and Heaven of Mormon Women and Men 
by Carol Lynn Pearson 

Sharman Wilson's review 

Aug 29, 2016  ·  edit

really liked it

bookshelves: lds, non-fiction, women-s-issues

Read from August 02 to 16, 2016

This book elicits so many negative emotions, as it should. These feelings come from my ancestral past, from my maternal great great grandmother Lavina Young, who married John D. Lee as a 13th or 14th wife (she and her sister Polly married him on the same day). They come, unbidden and still painful, from a relatively recent personal family trauma. And yet, life is messy, and my feelings can also be ambivalent. My own beloved sister died at age 35, leaving 3 children and a wonderful husband who later married a divorced woman (a good friend of theirs) who took my sister's motherless children under her wing and gave them a step-brother and then two half brothers that we love. I have no idea how all of this will shake out, but I appreciate that Carol Lynn Pearson has looked at this uncomfortable subject so carefully and passionately. Thanks to her, the personal stories of so many women cannot be swept back under the rug, and for every story in the book, there are probably hundreds, maybe thousands more. Thank you, Carol Lynn. You are one brave pioneer!

Today's FB post:

Sharman Hunter Wilson shared a link. Mar 23, 2016 1:41pm

8 quotes from Mormon leaders on independent thinking - Flunking Sainthood janariess.religionnews.com And this isn't cherry-picking. There are plenty more quotes like this from a number of other respected Mormon leaders, past and (unfortunately not enough) present. We are ultimately accountable to God, not fallible men, no matter how much we respect or want to trust those called to lead us. I am NOT saying the answers will be clear--the water can be murky either way. Sometimes when going with our heart or conscience, against authority, we realize we were mistaken, and they actually did know what they were talking about. Other times, it turns out we are completely validated. The tension between the individual and the institution is a real thing--we are always faced with the dilemma and the choice of which to follow when the two clash, and we alone are responsible in the end. No matter how much we wish for the comfort of certainty and clarity, we must actually grapple and struggle with the tension! The more we practice making our own decisions, even as we make plenty of mistakes, we will be getting better at it, whereas pretending there is an easy answer (whether that is defiance or compliance) will leave us automatons.

More on parenting:

Sharman Hunter Wilson shared a link. Jan 25, 2016 3:17am

The collapse of parenting: Why it’s time for parents to grow up macleans.ca When I was young, I unconsciously wanted my parents to be more firm with me--I was actually envious of kids whose parents gave them curfews! My dad was really soft-hearted, and my mom didn't want to be domineering like she felt her own mother had been, so we were totally free-range kids. Still, frugality reigned in our house of 8 kids, so we didn't end up spoiled. Talking back to adults never occurred to us either--we hadn't become disillusioned yet about the mess adults were making of the world. I wonder if my teenage and young adulthood watching screw-up after screw-up--the Vietnam War, Watergate, cops fire-hosing little black kids, Chernobyl--made me realize that growing up did not necessarily guarantee wisdom. Maybe the Information Age has been inundating us with so much evidence of our own bungling for so long that we have lost confidence in ourselves as capable adults worthy of respect--and kids have picked up on it.

Parenting:

Sharman Hunter Wilson shared a link. Feb 07, 2014 12:37am

Why my kid is crying… themetapicture.com I could not stop laughing at these! That said, when my kids got to that point, I would make a real effort to hide my laughter in front of them because it makes them feel even worse. One thing it does show is that you can't reason with little kids. Their brains just aren't developed yet. If they are tired, hungry, or their routine is messed up, what brains they do have are pretty well checked out. They need comforting, not logic. Wait a few years and show these videos to them and then they'll laugh along with you :)

Politics and Trump bashing:

Sharman Hunter Wilson shared a link. Dec 26, 2015 2:10pm

Obama says Trump is 'exploiting' worker fears. True? csmonitor.com This helps me understand the otherwise inexplicable appeal of this man. He's channeling economic fears and anger, and providing convenient scapegoats. The thing is, how does that make any positive difference in his supporters' everyday lives? His "solutions" are diversions that only hurt innocent people while the real problems spread unchecked. Blasting your fire hoses at the brown guy clipping your neighbor's hedge is not going to put out the fire that's burning down your own house. Getting all pumped up with Trump's bad a** attitude fills you up with nothing but hot air. Can you picture him carefully considering complex problems and weighing practical solutions? Can you see him looking beyond his nose for any long term (or even short term) consequences of his words and actions? I seem to recall we once fought a war against the kind of stuff he's pompously preaching. Fascism by any other name would still stink to high heaven.

Church callings and leaders: FMH POST

Sharman Hunter Wilson shared a link. Oct 27, 2015 2:56pm

“Woman in a (church) Meeting” feministmormonhousewives.org My sentiments, exactly! I've personally been pretty lucky in my callings in having respectful male leaders, but I have close friends and family who have experienced humiliation and real trauma under the thumb of 'unrighteousness dominion.' Of course people are human and make mistakes (and we all need the benefit of learning from our mistakes), but it's so hard to watch deep harm being done by leaders who ignore our concerns (and who consider us unfaithful for voicing them, whatever tone we use). We need to have grown-up, non-threatening, and non-patronizing discussions about this stuff because the cats probably aren't going back into the bag. Meow!