Rising to the Occasion
By Susan Law Corpany

When I was 23, I took my first trip to the islands of Hawaii, where I now live. I was traveling with a group of young adults from Salt Lake City, most of them female. We were on Oahu on Sunday, so a group of about twenty of us, all girls, decided to find a church meeting to attend.

We arrived a bit early for the meetings at the Honolulu Tabernacle, so we took some pictures and visited with a few people before the services started. At the beginning of Sacrament meeting, the bishop gave a special welcome to the girls’ choir from Salt Lake City. He looked in our direction.

We exchanged glances with each other. Girls choir? Where did that come from? We found it quite amusing, that is until the bishop stood up to close the meeting and announced that they would dispense with the closing hymn, because it wasn’t often that they had a traveling singing group visiting, and he invited our “girls’ choir” to come up and sing Love at Home.

We sat there, stunned, unsure what to do, and then a couple of girls stood up and went to the choir seats. The rest of us realized we had better follow. Feeling somewhat self-conscious, we assembled, we sang and we sat down. The bishop thanked us and commented that we had a very strong alto section.

Stretch or Shine

Recently I was sitting in a sacrament meeting and found myself without a hymn book. I have been a member of the Church all my life, and I know the words to most of the hymns, but the opening hymn was not one of them.

Undaunted, I looked to the chorister, one of the older young women in the ward. A good chorister not only leads but enunciates the words clearly so that you can lip read if you are lost or short a hymn book. Sure enough, I was able very quickly to see the words she was forming to this unfamiliar hymn in 6/8 time. “One two three four five six. One two three four five six.”

I believe that callings usually come in one of two varieties — those that allow us to shine because of capabilities we already have, and those that give us the opportunity to stretch and work new muscles and become strong in an area of less expertise. Often those in the latter category are the ones we are loath to accept.

“Are you sure you’ve got the right person, Bishop?”

“Is this inspiration or desperation?”

“I don’t have a lot of patience with small children.”

“The Cub Scouts? I have all girls. Why the Cub Scouts?”

“Gospel Doctrine class? You know I’m not a gospel scholar.”

“The teenagers, Bishop? At my age, the teenagers???”

Sometimes our reluctance to accept callings is because we do not already have the capabilities needed and fear that we will subject our fellow ward members to our learning curve. We may also secretly wish for a calling that showcases talents we already have. Perhaps this young woman accepting a call as chorister, even though she was still learning about music, allowed another sister, frequently called to conduct because of her musical talent, to be a Young Women leader.

I try to look at callings that don’t utilize my already-acquired talents as a chance to stretch and grow in new ways. I don’t necessarily look forward to those times of being put on the racks for some spiritual stretching, but in looking back I can always see the growth.

I Don’t Fit the Mold.

When I was called a few years ago to be Primary president, I did not feel up to the job. I was new in the ward. Many of the children had Hawaiian names that were difficult to pronounce or remember, and I had a hard time telling them apart. I had no frame of reference as to which family they belonged.

Everyone knows that a good Primary president knows the children. “You in the blue shirt” wasn’t going to cut it. I like children, but my comfort zone is teaching Relief Society, which I consider the best calling in the Church. You teach once a month. The teachees stay in their chairs, have reasonable bladder control, and attention spans that have been known to last through an entire lesson.

I considered myself too perk-impaired to be Primary president, but I accepted the calling. I have a mental picture of the perfect Primary president. She is young, animated, has the patience of a saint, and is full of energy. I did not fit the mold.

One of the things I did as Primary president, during the year that our theme focused on temples, was create Temple Traveling Tigger. I took a Tigger, dressed in angelic robes, complete with angel wings and a trumpet, and we sent him on a journey that started at the Kona Hawaii Temple.

I gave him to some friends of mine who were here on vacation and they took him their temple in Portland, Oregon, for some photos, which they sent to me. Then they gave him to someone else who was headed to a temple and ask them to do the same. He had a laminated card stuck on his back with directions.

The plan was to see how many temples he could visit during that year. At the end of year, the instructions were to send Tigger back home. During that year we got pictures of Tigger visiting temples from Seattle to Chicago. He made a special visit to the Nauvoo Temple, as well. Sometimes we just received pictures, but often there was a letter that I was able to read to the children.

Looking back, though I might not have done it the same as someone else would have, I can see that I did a good job and brought my own strengths to the calling. And by the time I was released, I knew all the names of my children.

On the Right Hand and the Left

We are not asked to face difficult assignments on our own. When facing a calling as the president of an organization, your weaknesses can be compensated by the counselors the Lord helps you pick.

When the bishop called me to be Primary President, and asked me to pray and give him the name of two counselors, I heard unmistakably the still small voice saying “You have already been shown who your counselors should be.” Immediately I blurted out the names of two sisters, neither of whom I knew well, immediately aware and finally understanding the meaning behind the same conversation I had had with each of them earlier in the week. After each chance conversation I had asked myself, “Why did I ask her that? I never ask people if they are ready for a change in their Church calling.”

The bishop was surprised by my swiftness, but said that he had been ready to suggest one of the names as a possible counselor. However, he told me he wasn’t sure the other sister was in a position to accept because of some family challenges. I told him I felt strongly about her and to ask just in case. Both accepted. Not only were they a strength to me in running the Primary, but we have been a strength to each other in facing the difficulties of life.

None of us could have foreseen the challenges that would beset each of us in different ways as we struggled to teach the Lord’s children. I am convinced that that calling came to me at that time not so much for the skills I could bring to the assignment but to provide me with the fellowship of these two wonderful women with whom I served.

When I was called as a young Relief Society president, I felt inadequate. I didn’t want to be one of the ward icons, having people say, “Well, I saw the Relief Society president do this or say this.”

As I counseled with the bishop, he told me that they had been praying for someone creative who would bring new ideas to our Relief Society. I sighed. “If you prayed for creative, you’ve got the right person, but you might be sorry that’s what you asked for.” I figured that if the bishop could ask for creative, and he got me, I could ask for the qualities I needed in counselors, so I asked God to send me two organized counselors. (At other times, perhaps I have been the creative counselor or teacher prayed for by the organized president.)

As a result, my two counselors were an office manager and a sister who taught organizational classes. We had all bases covered.

As we first met together, we contemplated the names of sisters to call as secretary. I said, “Let’s look over the ward list and see which name jumps out.” I don’t think I ever told Lucille that she was called as our secretary because hers was the only name on our Relief Society roster that was printed in boldface. What can I say? Her name “jumped out.”

We bless the lives of our leaders when we accept callings willingly and serve in them diligently. We bless those we serve and serve with when we do the best we can in the assignments we are given.

Often some of our strongest friendships grow out of serving opportunities. What a shame it would be if we had turned down a calling and missed those wonderful associations. We also bless our own lives and that of our families by developing in new ways.

When we visit Honolulu and drive by the Tabernacle, I always remember that impromptu performance of more than half a lifetime ago and remember the lesson learned about rising to the occasion when it is needful. You never know but what you might discover that you have a wonderful alto section.