EQ History - 2008

The Arlington 2nd Ward Elders Quorum (EQ) was formed with the creation of the Arlington 2nd Ward.  The Elders Quorum Presidency (EQP) called at that time comprised the following: Timothy Valentiner (President), Scott Lund (1st Counselor), Joseph Brubaker (2nd Counselor), and Matthew Archer-Beck (Secretary).  In the first weeks following creation, the EQP extended callings to quorum members in order to fill the needs for managing quorum hometeaching activities; quorum instruction; and overseeing activities under the quorum's stewardship for fulfilling the church's three-fold mission by calling Chairs and Committee Members to an EQ Missionary Committee, EQ Temple Committee, and EQ Temporal & Spiritual Affairs Committee. The quorum has been very blessed by the many able quorum members and their willingness to faithfully serve in the callings extended.

The EQ has been especially blessed as well by the diversity of backgrounds of its members, including recent converts that joined the church just prior to and following creation of the Arlington 2nd Ward.  These new members have provided a unique opportunity for quorum members to maintain a vision and focus on the importance of missionary work and retention of new converts.  The EQ has made this effort a priority in conjunction with the ward and stake's focus on missionary work. The EQP, in conjunction with the Bishopric, created an EQ Mission Plan outlining the goals, structure, and methods for achieving the objective of "focusing on the conversion, retention, and reactivation of our neighbors that they may receive the joy of the gospel of Jesus Christ, including temple blessings." Part of the ward Mission Plan, which directly involves the EQ, includes the role of hometeachers delivery/facilitating the New Member lessons to recent coverts they hometeach, as opposed to calling separate Ward Missionaries to do so.  This has been a blessing a challenge thus far for the quorum's hometeachers.  We are striving to carry this out faithfully.

A unique aspect of the EQ is the growing number of converts of Mongolian origin.  Language barriers and cultural differences within the quorum have posed new challenges and been a source of great blessings for quorum members.  The EQ Presidency has sought to encourage as many activities as possible to encourage fellowshipping/integration of recent converts, as well as promote their spiritual growth.  These activities have included weekly sporting events at the ward building, PPIs, ward/EQ dinner activities, and a break-out Basic Priesthood Ordinances/Principles class that meets once a month during EQ.

One significant quorum activity worth highlight was the Lost Sheep Blitz effort carried out in December.  The activity included quorum members going out as hometeaching companionships (during EQ meeting on Sunday) to knock on two less-active members' doors to introduce themselves, extend a personal invitation to attend church next Sunday, and to assess whether the less active member would like to receive hometeaching visits.  This turned out to be a very motivating activity to all that were able to participate, with many encouraging anecdotes.  This effort also helped the EQP identify quorum members that have since moved from the ward in order to pass their names to "address unknown" so they may be eventually located and their new wards informed.

Overall, the Arlington 2nd Ward Elders Quorum has been very blessed as a newly formed quorum in 2008 with many opportunities to serve one another, and those under our stewardship, as Priesthood holders and disciples of Christ.