I write the newsletter for my ward and it comes out at the end of the month, so that has been my project today. I collect all sorts of things over the month and put them together the last couple days of the month. We always have a message from a member of our bishopric and one other member of the ward leadership. Sometimes Russell even gets a chance to add a message. I am big on graphics and calendaring and cool thoughts so I spend a fair amount of time looking for that kind of stuff on the internet. Pinterest has been a great source of neat thoughts. I always have a theme so that helps while looking for fun thing to use. This month is about Pioneers and Independence Day. ( Real original huh?)
Anyway, it may seem like it wouldn't be a very spiritually uplifting calling but it actually is. I try to make a cute quote box for each of the month's Ensign messages so I really study those each month and then try to add something that might help be uplifting to others as they study the messages themselves. I am also really trying to keep track of the goings on of our ward so that keeps me on my toes.
One thing that is interesting about this newsletter is that I have a older gentleman that lives in our ward, (my building), who does not come to church but has started giving me information for the newsletter. He does not have a computer so does not have the internet or an email address so he leaves me health related articles under my door. He does not have long distance on his phone so he can't call me because I have an Idaho phone number. We have actually never met but he seems like a really nice guy. I know he is pretty old and has lived in our condo for over 30 years. I was just 24, 30 years ago.....
Another cool thing about doing the newsletter is that it use to be hand delivered and is now sent to over 150 email addresses of ward members. That was a pretty big job, setting up all the email addresses and then correcting all the ones that were incorrect but I liked doing it. We still hand deliver about 95 newsletters each month, which is understandable considering the average age of my ward is 76 so many older people do not have email addresses or computers. Anyway, the story I wanted to tell about doing the newsletter over email is that one month I got a reply from a ward member who was in the armed forces and he had been deployed and had just read the newsletter where ever he was. He just wanted to say thanks and that he appreciated being able to keep in touch with the events happening in our ward. I have also gotten thanks from ward members who are on missions who are able to keep in touch through the newsletter, so it is a pretty rewarding thing to be a part of.
It isn't really anything I can put on my blog but just wanted to write a little about it....it is something I love doing.
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