Mercy

I'm going to start things off with a bit of backstory.   

Sometime around the new year I began to be restless.  I needed something to do.  I needed to be of value.  I knew my main priority was raising my family, but there had to be something else.  I had a calling in my church, but I was feeling uninspired and underutilized.  I began to pray.  If church and family wasn't were I was going to be fulfilled (in this specific need), I needed another avenue.  

It wasn't long after this (we are talking a couple of weeks) that I received a call from a friend asking me to be a part of a charity.  To specifically sign up to be the volunteer chair.  Chair?  Don't you need qualifications for that?  When people ask me how I got the gig I tell them it was simply that I had a pulse and said yes :0)  At the first meeting I kept waiting to be told that they didn't want me for the job after all.....and every subsequent meeting thereafter.   I had absolutely no idea what I had gotten myself into.  

Even after seeing the material that I was supposed to be using to recruit volunteers, I still had no idea.  I really didn't do much in the planning stages.  I pounded the pavement and made a few phone calls, but I really didn't do much else -other than attend meetings.  I had never been to an event like this before so everything was abstract to me.  Here is another brutally honest moment- I wasn't completely sold on the need for this in the community.  I wasn't sure how others would be feeling about it either with all the healthcare stuff and illegals and the entitlement society we are feeding right now.  It was hard for me to get into the project.  

My minimal contribution was getting bids from pin companies and designing and ordering the souvenir pins for the volunteers.  It's my only "claim to fame."  I wasn't even claiming it, but I kept getting credit for designing it.  At one of the meetings we talked about the new pin and I asked what they were looking for.  I threw out some ideas and one of the dentists did a rough drawing of what she thought would work.  I took our notes to the company designing them and had them come up with the below pin.  I did make 2 or 3 revisions after the approval because even though everyone else liked the pin, I thought it could look better - so they had to keep approving my changes.  I say it was a team effort, I just made it happen.  (I'm still not entirely happy with the middle of the pin, but I'm never happy with anything artsy I do)

The time for the event finally arrived. I still didn't understand what it was that I had gotten myself into.  I didn't ask a lot of questions because I was just the peon.  Boy was I in for an awakening.  

Thursday started at 7 am.  I was responsible for a team of volunteers and our responsibility was to check-in every single person who volunteered, give them a bade, a bag, and a t-shirt.  They had to have a waiver signed before they could receive their badge and entry into the venue.  We also had to register people who decided to just show up without having pre-registered -which was over 200 people (over the course of the event).   Luckily I only live about 10 min from the event center because I didn't get home until 8 pm that night.  

It was a super fun day though.  A bunch of missionaries from our area came and donated their service hours to the event and they really helped out.  It was great to have them there and to hear people talking about them.  It was really funny at my station because none of them had preregistered so we had to do it on-site.  The woman I had making badges for them all was so confused by the "sister" "elder" thing and wondering why they didn't have first names.  It was cute.  The missionaries represented the church very well and I was proud of them.  

It is quite a production to turn an event center into a super sized dental office complete with plumbing and electric and everything in-between.  It was quite amazing to see it come together.  

That first day we were on the first floor because the only thing happening was set up.  When arrived we got busy setting up our area and getting everyone signed in.  A couple of my team members had gotten there before me so it was a bit tricky establishing myself as the lead without it turning into some kind of turf war.  It definitely was not something I wanted to do, but I managed it pretty well - I hope.  

It got super crazy when all the team leads had their volunteers show up for orientation.  It was a sea of people and quite the madhouse.  I realized that I was everyones point of contact and had no information to give anyone.  Luckily I am pretty good at making things up and sounding like I know what I'm talking about.  I'm also not afraid to track people down and tell them what I need from them  because there was mass confusion everywhere because no one knew where to meet their group.  

Here's a picture of where we were on Thursday and the set-up before the craziness hit. 

Here's where I qualify what I'm about to say.  

There is a song out right now that says "I don't care if the world knows what my secrets are - so what?"  Hopefully what I'm about to confess to is taken in the spirit it is intended.  My journey of growth documented for the world to know.  Why?  Because human nature is fascinating.  The fact that we can change our very natures is fascinating.  What we are capable of that we might not have thought possible - is fascinating.  It's my journey and I'm sharing it.  

I've spent a lot of my life learning how to be a follower and thinking that I was one.  I've always said that I like being "in the trenches."  I've been scared of leadership, but not afraid to jump in and do what needs to be done.  Most of the time I would say that I was a reluctant leader who would much rather enact someone else's vision.  Never really wanting the title of leader, but taking it because it had to be done.  If I had to list a couple of talents I would say that I'm detail oriented and organized and I have vision and can communicate it fairly well to others.  I love following great leaders.  I love learning from the best.  Where I've run into trouble is following the not so great ones -there isn't a shortage of them either.  It is frustrating and I've learned a lot of lessons along the way.

This was my moment to see who I was.  The week I spent with my dad felt like a great preparatory stage of learning to follow with love and patience and have a great attitude in the process.  It was someone I knew I could be but was never quite able to achieve up to that point.  

This is where I skip the boring story of my constant daily pain and headaches that make being a nice person difficult.  Blah, blah, blah.  But, I will tell you that when I was younger I dreamt of being an important person.  As I was on a walk this morning I contemplated why I might have had such dreams.  The vision I had of myself involved a briefcase and a conference table and I was the boss.  I think it had a great deal to do with the complete lack of control over my circumstances as a child and teen.  I lived in a time (the 80's) of some of the greatest teen movies of all time that helped me get thru being a nothing.  All I wanted to do was grow up and prove people wrong by being more amazing and successful than they were (probably why I love all the period dramas delving into the injustices of not being able to break free from social classes).  

