My Tenure as the Bulletin Specialist
Years ago, I accepted the responsibility to do internal communications for my ward. This means I run the Sunday sacrament meeting bulletin and run the ward calendar used by the congregation. It's a congregation with solid attendance. An aging and geriatric population as the dominant demographic.
When I took on this job, I understood that the most important responsibility I would have is connecting elderly and aging folks with information about events, and making sure the organizations within our congregation were on the same page with each other. When I received this calling, our bulletin wasn't really meeting that need. It was a half sheet, front and back, that largely served the purpose of outlining the Sunday meeting. I was told explicitly by the bishopric that it needed to do more than that.
So that's what I created.
It was a hub of information, including all the things a new person or family would need to know when they move into the ward. Where and when to renew temple recommends. What night and time Mutual is. Building cleaning assignments. Service opportunities from JustServe. The hours and offerings of the FamilySearch Center. I also took advantage of the opportunity to introduce people to new and different art by the LDS artists with the cover photo.
When I got tired of that, I shared photos from current events from the Church News.
It was a single page of bi-folded paper, but I did my best to deliver a lot of value on that piece of paper. I got cards and letters from our elderly members thanking me for making all of this accessible to them.
Four months ago, the bishopric decided that we needed to eliminate the paper bulletin. They wanted a digital one. I told them with the technology limitations of our congregation, the best they could do was an email bulletin. And even that was going to be a stretch. We had a lengthy discussion about why having something like a QR code was deeply inappropriate for our demographic. Many of our elderly members don't have the Internet or smart phones. The ones who do aren't necessarily comfortable with them. This "discussion" went back and forth for a solid month from September to October.
That discussion was mostly me sending emails, then hearing nothing back. Then running into one of the bishopric members at the grocery store on a Saturday night, mentioning the emails, seeing a blank expression, and rehashing all of it again in-person because it was the first time he was hearing any of it.
The digital bulletin launches. A change happens in the bishopric at the same time. And immediately everything I said was thrown out and we transitioned to a bulletin on Google Docs with a QR code. Everything I said about why we shouldn't do this was ignored.
We were still working out how to do this when three different people from the family history committee started bombarding me with emails about changes they wanted to the information I had provided for the Family Search History Center. We have two: one in Boise, and one in Meridian. They only want the Meridian information listed.
Are we anywhere near Meridian? No. Is the Boise FamilySearch Center our assigned center because we're in the Boise Temple district, and that's how these things are assigned? Yes. Do they care? Apparently not. Do I know why? It's been two months. I've asked around. I still have no idea why.
By this point, I had walking pneumonia and was too sick to move. All I could do was lay in my bed and watch the world spin. I told the bishopric to tell them to talk to each other before they talked to me so they would all be on the same page. As far as I know, that's what happened. I was out of it for the entire month of December. I didn't have it in me to chase anyone down with whatever they hadn't sent me for the bulletin. One week, they didn't even get a bulletin because I couldn't breathe and didn't care enough to move.
This week, the Christmas Program, was the first time I felt well enough
to get back in the saddle.
I had a few things to catch up on, like the resuming of choir practice
with the new choir director and helping her to get her contact list put
together. I was still getting emails about the family history committee, when the bishopric told them that what they wanted from me was outside the scope of what the bulletin is for, and they could create their own newsletter if they so chose. I'm still getting emails from them anyway.
Today, I had a phone call from the Relief Society president.
It lasted for almost an hour.
This wasn't what was said, but here is what I gathered from it:
Her counselor, who is on the family history committee, is still mad she can't dictate to me word-for-word what I put in the bulletin. The Relief Society president didn't know anything of what was going on with the family history committee. She and I teased out together what was happening. I made the changes she asked for to an announcement to remove her from the middle of what a conflict between me and her counselor, apparently. I now have to deal with the source of this power struggle, which is going to involve an email to the counselor in the Relief Society presidency, in which I explain that I'm here to help with brevity and clarity. I'm not trying to fight with anyone. But announcements that include lengthy, extraneous information are inappropriate for the bulletin. They've always been inappropriate. They will continue to be inappropriate, no matter how many emails you send me.
(I don't have the spoons for that, but I must find them soon because that entire thing is going to continue snowballing if I don't.)
In the process of this phone call with the Relief Society president, she let me know she's also frustrated with how inaccessible the new bulletin is for our seniors. So I told her the truth: that I already said that to the bishopric months ago, and they're not listening to me. She told me the bishopric hadn't even consulted the ward council with any of the changes they made to the bulletin before they happened. They just tanked them through it and expected them to adapt, the same way they did with me.
She was unhappy to hear that. She and I were very soon on the same page about one thing, how disrespectful this entire process and its outcome has been, and that much of what I'm currently experiencing is blow back from the change. She said she would talk to the bishopric about it.
I don't expect to hear anything when she does. I also don't expect anything she says to make the slightest bit of difference. But it's nice to finally be on the same page with someone. It's happened so infrequently for the past four months.
Update
I asked to be released.
The great thing about free labor is you can just stop providing it any time you want. I am the one responsible for producing the consequences for people who take advantage of my kindness and patience.
Is this universally true? Yes.
But it's especially true where your willingness to give free labor is tied intrinsically to your social capital.
I am worth the effort to teach these people how to treat me with respect.
I am worth the interruption to the divine with my needs and concerns.
My "No" is powerful and sacred.
If I must please people by my very nature, let me be included in the people I must please.
This seems like a very small thing. And maybe it is. But it's a small thing that is still very difficult for me to do. I love the order, the intricate workings of everyone being in their place, doing their part. I intensely dislike interrupting that order, no matter how necessary it is for me.
I am worth the energy and the struggle it takes for me to learn this lesson.
I am worth the discomfort I feel in this moment.
I am worth all of this and so much more.
