“Finding Mutual Interests,” Ensign, Aug. 1971, 44
Finding Mutual Interests
“The program I will attempt to explain to you this morning was ‘not done in a corner,’ but it was presented and approved on that upper floor of the temple by the First Presidency, the Council of the Twelve, and all the General Authorities of the Church.”
Elder Thomas S. Monson of the Council of the Twelve was the speaker, and the event was a meeting of the 1970 MIA June Conference.
He was talking about the Mutual Interests program, organized under the Melchizedek Priesthood for the widowed, the divorced, and the older single members of the Church. An adult function of the MIA, it is designed to supplement the needs of all single adults culturally, spiritually, socially, and educationally.
The program begins with the stake president. When he has appointed his stake committee—a high councilor, with his wife assisting, and a Mutual Interests representative—he has taken the first step. Then the program begins to take shape in his stake.
Since the launching of the new program over a year ago, surveys have been taken in many stakes of the Church to identify and involve Mutual Interests members. The surveys show surprising numbers of potential members: 904 in one stake, 305 in another, and as many as 200 widows in one ward. When the survey has been taken and a personality profile of each potential member has been completed and tabulated, the interests of the members are noted, and group activities are initiated.
A stake fireside is one of the most effective initial events to get people acquainted with the program and with other Mutual Interests members. Stake and regional dances are special favorites with many Mutual Interests members. One group of regions in the Salt Lake Valley has organized a weekly multiregional dance. Each Saturday night young single adults, and those not so young, enjoy live music and many mixer dances. Said a sprightly widower, “I stayed home alone for a long time, missing the feminine companionship that enlivens a man’s life; then these dances came along. Now I wouldn’t miss even one of the Saturday dances.”
Divorced or widowed parents who are trying to rear children in a one-parent home are finding great help in small weekly group discussions about problems peculiar to their single-parent situation. In one stake, with permission of the bishops, family home evenings are set up for groups of six to eight Mutual Interests one-parent families, with priesthood members usually in charge. Single young adults between the ages of twenty-six and thirty who were formerly holding their individual home evenings now share this experience also.
For elderly widows living away from children and grandchildren, a fellowshiping program may be instituted with a member of the Mutual Interests group calling frequently to say “How are you? Is there anything you need today?”
Bowling parties, potluck dinners, and taffy pulls attract old and young as the single adults are brought together socially. A printer, widowed for years, led a work-surfeited life until the Mutual Interests committee enlisted his help in printing their monthly newsletter; now he is their most-ready help in any activity planned.
At a recent Mutual Interests dinner, some ladies were heard to say, “We are so tired. Why did we come?” After a delicious dinner and a most lively program, these words were heard: “Wasn’t this great? When will the next event be?”
A Christmas party held for Mutual Interests members in one stake brought children from one-parent homes together in an original skit. Afterwards, one child said to his mother, “Do you mean that none of these children have two parents either?” Family outings for these one-parent children cemented these newfound friendships.
Last winter a snowmobiling party in one stake involved elderly people who thought they would never want to get on such a newfangled thing, but they soon found they were reluctant to get off and end the party. Those who have wanted to attend concerts, symphonies, and plays at the local university but had no one with whom to go now let the Mutual Interests committee scan the profiles of other members in the stake and arrange theater parties and symphony and concert evenings.
The program is a first! It is just beginning. It is a sleeping giant, beginning to be disturbed and greatly needing enthusiastic prodding. There is tremendous potential for the Mutual Interests program in every single stake in the Church.