The post on collecting fast offerings just got me thinking...and steam is starting to pour out of my years even after all this time. Here's my fast offering story:

Now you have to know that most of the faithful in the "mission field" are much more serious about keeping the commandments than the Utah/Idaho folks. (We could have a discussion on that if there are any who don't believe that, but I think most people would agree.)

You also have to know that the mid-level leaders (area folk, sometimes the Stake Presidents, etc.) are doing their level best to make it to the next level. And, the leader in this story actually did it. He's now one of the 70s.

And you have to know that the D&C says that "the teacher's duty is to watch over the church always and be with and strengthen them; and see that there is no iniquity in the church, neither hardness with each other, neither lying, backbiting nor evil speaking; and see that the church meet together often, and also see that all members do their duty. And he is to take the lead in meetings in the absence of the elder or priest"

It doesn't say anything about collecting fast offerings in there, but somehow that got to be the teacher's job.

So, to continue my story. At the time this story takes place, my husband was the bishop. I had a son who was a teacher. The area big honcho came to town and riled up the Stake president, telling him that he was failing because his teachers weren't collecting fast offerings.

So, he put pressure on the bishops. After all, in Utah, teachers go door to door, so we should be able to do it here. My husband was not one go against the authorities, so this particular fast Sunday, as I was gathering up the kids to go home, husband came to me and said, "XXXXX will be taking (son) to do the fast offering collection. And since you'll be the last stop, you can write a fast offering check for them when he brings (son) home."

I protested, never having planned for this event, but also objecting to it for a variety of reasons:

1.I had never seen the man who would be driving my son all over creation---to several towns. He was a new member. I had no knowledge of his character, his driving ability, his mental state.

2.Lunch was planned and ready to go. I didn't want my son to miss lunch and gallivant all over the area for two or three hours.

3.What a waste of resources, particularly the gas. And the time.

4.People weren't allowed to put their tithing in with the fast offerings. Teachers aren't allowed to accept it. (Sometimes it happens inadvertently, but if the teacher knows the tithing is included, he's supposed to tell the person to send it in separately.) That's a big responsibility for a 14 year old kid--to be talking back to people re/ their finances. Waste of envelopes and stamp.

5. I was right there in the meeting house. I could write a check and leave it with the ward clerk. But, instead, I was supposed to "let" the teacher come to my home to get it.

So I made a fuss. My husband wasn't any more in tune with this foolish concept than I was, but he felt he had to do it. So when I continued making a fuss, he got so angry that he was nearly yelling. Actually raising his voice at the end of the testimony meeting before all the people had left. People were turning their heads. It was quite embarrassing. (not for me as much as for him....by this time I was pretty through with the church)

I didn't let my son go. And I don't think we spoke about it again. But...a month later, the whole practice was discontinued.

They won't let you combine the tithing and the fast offering in one check? Was the ward clerk a bit dense when it comes to math..don't answer, the whole concept is dense. The slip, since I have been BIC, has always had how much was tithing and how much fast offering and added up the total like it was in a checkbook. WTF is wrong with people?

your check or money to the bishop. But if the teachers go collect it, they aren't supposed to take tithing.
At least I believe that's how it used to be.

I live in the Midwest. Deacons/teachers are supposed to go collect fast offerings...they drive about 30-40 miles to do so.

um....why not just have people pay it with their tithing when they attend church???

so uninspired. What a pain. I told the bishop my son couldn't drive with another adult and I wouldn't be driving him....so, he is off the hook.

I always paid my tithing and fast offering with one check and handed it to the ward clerk. I calculated that blank checks cost about 10 cents apiece and thought it a waste to pay twice. I never got any reprimand for this and just refused to answer the door when the boys went out on Sunday after church. What a total "make work" project to keep the boys doing something useless.

times of the first scheduled ward to one hour later so the youth had an extra hour to collect fast offerings BEFORE church began. Good luck there. We haven't seen a single fast-offering collector in the 20 years we have lived here.

Somebody with a mind for environmental protection ought to raise their concern and their voice, and point out the folly of wasting resources when all you have to do is check another box on the tithing slip. They're wasting precious resources in an exercise that yields fewer dollars. Using the boys to collect the FO is just a throw-back to a simpler time that essentially disappeared with the Aaronic priesthood kids were no longer allowed to collect food and goods in kind for the poor. That is why it was done like that in the first place; boys would go around the ward with a wagon and collect donated food and supplies that would then go into the bishop's storehouse.

I never knew of any situation when using the priesthood boys lasted consistently over months or years. It was usually just a knee-jerk reaction to the insistence of some random leader who was reflecting on how it was when he was a kid.

with fruits from the trees and vegies from the garden and pigs from the sty.

But the most aggravating thing is that it's done in places now where the ward covers 4-5-10 towns/cities, and they expect "door-to-door" collection.

It's absolutely nonsense, and insane, but at least one of the people who instigated this just 10 years ago is now a GA.

Thanks for clearing this up. I've always wondered how the practice got started. If I were still Mormon I'd tell the boys I gave my FO donation to the food bank so Mormons AND the rest of the community could benefit from my donation.