I went to Church today. Unfortunately, I didn't actually get to attend. Why? Church got cancelled. It's not like we knew this ahead of time. When my husband and I got to the meetinghouse we discovered the parking lot to be empty.
Since there had been some ice, we assumed that must be the reason. Disappointed, we headed back home. We only got a few yards before we slid down the top of the little hill on the street the Church is on. None of my husband's maneuverings helped. We don't have 4-wheel drive but we do have limited slip differential on our truck. No luck. We had to simply stop trying. We nearly hit a mailbox of one of the residents.
The residents in question came out to help but with their driveway a sheet of ice the only thing they could do was speak loudly from from their garage door.
My husband ordered me to not get out of the truck because of the ice. He punctuated this by slipping and falling down hard himself. Luckily, he doesn't seem to have sustained any permanent injury.
Only having resided in the area a little over six months we didn't know who or what to call. A lady, one of the local residents couldn't find the names of our Home Teachers, a local member or anyone else in the local phone directory. Finally, we asked her to call our Bishop's home. After doing so, she reported that they lived in the country and hadn't been able to get out themselves for two days and couldn't help us.
Not having cell phones and not having our Trak phone with us, we were helpless to call anyone ourselves. Just having someone recommend, or look up contact information, for a local towing truck would have been nice. The local resident did do that for us.
We asked her if she could call our Bishop back and ask if any local members could possibly help us or recommend someone, or something, that could. She reported back, and get this, the Bishop refused to come to the phone.
Meanwhile, a woman driving a 4-wheel drive SUV came over the hill, past us and into the Church parking lot. She obviously knew no more than we did about Church being cancelled. When she angled back, my husband flagged her down and stopped her. She turned out to be a relative of the Bishop. She promised to call some local members to come help us. She left and was able to make it over the hill we had slid down.
She eventually came back and reported that some local church members would be coming out to see what they could do for us and then left.
As we sat in our vehicle discussing options, we saw a Sheriff's department cruiser atop the hill. A deputy got out and carefully made his way down to us over all the ice. On his suggestions and assistance, and some salt from a local resident, we got unstuck and were able to make it over the hill. Before leaving, we stopped to convey our thanks to the officer.
When we got home, we called the Church people to report that we were home safe and to thank them for their willingness to help us. One of the women was astonished that no one from Church had called us to tell us about Church being cancelled. She reported that she and her husband had received "12-15 calls" themselves.
I've complained about being out of the information loop before. This experience has reinforced it.
One email could have alerted us that Church was cancelled and it could have been so effortless if done through the Church's web site/email network. I'm not suggesting that the phone tree should be replaced, just augmented. Obviously, it didn't work for us this time.
I keep screaming about people on the information fringe being ignored and/or overlooked. I have to wonder if anyone is listening.
Should we have known Church was cancelled? Should we have guessed?
How could we? We went shopping last night and drove all over Mooresville and Plainfield. We had no trouble driving. The streets were clear. We had no trouble driving to Church except for the street the Church is located on.
Since then, we've discovered some interesting things. The entrance to that street marks the end of city boundaries. That's why the road had not been salted or sanded. That is why it was so slippery.
Our ward just celebrated it's 50th year of being in existence. Many people have been in it for that length of time. If we had, or had at least spent a winter here, we may have known about the peculiarities of the street the Church resides on.
But we didn't. We're new.
Being new also prevents us from knowing a lot of names in the ward or knowing about tow truck services. This hampered our ability to help ourselves.
If we were old timers in the ward maybe we would have received 12-15 calls about church being cancelled. But, we didn't receive one. Not one.
We haven't received any calls or contact since we made it home after our harrowing morning either. Nothing.
This is horribly alienating and isolating.
During this election year, Evangelicals keep claiming that Mormons aren't Christian. Today, I'm a bit inclined to agree with them.
Since there had been some ice, we assumed that must be the reason. Disappointed, we headed back home. We only got a few yards before we slid down the top of the little hill on the street the Church is on. None of my husband's maneuverings helped. We don't have 4-wheel drive but we do have limited slip differential on our truck. No luck. We had to simply stop trying. We nearly hit a mailbox of one of the residents.
The residents in question came out to help but with their driveway a sheet of ice the only thing they could do was speak loudly from from their garage door.
My husband ordered me to not get out of the truck because of the ice. He punctuated this by slipping and falling down hard himself. Luckily, he doesn't seem to have sustained any permanent injury.
Only having resided in the area a little over six months we didn't know who or what to call. A lady, one of the local residents couldn't find the names of our Home Teachers, a local member or anyone else in the local phone directory. Finally, we asked her to call our Bishop's home. After doing so, she reported that they lived in the country and hadn't been able to get out themselves for two days and couldn't help us.
Not having cell phones and not having our Trak phone with us, we were helpless to call anyone ourselves. Just having someone recommend, or look up contact information, for a local towing truck would have been nice. The local resident did do that for us.
We asked her if she could call our Bishop back and ask if any local members could possibly help us or recommend someone, or something, that could. She reported back, and get this, the Bishop refused to come to the phone.
Meanwhile, a woman driving a 4-wheel drive SUV came over the hill, past us and into the Church parking lot. She obviously knew no more than we did about Church being cancelled. When she angled back, my husband flagged her down and stopped her. She turned out to be a relative of the Bishop. She promised to call some local members to come help us. She left and was able to make it over the hill we had slid down.
She eventually came back and reported that some local church members would be coming out to see what they could do for us and then left.
As we sat in our vehicle discussing options, we saw a Sheriff's department cruiser atop the hill. A deputy got out and carefully made his way down to us over all the ice. On his suggestions and assistance, and some salt from a local resident, we got unstuck and were able to make it over the hill. Before leaving, we stopped to convey our thanks to the officer.
When we got home, we called the Church people to report that we were home safe and to thank them for their willingness to help us. One of the women was astonished that no one from Church had called us to tell us about Church being cancelled. She reported that she and her husband had received "12-15 calls" themselves.
I've complained about being out of the information loop before. This experience has reinforced it.
One email could have alerted us that Church was cancelled and it could have been so effortless if done through the Church's web site/email network. I'm not suggesting that the phone tree should be replaced, just augmented. Obviously, it didn't work for us this time.
I keep screaming about people on the information fringe being ignored and/or overlooked. I have to wonder if anyone is listening.
Should we have known Church was cancelled? Should we have guessed?
How could we? We went shopping last night and drove all over Mooresville and Plainfield. We had no trouble driving. The streets were clear. We had no trouble driving to Church except for the street the Church is located on.
Since then, we've discovered some interesting things. The entrance to that street marks the end of city boundaries. That's why the road had not been salted or sanded. That is why it was so slippery.
Our ward just celebrated it's 50th year of being in existence. Many people have been in it for that length of time. If we had, or had at least spent a winter here, we may have known about the peculiarities of the street the Church resides on.
But we didn't. We're new.
Being new also prevents us from knowing a lot of names in the ward or knowing about tow truck services. This hampered our ability to help ourselves.
If we were old timers in the ward maybe we would have received 12-15 calls about church being cancelled. But, we didn't receive one. Not one.
We haven't received any calls or contact since we made it home after our harrowing morning either. Nothing.
This is horribly alienating and isolating.
During this election year, Evangelicals keep claiming that Mormons aren't Christian. Today, I'm a bit inclined to agree with them.
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