Failed Efforts

Yeesh. I keep failing lately. I'd count the ways, but I try not to count above what I'm able to in Espanish. Which is considerably high, considering.

But here's the latest.

I send out mass, personalized texts informing members of my LDS YSA ward about upcoming activities. No one asks me to. It's not my calling. I do it because I have the ability to, and because there is a great need in the ward for people to get involved. Sometimes these texts DO improve turnout rates at activities... And sometimes these texts backfire.

"Tonight's the night, %F*! MUD FOOTBALL/VOLLEYBALL! Bring extra clothes, pizza $, friends and your game face! [address, censored for privacy] at 6! It's ON."

*this is where my phone so sneakily inserts the first name of each person the mass text is sent to... in case you were wondering.

Fun, right? How nice, and personalized and informative and... wrong, apparently. Within a couple minutes I received five frantic texts from five different people informing me that the event was postponed. None of these texts came from the people actually hosting the event, and the three people that mentioned their sources all had different informants. They'd been informed by call, text, and word-of-mouth.

Despite the fact that everyone in the ward is on my texting list, I am apparently on no list of anyone's.

Psh. Who needs friends, anyway?