Proposition 8

"The family is ordained of God. Marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan. Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by a father and a mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity." - The Family: A Proclamation to the World

Last month a letter from the First Presidency of the church was read from the pulpit urging all members of the church in California to be actively involved in the campaign for Proposition 8. Usually the leaders of our church do not get involved with politics and only encourage us to research the issues and prayerfully vote. But in this situation, much is at stake. Californians will again be voting to protect the definition of marriage as a union between and man and a woman, as they did in 2000, but this time the initiative will change the state's constitution to protect it from activist judges. So what they have asked us to do is call voters in our community to find out who is for the proposition and offer information if they ask for it. We are not supposed to get into arguments or try to change any one's mind. This morning I picked up our calling lists (75 names for each of us), and Dave and I traded off watching the kids/making phone calls, switching off every half hour. We're halfway done, and I have to admit it hasn't been as awful as I feared. You know how I feel about calling people. I was secretly relieved every time I got an answering machine or busy signal. Although I think that means I'll have to try them again later. There were a couple of rude people, but in general people either didn't know about it and wanted to hear more, or they knew they were for it. One lady kept thanking me for my hard work and wishing me luck. This is definitely something people feel strongly about. And thank goodness we live in such a conservative area, especially compared to the rest of California.