Meeting with the Mayor

One of the fun parts of my calling in public affairs is getting to meet with some of the elected officials in the stake. I had that opportunity again today. Dacula is a small town of perhaps 4000 people. We live in the county just outside of Dacula and our ward is named the Dacula Ward.

Elder Gonzalez, of the Presidency of the Seventy, is over the North America Southeast Area of the church. He has put into motion a major day of service for all the states in the area (that is 10 states and about 94 stakes) to be held on April 25th. It is a priesthood event, supported by public affairs.

Anyway, in our stake, each unit is planning its own event. We are rather spread out and the bishops wanted to keep the service in their local areas. So today I accompanied the PA Specialist from Dacula Ward in meeting with the mayor about what service we could do for Dacula. It was a great meeting. He knew why we were coming so had done a little research and suggested several potential projects.

He seemed as excited as we were as we discussed potential ideas. We indicated that we wanted this to be a community event and to be able to partner with other churches or organizations. Mayor Wilbanks is a member of the Hebron Baptist Church and said he would like to talk to them about partnering with us. What is significant about that is that in the south, the Baptists do not particularly like the Mormons. In fact, Hebron, like many Baptist churches, has classes about the Mormons and how to avoid getting taken in by the missionaries.

We have had some interesting experiences. Like the time one of our members offered the use of the gym at the church for a youth basketball program, as they were struggling to find places to practice. Her offer was refused on the spot, because they would not let their children enter the building of a non-Christian sect. Another Baptist church, disinvited one of our ward choirs from participating in a community choir festival at Christmas, because they would not allow Mormons into their church where the performance was to be held.

I do not expect that Hebron will accept the offer, but it is good to know that it never occurred to the mayor that there would be a problem. This mayor is really a good old Southern boy - still goes by the name of Jimmy and has the real accent and everything. He grew up in Dacula, back in the days when what is now the center of town was his family's farm.

It turned out to be a nice visit and Emily and I are both excited.