The biggest activity of the year...

For Single Adults in our Stake, anyway.

Last night was the Annual Single Adult Thanksgiving Dinner. I get to be in charge, since I'm the Stake SA Co-chairperson, and even though I do have a partner now, he's been kind of out of it for a while (but is slowly climbing out from underneath the family and work responsibilities that have been keeping him busy). In years past I have spent a lot of time stressing about this night, trying to make sure the important things are being done by reliable people, and usually ending up setting everything but the tables up myself.

This year was completely different. And so much better. The tables were set up by the SA Rep from C2, my co-chair showed up early with his two children (both old enough to be helpful), and our wonderful Stake RS President showed up early to help as well. I felt like I was running around the whole time, but since I didn't have to do all the work myself it was not stressful at all. This year I made the turkey, and boy did it turn out Great. I used a recipe from my Weight Watchers email, and it was delicious. So moist and yummy. We had lots of food--as expected two wards were not represented, but gave them responsibilities that wouldn't be missed if they didn't show up--and the bishopric councillor from one of them did show up with rolls, so that was good. Once everyone had eaten and were chatting I brought out the styrofoam boxes for people to take leftovers home, and when they were done, there wasn't enough food leftover to even worry about. We had exactly enough turkey and ham, and exactly enough everything else, and it was great.

Clean-up went fast and well, with several people helping out. My co-chair and his kids got the room all cleaned up and ready for Seminary the next day, our SRSP did dishes, and I cleared and put and threw away and all that kind of stuff. I kept telling myself all week not to stress, and I prayed that I would remember everything that needed doing (not necessarily everything I wanted to make sure happen), and it went so very well. Huzzah! maybe I can be released before I have to do this again next year (three times is enough, isn't it?) Which means I've actually been in this calling about four years, since I was called right after Thanksgiving. I suppose there's hope...

The SA program is starting to look up in our stake, though. We finally have people representing each ward coming to the committee meetings, and giving input. We're putting together a questionaire to give us a much better idea as to what the SA in our stake would like. We hope to be able to implement changes next year. My biggest frustration is that we seem to be trying to put together a program that the SA in our stake simply don't want. It frustrates me to no end that those who are active in the church refuse to participate in the SA program. I understand why they don't. Really I do. However, they are failing to see the big picture. The big picture is this: the majority (90%) of the SA in our stake are NOT ACTIVE. The majority of them are not active because they feel like they DON'T FIT IN. Because they're Single, and the Church's emphasis is on being married (and rightly so). We can't invite these people to Single Adult events because the active Single Adults DON'T SHOW UP. Do you get it? Do you get it now? The less active single adults that might be receptive to a single adult activity would be turned off because the attendance at activities is so low as to be discouraging. So if you know any single adults, or if you are one, please encourage them to participate. Before I hunt them down and give them "what for." Course, if I did that, maybe they would release me. And leave me in Primary where I belong.