From the Founders: Looking Forward to 2018

2017: It was the worst of times, it was the best of times.

There has, indeed, been a silver lining to the calamity and distress of the year past — an unprecedented awakening of the citizens of the world and a greater degree of civic engagement than most of us have ever witnessed before.

We’ve done great things at MWEG. As a fledgling organization that is still less than one year old, we can feel very, very proud of what we’ve accomplished. Many thanks to Iris Salazar for taking the time to put together this visual retrospective of our 2017.

As we move forward now into a brand new year, we feel strongly that we must be even more strategic about our actions and about what we choose to respond to and how. And we need to continually seek divine guidance as we make these decisions.

“Continue as you commenced.” These are the words that come to my mind every single time I ask God for direction for MWEG. As you’ll remember, when Oliver Cowdery loses the ability to translate, God tells him that “it is because that you did not continue as you commenced” (D&C 9:5). I know exactly what “continue as you commenced” means with regard to MWEG. It means we must continue to humbly seek God’s will and direction at all times, allowing ourselves to be used by and schooled by Him.

It means we must be more prayerful, more deliberate, more guided by the core principles that we were given as we commenced on this bold and beautiful (and in many ways completely audacioius!) endeavor.

It means we must remember always who and what we are. We are faithful. We are nonpartisan. We are peaceful. We are proactive.

Faithful. Nonpartisan. Peaceful. Proactive.

It means we must not stray from our focus, which is ethical government.

It means we must continue to seek common ground and to model respectful dialogue and compromise.

We have one very specific focus here at MWEG for 2018: the midterm elections. Let’s do everything we can to ensure that we have ethical candidates and that we elect to office women and men who will represent us with integrity and with an unwavering commitment to the fundamental values of our democracy.

We hope that you all had a wonderful, restorative Christmas break and that we can now press forward in this work with renewed focus, devotion, wisdom, balance, and joy.

Onward!