Belle Isle: Never a Dull Moment

Dear Anonymous,

I write in response to your comment of June 4:

“The only reason people are asking, “What are you doing here?” is because of the message you are portraying. We are all actually, very happy for you!!! If you have found what you are looking for you shouldn't have to complain.”

I think you may have misunderstood what I wrote in my post of June 4. We have been asked "What are you doing here?" by all sorts of people. For instance, a police officer in town asked that question upon seeing Hallie’s out-of-state drivers license (no, she did not get a ticket ). People in stores have asked. People are happy we are here, but they are genuinely surprised (due to the state of the job market, among other factors, in SE Michigan). The message we are portraying is our honest take on the complex emotions and interactions with people as we have been here. We are grateful that you are happy for us. Your support and prayers buoy us up and let us know we are loved. Sometimes people complain about details even when they are happy on the overall, and that is OK, particularly when the complaints are valid. Gentle reader, the message we are portraying is as much about what you the reader bring to the text as what is on the screen before you in print. If you feel we are being unduly critical or negative, you have not seen the entire picture. Again, I think the title of the post was apt in that regard: You tend to find what you are looking for. We invite you to reread what we have written over the course of several posts over the last 10 months to get a broader perspective.

In other news, we had the dedicatory service for Belle Isle today. Pres. Lantz commented that this is an historic moment in the city: this is the first new LDS Church-built building in the city since the 1920s (along with our sister building in the Westland Stake, the Detroit River Branch Building). We had a full house for the event, and there was a beautiful spirit there as members and visitors shared in the celebration of the Church investing in the members of the city. This is a time of renewal, recommitment, and reclaiming the city. We rumbled through the block of meetings, finding out along the way what items we still needed from Harper Woods, what new items we had in the building, and what technical and technological glitches needed solving. We even had two baptisms this evening in our unfinished font (the building is almost complete, but we still have a “punch list” of several items remaining to be done). Made for a long day, but not a moment of it was dull.