Urban Poly Princess

One of the talks we studied a lot on Tuesday was Elder D. Todd Christopherson's October 2008 talk Come to Zion.

Unity, Holiness and Caring for the Poor were what he listed as essential to bring about a Zion people like the city of Enoch.

Unity
Forgiveness of one another is essential to this unity. Jesus said, I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men. (D&C 64:10).

Holiness
We are to hunger and thirst after righteousness. To come to Zion, it is not enough for you or me to be somewhat less wicked than others. We are to become not only good BUT HOLY MEN AND WOMEN. Recalling Elder Neal A. Maxwell's phrase, let us once and for all establish our residence in Zion and give up the summer cottage in Babylon (see Neal A. Maxwell, A Wonderful Flood of Light [1990],47). 

Care for the Poor
Fast offering and humanitarian projects do much.
Nevertheless, as we pursue the cause of Zion, each of us should prayerfully consider whether we are doing what we should and all that we should in the Lord's eyes with respect to the poor and the needy.

Elder Christopherson's 3 things differ from Bro. Salmond's 3 things he identified for us:

1. Eliminate Selfishness-this can be interpreted as the same as unity

2. Cooperate completely-vs. Holiness-cooperating completely is part of holiness but holiness to me requires so much more

3. Instead of care for the poor he said we need to consecrate everything and sacrifice all as we magnify our callings-Elder Christofferson isn't really clear about how to help the poor besides paying a generous fast offering and giving service. He does tell us to prayerfully consider if we are doing what we should.

Earlier in my life I struggled with my how I didn't want to become a social worker. The church has never supported the idea or notion that we should do this BUT I always thought if the Savior worked today he'd be doing something like that. I also had a lot of friends who did that AND my friend David worked for the state as a social worker for a couple years before returning to school to get his PhD. in Anthropology. The first man who REALLY impressed me when I first attended the Y was also a Social Work major and had a job at a children's shelter near the U.

I'm glad I had the chance to work as a mentor to Pacific Islander and Asian children with the Asian Association. When I worked with the kids I always felt so grateful for my life. Many of the parents did not speak English well. Often their kids were their connection with the rest of the world. There was a HUGE contrast in the lives of the Tongan kids in Glendale and the children in West Valley.

Since I'm Polynesian I was placed mostly with Tongan children. The differences I saw in kids raised in an LDS home were significant. The non-LDS Tongan kids spoke Tongan better and were more in touch with their culture, however they didn't have as much money or things most would consider "NORMAL"-they definitely were high-risk children. The language they used was awful too. The kids I worked with from West Valley-typically thought of as a bad area-lived in beautiful homes especially when compared to the homes of my kids in Glendale. They they had better language and with the exception of 1 child from Guam, were ALL LDS.

I worked at the Christmas Box House later-Salt Lake County Children's Shelter. It was here that I met with sobering reality. I no longer felt bad for those kids from Glendale, even the ones without the church. The Christmas Box House was where children were placed when parents were put in jail, when children were abused physically and sexually, when they were found without parental supervision. I read horrifying case files. One child was chained in a basement with a mattress and a bucket to use the bathroom. I gave a little girl AS IN A 4-YEAR-OLD girl who was sexually abused a bath. It was really difficult. She had electric stove rings seared on her butt. 2 children once came to the shelter. They were both too young to talk although they could walk. According to the case files the mother was found sleeping after using Meth. The kids were eating food on the table including curdled milk. These were not kids who are old enough to fix their own food. It should NOT be such a great thing to simply provide children with basic necessities BUT unfortunately IT IS. It was hard to realize that these kids and incidents happened throughout Salt Lake County.

After working there I realized how MANY problems exist and that there is NOOO way I can be a social worker. When I worked at the Christmas Box House I only worked on the weekends as in 10 hours Friday and 10 hours Saturday-these were graveyard hours. I would help my co-workers throughout the week but whenever full time positions came up and they asked me to apply I'd refuse. I was in library school and I always considered getting a job throughout the week but I never did. Finally I got a job at Overstock.com and quit the Christmas Box House.

When my mother moved here she told me to quit my job and finish library school. She told me to get a job in my field or not at all. I'm grateful for her help. Working as a substitute librarian with Salt Lake County made library school finally make sense. Although I love being a librarian I just wanted the degree to qualify for all the salaries I kept seeing. Librarians are salaried jobs with the county and although substitutes make the crappy $14 an hour, they are treated just like the librarians meaning they count on you to be on time AND to do your work BUT there is no one breathing down your neck telling you EXACTLY how to spend EVERY minute of your time. I looove public librarian work and I hope to return to that. With my MBA I will easily get into management which is what I want. Salaried jobs are the best because they are flexible.

My director encouraged me last night to stick with the company. She said I can demand a higher wage at other campuses. I told her I like the idea of San Diego and she said they have a new campus there. I wish they had more schools in California. Of course my mother is in Salt Lake and I could live with her rent-free. I wouldn't mind sticking with the company BUT I would like changing it up too. Wherever I work I'm going to substitute with the respective county library in the area.

People have moved to our campus to the Provo campus and to the Salt Lake City campuses seamlessly. I hope I find something similar. It is nice to move AND not have to look for a job. Of course it was easier for them to transfer because their positions weren't in management. I wonder how that'll work for me when it's time. I will keep my temple work commitment for 2 years and in my head I can stay here for another 2 years BUT that is longer than I planned. Maybe my temple work keeps getting stopped because I'm not meant to work there. I can work at ANY temple. It will be lovely if Heavenly Father wants me to move soon!!! I would like that VEEERY much!!! Time to pray about that.

I have received guidance that would imply I need to remain in Logan but for how long and what am I supposed to do? I need to pray more about what I've been ignoring. I know that. I looove that it's Thursday. I can't wait to just do homework, clean, cook AND eat another weekend away!!! I want to finish everything by the 15th so the harrassing can begin and my MBA can be complete before December is even considered. Vacation is coming up and I can't afford to really go anywhere BUT next year will be Hawaii for sure!!!