I have been in my ward since the end of April. So, about 6 months, and YSA wards in Provo are usually pretty good at getting callings to all of the members within a few weeks. I have been a visiting teaching, and that is it. My prideful self thinks, "Why can't they see that I can do something?" I wonder how I, with so much to offer, am left as a callingless unknown member of a ward. But, humility is my lesson. It is something I struggle with all of the time. I think that I am an awesome person, but I need to be humble.
A few weeks ago, I also looked on my ward's Facebook group to see if we had any events that week. I found that I had been deleted from the Facebook group. That was sad.
But, this week, my pride kicked in again. I had the awesome opportunity of being in a quiz bowl at the 50th anniversary NRPA conference. For those who don't know, the quiz bowl is jeopardy, and NRPA stands for National Recreation and Park Association. I was on a team with three other Recreation Management students. I was voted team captain by my other three teammates. Six colleges competed in the quiz bowl: Univeristy of Utah, BYU, NC State, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Texas A&M, and Ole Miss. There were two rounds. The first round had two games with three schools in each game. We were in the second game. The second round would be the winners of the first two games.
In the first round, we weren't doing so well. My buzzer didn't even work. There was one question in which I was the only person clicking in and they still weren't getting my signal, so my teammate clicked his buzzer so I could answer the question. We also had it rough with the questions. We answered quite a few wrong. So, come final jeopardy, in which we can wager our points, we had 4800 and NC State had 9000. My teammates said that we were going all the way because we were going to lose anyway if we didn't. So we wagered 4800 points. The category was Disney, so we felt fairly confident.
The question: "What is one of Disney's two newest cruise ships?"
What?! I have no idea. Neither of teammates knew either. So, we each came up with an answer that could possibly be it. I thought of Fantasia. And, I really liked that answer. I also had the marker. I also felt really bad for liking my answer so much and wanting to write that down instead of my teammates. I had a hard time deciding. My two teammates also just looked to me as the team captain to make the decision. So, I wrote down, "What is Fantasia?"
We were doomed. We didn't know the answer.
The judges saw our answer and hesitated. All the BYU professors were shouting, "It's Good! Just give it to them!" To which the judges obliged. We got the 4800 points! We were now at 9600.
I just yelled, "What?! Yes!" I threw my arms in the air and could only think that this was impossible. I later found out from our teammate who sat out for the round that our coach literally got on his knees and prayed. Prayer works. It really works. We kept up the BYU "tradition" of a hail mary to win.
NC State, at 9000, had wagered 600 points. They had also given an answer that the judges hesitated but eventually gave to them.
NC State: 9600
BYU: 9600
We tied. So, for the second round, we both went in. It was a three-school championship round. We went up against NC State and Texas A&M. We dominated. We took most of the points. At one point it was BYU at 15000 and the other two teams were in the negatives. We lost a few points, and Texas A&M and NC State gained a few. With two more questions left in the double jeopardy at 2000 points each, I realized that they couldn't win. We had 13,600 and the other two teams were only in the one thousands or less. The two questions were answered and we were in the final jeopardy.
We wagered 600 points. NC State had 0 points and could not wager any points. Texas A&M had 1000 points and wagered 999. Neither of us got the answer right, so the final score was
NC State: 0
Texas A&M: 1
BYU: 13000
We dominated. To my dad, who's the Dominator now?! You also now have a national champion as a daughter.
 |
| 2015 NRPA Quiz Bowl Champions |
That was a really great moment. I couldn't help but smile for an hour. That was some good therapeutic recreation.
When I came home, I was so proud of myself, which meant that I required some humility. The first person who saw me when I came home, just out of the blue, told me, "You don't have any visiting teaching assignment." Ouch. After thinking that I am great and wondering why I don't have a calling, I was told that I am not even a visiting teacher. Ouch.
Then, I read an email in which the TR club wished good luck to two of my team members. My other teammate isn't a part of the club yet, so they didn't know to wish her good luck. But, I have been a member of the club since January. Ouch, again. My thoughts were just, "How am I so invisible?" Does nobody know that I am a national champion? Just kidding, I didn't tell anyone except my two roommates who asked me about it. And, Kit. She got to come with her kids for a little bit.
Humility. It stinks. A lot. But, it is something that keeps me grounded and reminded that I have a lot to work on. I am thankful that I have humbling experiences, or else I would probably be a huge snob. By the way, I am a national champion!
All in all, I had a pretty good week. I won. BYU won! I am thankful for the power of prayer and the healing power of the temple. I was able to go to the temple at the end of the week. And, it was fantastic. I just felt all of my sad feelings of being unloved and unnoticed wash away. It doesn't matter what the world thinks of me. It doesn't matter if a ton of people know me. All that matters is that I have good standing in the eyes of God. And going to the temple helps me realize that I have good standing in the eyes of God. I know that He loves me and knows me. I just need to remember that more often.
Thanks for all you. Thank you for your support. Have a wonderful September!
P.S. I got a visiting teaching assignment the day after I was told that I don't have one.
No comments:
Post a Comment