What did I grow up to be?  Well, the jury is still out on that, but I would say that I have far surpassed anything I dreamt up while lying in my bedroom alone wishing for a better life.  Am I carrying around a briefcase and sitting at conference tables?  Haha.  Nope.  I did spend a few years struggling with "just being a mom."  I had a change of tune, but this experience with M.O.M was a little dose of testing out my potential.  Hmmm, I'm not going to get all sidetracked by noticing my comment about just being a mom and the acronym of the organization I was working for.  

What was all that backstory rambling about?  I discovered how much a love being a leader and how I think I'm pretty good at it.  Without trying to sound cheesy - I know I was given strength and power beyond my own.  Like I eluded to, my body isn't cut out for 17 hour days without any real breaks to speak of.  My personality really isn't cut out for that either.  I am an introvert.  People suck energy from me instead of giving it.  I didn't want to let anyone down and I also wanted to embark on an experiment that I could take back to my seminary students.  So, I took it to the Lord and prayed for strength and laid out exactly who I wanted to be.  Do I want to brag.  Yes!  About myself?  No!  I want to brag about what is possible thru the Lord.  It makes me think of the Carrie Underwood song "something in the water."  There were lots of conference talks a couple of weeks ago about the sacrament -the water.  We don't partake of the sacrament only to be made clean, but to be given power beyond our own to face our trials. 

Ok, heres comes the bragging.  I received so many compliments that I was the perfect person for the job.  1360 Volunteers passed thru me and my team.  One that spoke to my heart the most because it was expressing everything I was trying to be was from another team lead.  There were 6 people trying to talk to me at once and I was calm and cool with a smile on my face.  I addressed everyones needs and moved onto the next line of people.  She came up to me and told me that I was perfect for the job because I was calm and happy with so many people trying to talk to me at once in the midst of chaos and I knew what to do.  I have a tendency to get overstimulated -especially when I'm tired.  In the past I've had a lack of patience for pushy people all demanding my attention and answers at the same time.  It should have sent me over the edge, but it didn't.  It may seem silly and small, but I loved accomplishing a goal.  A goal that I was able to keep up with for 3 solid 17 hour days in a row with very little sleep between.  I had a couple of volunteers thank me for being such a good leader.  That I was organized and was clear about what needed to be done and who I needed to do it.  My skills that go unnoticed and unrecognized while in the role of boring 'ole mom were shining and it felt AMAZING!  Do I want to run out and get some kind of full time job?  Heck no.  

What am I doing?  Trying to live each day being a little better than the last.  Preparing myself for whatever the Lord needs me to do while I'm here.

I was trying so very hard to be the example that we talk about in seminary nearly every morning.  Living out what it means to keep my baptismal covenants.  To take upon me the name of Jesus Christ.  To represent Him in a way that doesn't tarnish Him.  I think of when I talked about "kind eyes."  It sounds silly, but I really try to be aware of my face at all times.  To make sure that I am always conveying love and kindness -especially when I have a tendency to have mean expressions on my face.  It really helped my attitude to follow suit.  

OK, enough of all that.  Here is my ever so spiffy vest that I was made to wear.  The card below was on the front of that vest.  As much as I didn't want to wear it, it was super helpful in trying to locate all the team leads -there were 35 - patient escort lead, hospitality, patient check-in, infection control, hygiene, root canal, translation....etc

For Friday and Saturday we had to move everything upstairs to the other entrance.  My day also started with waking up at 3:30am to be there by 4:15am and stay until 7-8pm.  To say the days were long is an understatement.  Actually, the mornings were the most brutal because by about 9 am you felt like the day should be just about over and it was only 9am!  

The new location was a much smaller space so we had to get a new plan for how things were going to work, and we did.  Thank goodness for a couple of volunteers that had been to a MOM event before so they knew the value of working multiple shifts so that when I had transitions it was easy to train the newbies.  

  Anytime my area slowed down I sent my volunteers to go and help out with patient escorting- which made me jealous.  Every single patient received an escort to guide them thru the process.  My favorite part of the event was when patients would find their way to our entry.  They were supposed to line up in the lower parking lot and enter thru those doors.  I believed in representing our mission well and in rolling out the red carpet so I would personally walk them down and around the outside of the building to where they were supposed to be.  It was my only opportunity to interact with the people we were helping.  I loved asking where they were from, how many of them were hoping to receive treatment, what they were hoping to have done etc.  My favorite experience was with a lady who needed to use me for a cane because she wasn't prepared to walk such a distance.  She was so sweet and lovely and needed some teeth pulled.  I have to give props to the southern baptist disaster relief folks.  They were amazing.  They were out talking to people in line and giving them blankets, food and water.....and a chair for the lady I walked over to the line that used me for a cane.  

I met so many good and wonderful people which resorted my faith in humanity.  Did I run into or hear about a couple of bad apples? Yes.  But, mostly people were grateful - one man even came back on Sunday to help take down the event because he was so grateful to have received treatment.   Those are the kind of stories that make it all worth it.  There were also so many wonderful professional people in the community that donated their time or their goods to us that touched me deeply.  2 such examples were the people from chick-fil-a who donated over 900 meals to volunteers and even walked them around and handed them out to those who couldn't take a break, but they also handed out meals to the patients who waited in line overnight.  The other stand out was the McDonalds manager who sent a kind man over all 4 days 4-5 times each day with fresh hot coffee and food for our volunteers.  That's not even mentioning all the dentists, hygienist and dental assistants that took time off work and spent their weekend doing service and all the other "regular" people like myself who volunteered.  

What did the event accomplish?  1055 smiles.  1.3 million in dental treatment all with 1360 volunteers.  

"Are we not all beggars?" ~ Jeffery R Holland