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Leadership Dissention |
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Nov - 5 - 2000 -
Well today was an interesting day - at least it has been up to now. We went to church this morning. In church they asked us to give the Elder's Quorum lesson. We were way excited to be able to share the "Faith" lesson, that we've been sharing with the branch, w/ the whole quorum. Of course most of the time was dedicated to business and announcements - which left about 20 minutes for the lesson.
Elder Guilder and I sang "Armies of Helaman" in Italian to start and then I went on to teach the lesson. While I was teaching I felt a little pressed on time, but I wanted to really help the Quorum feel the spirit and commit themselves to have more faith. While teaching - the Branch President kept interrupting and pushing the lesson forward - I immediately noted he was not really participating w/ his heart- I thought that it was the lack of time, but soon came to realize that there was another reason at work.
As the lesson started coming to a close the B.P. asked - "So what is the message that you're trying to bring to the quorum today Elder - What's the point of all this talk?" it was a question that was practically bristling w/ under-meaning. I proceeded to explain the point - that we wanted to create an environment of Faith in our branch so that miracles would BE ABLE to happen. Then we tried to pass out the Faith calendar that we had made. I was interrupted by a long spiel of negativity from the Branch President. He broke our boxes saying that we can't bring a message of faith and promise when we don't have the means to obtain it (That is 2 new missionaries that he really wanted) He said we are way to overwhelmed w/ everything we have to do and all the success we've had to be able to handle it all - So that, basically, our message of faith - was unable to be effective and put into practice.
He proceeded to build a case - mostly against us (the missionaries) and the leaders of the mission (Pres. Curtis) insinuating that the wrong decision has been made and that things were now going to go bad. His biggest piece of support was that at Bolzano they have 6 Elders and a lot less work than we do. Basically he just whined about not receiving 2 new Elders the last transfer and took his anger out on us.
Of course this attack was completely unexpected and caught me way off guard. I tried to reason and explain it to him - supporting ourselves, pres. Curtis, the church, and the lesson I had just given - but he continued to break it down. he was crying over spilled milk. I would have been all right if he had wanted to talk it over privately - but to do it in front of the Quorum - to tear down their trust and faith in us as missionaries and in the leaders and decisions of the church was way wrong.
I was almost crying because I felt betrayed - but I did my best and finished the lesson by saying - you can have your mouth water over a lot of things that don't happen and then complain, you can tear down the faith of the branch and fill it w/ doubt or you can instead re-double your efforts and fill them with faith so that real miracles CAN happen.
It was a very tough situation to have to defend our cause against someone of respect and authority in the church - it left me thinking all day. We are really trying hard and doing our best - we're building this branch and this work w/ our faith and efforts - and then he pulls out this rebellion and doubt. But I was told to expect discouragement and challenges - I will continue to put my trust and faith in God along with my hard work.
Good news - I invited Fernando to come to Priesthood class - I think he realized the pressure and the commitment that we have as missionaries and decided to commit himself a little more. After church he told me - "if you don't get transferred soon - you'll see at least one baptism here in Trento." Then he followed it quickly with "But don't tell Katia anything."
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