Annual Genesis Family Picnic!

The Genesis Group of the Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints just had it's annual family Picnic on June! I'm here to tell you, it was OFF THE HOOK! As the Genesis Activity Chair I must say I am well pleased at the event. My staff is awesome! There's myself and 2 other sisters both named Pat. We call ourselves P2K (two pats and karyn.) And our Priesthood leadership is Brother Eddie, 2nd counselor of the Branch Leadership. I calculated numbers between 350-500 folks show up! We had bbq chicken, burgers and dawgs with our the regular picnic items. I went straight for the stereotype: I had a bbq chicken leg and a slice of water melon. Had the fryers shown up I would have had the fried chicken wings and water melon. Oh, and a BIG Thing of blue cotton candy! For the last 3 years we've had cotton candy, popcorn and icee machines as well as a small passenger engine for the younger kids to ride, and a Dunking booth! I was so proud to see one of my Pat's in the Dunking booth. Yes, that's right Grandma Pat got in the dunking booth! Each year I like to provide the youth and the kids with items to have some water fun. I had Brother Eddy buy some water guns. Being over the activity I felt it was VERY IMPORTANT for myself to participate in as much as possible. So I grabbed my piece, and encouraged brother Eddy to do the same. I then put all the water guns is a big sack and walked thru the park throwing handfuls of them out to the crowd. LET THE MADNESS BEGIN! It was FABULOUS! Never had I seen so many adults involved in water activities. I saw Fathers vs Mothers, Parents vs Kids, Old folks vs Young Folks, siblings vs siblings, and then it got really fun. I sort of slipped away to "find" other duties when the ice coolers and Ice coolers filled with half water broke out! This went on until the sun went down. It was as if black folks discovered the fun of water for the first time. And don't be emailing me tripping out because I KNOW HOW IT IS. I happen to be one of "THOSE" sista's who knows how to swim and digs the water. Culturally speaking to get a black woman's hair wet is suicide. It can be an all day process from washing to styling. But this day, it didn't matter. Didn't matter one bit. If our hair is braided then there's no crime done. But to wet or seat out a pressing job..... wo wo WO to the man who get the black woman's hair wet. This year we extended and invitation to the Office of Black affairs from the state of Utah to come and join us. As Mormons we do tend to set ourselves apart from the community. We don't utilize the boys and girls clubs or hang out too much at community gatherings because we have our Relief Society programs for the Women, Youth and primary programs for the Teens and children, Young adult things for the singles between 18-31, and elder quorum for the men. Within the church we have a great community which has unfortunately pulled us out of our neigborhood communities. We are hoping to bridge this gap and use Genesis not only as a fellowship branch for black members, their families and friends but as a community bridge. I think this kick off party was a great beginning to that. Sadly enough I was pulled to the side and notified that I would soon be release from the calling of Genesis Activity Chairperson. I have learned so much about myself in this calling. I had a lot of growing up to do. I think learning to have faith in others and those in authority over me is the biggest lesson. I'm grateful for that opportunity. At the same time I was informed I was being released, they presented with me a new opportunity to serve. They proposed the calling to me there at the picnic. I let them know I would fast and pray about it. "Ok," they said.. "but we need your answer in 24 hours, before the meeting tomorrow!" YIKES! The rest of the evening I contemplated what I was being asked to do in the Genesis Program. I can remember feeling intimidated by a calling only one other time: My 2nd year of Ricks College, I was called as a Gospel Doctrine Teacher. I was too busy playing softball and doing artwork in school to bother with graduating from seminary, so I wasn't so UP on Gospel knowledge. T here is a line in my Patriarchal blessing that states:
"There may be times when you are called to a position and you may think that you are incapable of fulling, but i promise you Sister Dudley that the Lord will bless you that if you seek His help and council you will be able to fulfill them..." I'm going to be falling back on those words and that council A LOT in this next calling. Well... here's hoping! I'll leave you all with the words I used to opened our Genesis Picnic. It was the introduction to the family prayer:

Brothers and Sisters

What a wonderful opportunity we have today to be united as families, friends and sons and daughter of a Heavenly Father who stands on high.

I present to you this day as a day of love, fun and fellowship. But I also challenge you this day to take an evaluation of your life and family and rededicate yourselves to the service of building up God’s Kingdom.

The family unit is the most sacred blessing Heavenly Father can bestow upon us. Heavenly Father is calling for his children to gather in his name and return unto him

Make this day a New Day. Make this day the day we start taking those step toward God our father. Find reasons to stay close to him. Return to our churches and temples and places of worship. Return to our families. Return to those Holy places where we can feel the gift of the Holy Spirit upon us and stand in the light of God the father and in his son Jesus Christ. Return to our communities with family values, Christian Values. Bring cleanliness, joy and holiness into our homes and families. And then let us fortify our selves and spread that into hour communities so we can go forth and fortify another.

Let each one teach one, and then go forth and reach another.

May we stand strong and united in our efforts to praise, honor and love the Lord! And when the World looks upon us, let them see a visual example of God’s love.

Amen and Amen,

Let us all hold hands and gather in a circle for our Genesis family prayer.

See the following link for more info on the LDS Genesis Group: http://www.ldsgenesisgroup.org/whatis.htm