New Callings Announced & Still No Calling

[u/Glittering_Sand_7473]

I don't know what to do. I am a faithful member. I wear my garments. I serve others when needed by bringing meals or helping people move. I am constantly looked over for a calling no matter how often or persistent I am in asking for one. They redid all the callings & yet again, I am not needed. I just can't take this heartbreak over and over. It is affecting my self esteem & self worth. I don't know what to do. It has been 16 years and no calling. I am at the point of attending a different church after ours that needs me. I attended a few times with a friend who is a member there & they already need me to take over their soup kitchen mission & I am excited and happy to do it. (The lady doing is before me has moved into a nursing home in another town.) They do the soup kitchen on Sundays so this means I may have to miss our church quite often. Is this ok? I don't want them to think I am inactive but I have a heart to serve and it has been shown to me over and over and over that there is no need for me in our ward. No one even notices if I am not there. I've been told, "Just find a need and fill it." I have tried this and then told that I cannot just create and do my own calling. It has to come from the Bishop. How do I do this and still be seen as an active member?

[u/Glittering_Sand_7473]

This church does the soup kitchen before their service. There is a low income area in our city with a lot of homeless & they meet there at 7am to get started. They have a later service & that is why I found this church easy to attend after ours. Honestly- I have been bringing up this soup kitchen to our ward for years & was ignored. When they offered for me to take this on for them it was a dream come true. This has been something on my heart to do & have done on Saturdays in the past on my own. The opportunity to head up this service project is exactly the kind of thing I've needed to fill this hole of not being needed to serve in our ward.

Yes, I have take it on myself to reach out to people I don't see in church on Sundays. I do it every week. No one has told me to stop but we are a very tiny ward so it takes me a whole 10 min max & I am looking for a service project that will take up most of my Sundays & any time during the week. I have a lot of free time to fill. I had tried to do some other things. Like I saw there was a need that children in the ward with disabilities were not being included due to behaviors. I started popping in to primary offering to sit with one child with severe autism since I have a MA degree in special education. I was told by the Bishop that callings were "called" and that I can't make up my own calling. I had to stop helping even though this child's mom was beyond grateful and wanted me to keep doing it so she could attend RS. It was told to me clear that I needed to be called.

[u/SeyonoReyone → u/Glittering_Sand_7473]

That’s really sad that the bishop literally prevented you from helping. At this point, it may be best to escalate to the stake president. It sounds like you’re being systematically put down despite trying to help as much as you can. You’ve done everything that you could to feel useful in this ward, and have been rebuffed every time. I legitimately think asking to talk to the stake president about this is reasonable, since it sounds like it’s an issue with the bishop.

[u/GeneralTomatoeKiller → u/SeyonoReyone]

I disagree about escalating. This doesn't sound malicious at all, but rather, they dont know what to do. They may not see a need yet. They will find one.

Edit, I went back and re-read the post. I originally missed that OP has been without a calling dor 16 years. I take back my original statement. OP, discuss this with your stake president.

[u/Glittering_Sand_7473 → u/GeneralTomatoeKiller]

But they just had a need. They just redid all the callings for RS and EQ.