I was up early this morning to go to ward council. It is a council that functions well as intended and I was grateful to be there and to participate.

Church was calmer for me today. The kids didn't make it. Tom was suffering jet lag, I'm sure, and Amelia reports this evening that she has a severe sunburn that may prevent her from going to school tomorrow.

I went to Primary to make sure they were staffed since the Primary president was out of town still. Once senior Primary started singing time, I went to the last half of Relief Society. It was okay. At the end of the meeting the RS counselor conducting reminded everyone that next week we will have a combined meeting, “with the priesthood.” I happened to be sitting next to the RS president. I leaned over and said, “The meeting will be combined with the Elders Quorum, not the priesthood.” I have a strong distaste for our imprecise language when it teaches an incorrect understanding of what the priesthood is. I wish the Church leaders at the general level would all get together on this point and be consistent so there weren’t so many bad examples of language around the priesthood in General Conference talks. I am thankful for the recent Ensign article on this topic.

 I spent the evening riding down to Washington for a Self-Reliance Services training led by the stake self-reliance specialist for her new assistant and another ward self-reliance specialist. It was helpful to get some understanding of what the stake has in mind for SRS groups going forward.

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