A Disappointing Day

     A few weeks ago one of the chaplains told us that a meeting was held and it was decided that the Protestant Group which meets before us in the Chapel Annex would hold a lunch for the soldiers at 11:00 on Dec. 12, and wanted to know if our group would like to join them.  Our services are scheduled for that building from 11:00 to 1:00.  Since it didn't appear that we had any choice, we graciously accepted the invitation to be included and asked what we could do to help.  They said they'd let us know.
     A couple weeks later we asked what we needed to do and they said the committee was going shopping the next day, and they would let us know.
     Last week we came early and ran into one of the ladies on the committee and asked what we could bring or do.  She said it was all planned but, um, would we like to bring a dessert?  So I said that we would.  We said that we had announced it to our soldiers and planned to attend.
     So we reminded our soldiers to all come at 11:00 today for the lunch.  We didn't know how long it would last, or take to clean up, so we would hold a short sacrament meeting afterwards, if it worked out, with Elder Elkins as the speaker. 
     So we arrived shortly before 11:00 today and when we walked in, we were dismayed to see that the dinner was pretty much over and they were starting to clean up!  A couple people said, "We thought you were coming, where were you?"  We stated that we had been told that the lunch was going to be at 11:00 so that is what we told our men, and planned on.  (Who has a turkey and ham dinner and finishes by 11:00am anyway?!!)
     So a few of our soldiers and the full-time elders showed up after us, and we scraped together enough left-overs to feed them.  It was embarrasing and disappointing.  A couple of the people apologized but I was pretty unhappy with the whole situation. 
     It is kind of typical of the treatment we get from some of the people on the base.  I know they didn't tell us the wrong time on purpose, but they sure didn't go out of their way to include us in any plans, after announcing that they were using our time slot!
     I'm almost over it now, almost calmed down.
     Next time I will double check everything.