Tuesday, April 15, 2008

A Family Calling

Carlene Duda
I am not trying to brag, however my husband and I have the best Calling in the Church. Every 2nd Saturday night of the month we get home from our calling usually around midnight. Our ears are ringing, feet swollen and head swimming from too much sugar.
We were called last December to be the Stake Youth Dance Coordinators. At first our reaction was, "is that really a calling?" We had one dance of on-the-job training and given an external hard drive of more than 17,000 songs and off we went.
Scott, my husband is the DJ. Ryan, 19 is in charge of equipment set up and song editing. Kyle, 17 and Carson 14, are told who to dance with by their mother who keeps an eye out from the stage of girls who are not being asked to dance. (At first they hated it, but they are good about it now, and a promise of cinnamon rolls for breakfast on Sunday morning. Oh, the recipe is in my book, Beyond Oatmeal) Sierra 12, is in charge of keeping the DJ and his assistants supplied with refreshments, and looking up approved song requests. I approve song lyrics and skirt lengths.
We are fortunate that Scott's job provides him with Satellite Internet on his lap top. This allows us to be connected to song lyric sites so we can read the words to any song the dancers request. Any request can be approved or disapproved in minutes.
We have brought the dances to a new level and the attendance is up. This calling has been a wonderful experience for our whole family. We are grateful for the time we get to spend together as a family and a great team. The best part has been teaching our children the value of good music. Not only about the words but also the context. Actually the best part is that the youth know the DJ always asks his wife to dance a wonderfully romantic slow song on the dance floor with them. We have great youth in this church. This is a calling making family memories.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you, thank you, thank you! You never know what eternal effects your effort will have not just on your family but on the lives you are touching!

I am cheering for you!

Lee Ann Setzer said...

Man, I wish there'd been a couple of stealth youths assigned to dance with partnerless girls when I was a teenager. What a fantastic calling!

Tamster said...

I would LOVE that calling!!! "Oh, darn, we have to go to a dance!" Or I'd even like to chaperon one. We live an hour away from our stake center now, so that would be difficult for us currently, however. How fun for you! Enjoy! :-)